– Cowherd, should Lamar Jackson really consider skipping the 40?
– That’s idiotic. It’s a talent show. Go show your talent. If you can run a 4.3, you just go run it.
Because, by the way, that won’t necessarily make a GM go, all right. You’re a receiver. That’s going to make at least a handful of GMs go, listen, man. The Wildcat has worked for a while. We got read option stuff.
I mean, I think if you run an all-time 40, somebody is going to say, he’s too good an athlete not to have on my roster.
– What I would like to say to Lamar Jackson, if he’s watching, or someone knows him could pass this advice on to him– turn off the internet. Turn off TV. You’re about to hear so much dumb advice from people that want to make a name for themselves, want to make this a racial issue. Just block it all out.
Surround yourself with football people. Because there’s going to be a lot of non-football people with a lot of bad advice that will end up costing you money. You don’t want to go into the NFL with some chip on your shoulder that you’re somehow a victim of a system that can’t stand you. Because that’s just not the case.
There’s too much money to be made in the NFL for a coach or a general manager to sit around and say, you know what? I’m gonna screw over this black dude. Trust me. Their wives want them employed and collecting that money. Whoever can help them win at whatever position, that’s what they’re about. Please, Lamar, don’t listen to the idiots. The idiots talked Colin Kaepernick out of about $10 to $15 million this year. Go talk– you don’t want to end up that guy.
– Bill Polian– he’s a friend and he is a great evaluator– six-time executive of the year in the National Football League. He’s put together a bunch of Super Bowl teams. He happens to have a great eye for talent. And the other thing that he understands– probably better than anybody else– is, you have to understand the way the league is structured.
And here’s how the league is structured. We don’t care to develop anybody. Because we are not fully invested. In the last collective bargaining agreement, they agreed to a rookie wage scale.
So you draft a kid. You draft him late in the first round– 25th overall. I’ll go to Paxton Lynch in Denver. Paxton Lynch is throw-away right now for the Denver Broncos. They’ve moved on. After two seasons, they have moved on.
Why? Because they’ve invested $9 million. You know where they got it? From the couch cushions in the front office. Oh, here’s $9 million. Boom. That’s it. It’s done.
So if you don’t have an investment, what Bill Polian is saying is, listen, young man. You’ve got such a skill set. You could make millions upon millions upon millions. But you were behind the eight ball because you come from a university that has spread offense, that you’re not developed into an NFL quarterback right now. You’ve got supreme gifts– God-given gifts to play whatever you want to play. Your best chance to make it in this league and to make it long-term in this league and to develop in this league is to play a different position.
So he’s giving him sound advice, saying, this is the way a lot of evaluators are going to look at you. And if you want to make this a big time career worth millions upon millions of dollars, your best avenue is to go this direction.
Well, I’m going to look at it like Terrelle Pryor, from the perspective of, he had size. He had the arm. But they thought about him in a different light when he came to the NFL, in regards to a NFL-type quarterback. Now, you look at him longevity-wise, what he’s able to do as a receiver– now he’s extended his career– I’m gonna go back to your point, too, Jason. It’s all about who you surround yourself with.
If you’re going to hire agents to represent you that you trust, that’s who you need to listen to. You need to embody that and say, OK, this is our goal. This is our path. This is what we’re hearing. This is what I suggest you do.
Because if I’m gonna pay you to be my representative, I’m going to trust that you’re going to lead me in the right direction, not only for the short-term in my career– I’m not looking at these first few years after my rookie contract– but how can I extend my playing career 10, 15 years? And I’ve got to do that by trusting who I have in–
– Bill Polian was saying, hey, Terrelle Pryor, if you would have gone from day one as a receiver like many people had said you should,
– You’d have been– you’d have been far above, right?
– –your second contract– your second contract, you’d have gotten paid.
– I bet you Julian Edelman will make more money than Terrelle Pryor. Julian Edelman was a quarterback in the Mid-American Conference.
– Hines Ward.
– He went straight to the receiver position. And I don’t know this factually. I guarantee you, he’ll make more money than Terrelle Pryor, who started as a receiver late.
– Rich McKay, Atlanta Falcons, former Tampa Bay Super Bowl builder, told me one time is, he demanded all his scouts– regional, national– give him– example, so if you drafted a player, give me three he reminds you of. Baker Mayfield is clearly Manziel. You would be doing a disservice to your owner if you said, we’re going to draft Baker Mayfield. OK, here’s the downside. He’s a lot like Manziel.
I can’t look at Lamar and not see a little RG3. Art Briles, Bobby Petrino– brilliant offensive coaches. All their quarterbacks are tremendous. I mean, all those Baylor quarterbacks are great– tremendously gifted athlete who are pretty thin. RG3 got hurt early. I would owe my owner to say, listen, the prototypes of who Lamar is– one of RG3 and he was a huge bust. You’d have to do the same thing with Baker Mayfield if you draft him in Denver.
– Better advice is, don’t throw in the combine. Run!
[LAUGHTER]
Hey, run your butt off in the combine, but just don’t throw it!
– And look, a lot of quarterbacks have done that.
– Yeah!
– Yeah, sure.
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