Visits

[Keith]

Originally Posted by Roy P

Probably just smoke screens.

Unless I'm mistaken, teams (outside of their division or conference) sometimes get into small groups or pairs and pool interview notes in part because it is too hard to get to everyone. As such, reading too much into these reports of visits is a bit of a fool's errand imo. For all we know, the Texans are talking to a bunch of WRs for the Cowboys or Bucs while taking info from the same on LBs and safeties.

Anyone remember that story of when the Broncos drafted Cutler? (Put recent news aside for a moment.) Cutler never once talked to the team before the draft... and that was their first round pick at quarterback.

[jppaul]

Originally Posted by Keith

Unless I'm mistaken, teams (outside of their division or conference) sometimes get into small groups or pairs and pool interview notes in part because it is too hard to get to everyone. As such, reading too much into these reports of visits is a bit of a fool's errand imo. For all we know, the Texans are talking to a bunch of WRs for the Cowboys or Bucs while taking info from the same on LBs and safeties.

Anyone remember that story of when the Broncos drafted Cutler? (Put recent news aside for a moment.) Cutler never once talked to the team before the draft... and that was their first round pick at quarterback.

Yeah they were shocked that he fell I think.

[Bigtinylittle]

Maybe that was their mistake. Maybe they SHOULD have talked to him!

[painekiller]

Originally Posted by Bigtinylittle

Maybe that was their mistake. Maybe they SHOULD have talked to him!

Their scouts had talked to him on campus during the college season. Shanahan loved the report on the kid and his combine work out at the combine made Shanahan salivate. He did not let any one know his desire, but Shanahan had Cutler targeted prior to draft day. He knew he was going to trade up for the kid, only he did not let any one else know that.

If you read about Shanahan and Gruden, they are good friend and they both tend to like the same players. IMO Shanahan was worried Gruden would try to leapfrog him to get Cutler had he been aware of the interest. Plus Shanahan is known for keeping his cards close to the vest.

His actions where pretty much in line with his character.

[Keith]

Been kinda sad for being a wet blanket on this thread earlier and didn't want to post this, but ah hell, here I go. From Kuharksy's ESPN.com AFC South blog:

Generally speaking, it's a bad idea to think a team is going to take a guy just because they have him to town.

So, I will not generally use this space to spend much time telling you John Doe was in Houston to meet with the Texans because:

• For every John Doe I learn about, there could be three others I don't hear about and naming a small percentage of the guys can serve to be misleading. I know the Titans announce their visitors in a couple of big lists and we will share something that comes out like that, still offering a disclaimer. But what if the agent for Player B advertises the stops his guy makes and the agent for Player B does not? The guy with the talkative agent is no more likely to get drafted by a particular team than the one with quiet representation.
• The Texans may be meeting with Doe to finish crossing them off their list because of his balky knee/ankle/attitude/arrest history.
• The Texans are probably like most teams in that they draft plenty of guys they had multiple meetings with and plenty of guys they've hardly talked to. On draft day, lot of guys say, "Yeah, I knew the Texans were interested in me way back at the Senior Bowl" while others say "Never did I imagine it would be Houston; the Texans aren't one of the teams I've spoken to, ever."

[painekiller]

Originally Posted by Keith

Been kinda sad for being a wet blanket on this thread earlier and didn't want to post this, but ah hell, here I go. From Kuharksy's ESPN.com AFC South blog:
[/LIST]

Caveat emptor. Just because he is on the list does not mean it a good thing not being on the list is not a bad thing.