Missing_Clink":37qwmue8 said:
You know something is wrong when Kiper actually sounds like the most reasonable draft pundit
Scary and true. The Bleacher Report (Darin Pike) nailing it, just about all the Seattle picks, is possibly scarier.
I wrote a post on this board a day or two before the draft where I predicted the 'Hawks would draft Russell Wilson in the 3rd round, that PC/JS were just blowing smoke on the Ryan Tannehill idea. I'd like to find that post, for my own amusement value, but don't know how to get the search feature to find it, as anything with "Russell Wilson" is dismissed by the search engine as too common. If anyone knows how to find that post, please message me.
It was this video that led to my hope the 'Hawks would draft him: Ultimate Russell Wilson 2011 highlights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8r7wLnb1xc
How can someone watch that video and NOT be mesmerized by this kid, absolutely lighting up Big 10 competition like that? The games against Michigan State, especially the Big 10 Championship game, were extremely compelling, jaw-dropping affairs, watching Wilson just put the team on his back, and carry them, by force of will, to victory. I think the scouts were guilty of the "confirmation bias" in dismissing Wilson; their beliefs about short, athletic QBs led them to only see another athlete-first, Seneca Wallace, too-short-for-the-NFL QB, instead of seeing what was *really* there, and the incredible specialness of Wilson's play.
At the same time the Wisconsin games lead to a man-crush on Russell Wilson, seeing the way Kirk Cousins competed for MSU against Wisconsin could just as easily lead to a man-crush on Cousins. Kudos to the Redskins on picking up Cousins, who wound up saving their season.
I recall there was a newspaper/media photo of Pete at the scouting combine, for QB's, with discussion about Tannehill, and in the background of that photo, Russell Wilson was throwing or speaking or something, and Pete was trying to look nonchalant and pretending not to be checking out Wilson. I remember being so happy to see that, that the 'Hawks were aware of Wilson, that I knew right then they would pick him.
I recall PC/JS saying, after the draft was over, that they had Russell Wilson graded as the 3rd player on their draft board. The way I understood it, 3rd wasn't meaning "3rd round" or "3rd Quarterback", but rather they had Wilson graded out as the 3rd best player OVERALL in the draft. (Which still may have been the 3rd best QB grade, given this year's crop) Anyone else remember that quote (I think it was Pete) and can verify that was what was meant, 3rd overall?
I started getting nervous in the 2nd round, because I was worried some other NFL team might snatch Wilson before Seattle got him. In fact, I'd almost bet that Washington would have taken Wilson instead of Cousins in the 4th round, if he had dropped to there.