Losman senior year

[djh]

Between the following article & the NFL combines.....someone spread rumors about JP's attitude. Probably Archie Manning (some people have said) to bring JP's stock down.

 

Either way........Bills have a steal for 22nd pick

 

 

 

 

http://espn.go.com/nfl/columns/pasquarelli_len/1563004.html

 

 

Wednesday, June 4

 

Losman ranked ahead of Manning

 

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By Len Pasquarelli

ESPN.com

 

 

The final branch on football's most celebrated quarterbacking family tree, Eli Manning of the University of Mississippi, was born and raised in New Orleans. The quarterback rated superior to Manning by one scouting combine in its springtime grades, Tulane standout J.P. Losman, plays in The Big Easy.

 

In one of the biggest surprises emanating from the recently completed spring meetings of National Football Scouting, Inc., one of two combines services to which most NFL teams subscribe, Losman has an early grade of 7.2, essentially a first-round analysis. Manning, who many scouts feel is not only the top quarterback prospect in the country, but also a viable contender for the top overall spot in the 2004 draft, has a 6.2 grade.

 

 

Manning

The disparity is just one example cited by personnel directors and scouts who feel that the two NFL combine services, National and Blesto, have seen the significance of their work reduced over the last few years.

 

That is not to suggest that Losman, who might have started ahead of Patrick Ramsey, the Washington Redskins' first-round pick in 2002, had it not been for an injury, isn't a very attractive prospect at this early juncture of the assessment process. Losman possesses size, pocket presence and a strong arm, and the coaches who have faced him in the Conference USA schedule have lauded his pro potential.

 

But for Losman to rate a full point higher than Manning in the National grades, which are based on a nine-point system, probably doesn't represent a true picture of how most clubs regard the two quarterbacks. It is also indicative of why the springtime grades from both National and Blesto, while reflective of where players are on the 2004 draft radar screen for now, are characteristically overplayed by the media and even some scouts.

 

Example: Southern California quarterback Carson Palmer, the Heisman Trophy winner and first player selected in the draft five weeks ago, essentially had about a fourth-round grade in last year's spring ratings.

 

The top-rated linebacker by one combine, Clifton Smith of Syracuse, wasn't even drafted this year. The other combine had Boss Bailey of Georgia ranked as the top linebacker last spring and he didn't go off the board until the second round.

 

Part of the reason the combine ratings don't often stand the test of time is that they do not account for underclass players. National and Blesto rate seniors only in the spring, and no one would deny the dramatic effect that juniors have had on the draft in the past decade, a reality that reduces the accuracy of the springtime grades.

 

Even accounting for the impact of the underclass prospects, though, there are factors that render the spring grades as just a signpost to point team scouting departments in the right direction as they begin evaluating seniors. The early grades are based largely on potential and usually on the opinion of just one scout. In some cases, the grades for players coming off injuries are not reduced.

 

Obviously, as the process moves along, players are scrutinized more closely and are seen by more sets of eyes.

 

"What the combines are good for," said one AFC general manager, "is providing you an early list of prospects. Then you take that list and run with it. But their scouts have gotten a lot younger, their reports a little less complete, and you do a lot of the legwork in-house now that the combines used to do."

 

Because of that, some teams are considering leaving the combine services, and saving the money they pay the groups (about $75,000-$100,000) to augment their own staffs. At least one team each, ESPN.com has learned, is close to leaving National and Blesto.

 

The combines still serve a purpose, most subscribers agree, but their effectiveness clearly is being revisited. At a time when some owners are seeking to cut costs, or simply don't want to share information with other franchises, the combines are perhaps under even more scrutiny than the players they evaluate.