Can NFL prospects manipulate the draft through interviews? I think Mayfield did.

[CSBill]

Yes! Why wouldn't they? If I were a top prospect and the Browns called me in for an interview, I would tell them straight up in the interview I didn't want to play for them. No need to try an fool them. And if I didn't want to play for them, why would I answer their questions or take the process seriously with them. And before you say it, NO, it would not prevent another team from draft me if they thought it could help them.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

3 hours ago, Fadingpain said:

The average NFL player is nowhere near intelligent enough to play this type of mind game.

Some could do it for sure, and who knows, maybe they do "throw the interview" so they don't end up in Cleveland or Buffalo! 

But the player is not interviewing the team, the team is interviewing the player.

 

Any time a potential employee and employer sit down together to talk, they are both interviewing each other.  It's just more obvious or less obvious.

 

This QB class is interesting to me because in some years the top prospects are clearly groomed and curried to within an inch of their lives (Gabbert, Trubisky etc), having been "packaged" for this since HS.

 

I expect Mayfield to get some grooming or coaching on how to answer the inevitable questions about his arrest and his various gestures.

 

I can't see Rosen signing on to be groomed - his parents may force it on him, not sure how well it will stick.  I expect him to try to "interview the interviewers" and you know, it will probably do the trick because coaches and GMs who wouldn't cope with being questioned/challenged will stay far far away.

 

 

Edited February 21, 2018 by Hapless Bills Fan

[Saxum]

3 hours ago, Gigs said:

I think it would get around that your interviewing is bipolar. Someone like Schefter would be told 3 different things about a player’s interview from different teams and make it news. 

 

But Schefter is bipolar or maybe even tri-polar so what difference does it make?

[Hapless Bills Fan]

5 hours ago, DCOrange said:

I'd personally prefer Tyrod to start the season and Lamar Jackson to potentially finish it but I think that's probably the least likely scenario out there.

 

Jackson actually intrigues me quite a lot and I had a thought that a Tyrod/Jackson pairing would be a good match. 

But I'm pretty sure that McBeane are looking for a pocket QB.

[JaCrispy]

Agree with the OP...I think about this on the regular.

[KW95 - JA17]

Had only the Bills interviewed Spiller and Leodis.......A few words from these chumps should set some alarms.

[YoloinOhio]

7 minutes ago, KW95 said:

Had only the Bills interviewed Spiller and Leodis.......A few words from these chumps should set some alarms.

“Leodis, why should we draft you?”

 

”I’m gonna beat that azz, point period blank”

Edited February 21, 2018 by YoloinOhio

[Blokestradamus]

5 hours ago, Bray Wyatt said:

Didnt Kelvin Benjamin say something about dogging his 40 or whatever too so he could go later?

 

Just his excuse for being fat and slow

[YoloinOhio]

As I was reading Robert Klemko’s full profile of Baker Mayfield’s pre-draft process, I believe he did indeed try to control where he was drafted. He mentions not studying the playbook for the Chargers and tanking the meeting because he had “a lot on his plate” (basically didn’t feel they were worth his time) and declining to interview with the Bears at the combine. Klemko says he didn’t want everyone to like him.

 

 

The fact that Mayfield drew a line under the 5th team in draft order, saying he wouldn’t go after that, makes me wonder how he approached his Bills meeting. Given they were at 12, how aware was he they might trade up into the top 5? He went to Miami after he was in Buffalo - given the rumors he wanted to play there awhile back, did he focus more on that one even though they are currently  at 11 (but are rumored to be in talks to trade up to 6)? Also, the big rumors about the Jets being locked in on him at 3 started emerging right after his visit three. Did he put everything he had into his jets visit, knocking it out of the park? Did he tank his visit to Cleveland, since one of their primary media members has a crusade against him and he’s already blocked him in twitter?

 

 

I also saw it suggested that the reason Lamar Jackson didn’t use an agent was so he could control where he went. Perhaps he only wanted to visit and work out for certain teams. Could this be why he is the only 1st rd QB who didn’t visit with Buffalo? 

Edited April 18, 2018 by YoloinOhio

[apuszczalowski]

I think some do, but I believe they are coached by their agents on how to do it and the agents do most of the dirty work.

 

You don't want to turn down interviews cause it won't look good on you, and you don't want it to be known that you don't want to go somewhere, but I'm sure these guys aren't trying their best to get teams to draft them that they don't want to go to.

 

I also don't think that teams share their assessments and information around the league or with the media. If the Bills heard that the jets didn't have a good feeling about someone because of their pre-draft interview, will the Bills shy away from them or interview the player themselves to see first hand?

6 hours ago, YoloinOhio said:

The fact that Mayfield drew a line under the 5th team in draft order, saying he wouldn’t go after that, makes me wonder how he approached his Bills meeting. Given they were

 

I also saw it suggested that the reason Lamar Jackson didn’t use an agent was so he could control where he went. Perhaps he only wanted to visit and work out for certain teams. Could this be why he is the only 1st rd QB who didn’t visit with Buffalo? 

Smoke screen! Bills are taking Jackson, guaranteed!!!!

Remember, during this time its always the opposite!

[TigerJ]

In a word: Yes.  However it's not particularly easy to get exactly what you want when you engage in manipulation.  Baker Mayfield can turn a team off with his antics in a team visit, but if he doesn't get picked by a higher team, like he wants, that behavior may cause him to drop even further, and could cost him some money.  On the other hand, the lower he drops in the draft, the more likely he'll end up with a team that has a winning record, though he might not be the starter as he would hope.

[NewEraBills]

LOL, I wouldn't be surprised if some team told Rosen to say something dumb so you'll drop and we'll pick you up LOL.

[BillsFan4]

Just now, YoloinOhio said:

As I was reading Robert Klemko’s full profile of Baker Mayfield’s pre-draft process, I believe he did indeed try to control where he was drafted. He mentions not studying the playbook for the Chargers and tanking the meeting because he had “a lot on his plate” (basically didn’t feel they were worth his time) and declining to interview with the Bears at the combine. Klemko says he didn’t want everyone to like him.

 

 

The fact that Mayfield drew a line under the 5th team in draft order, saying he wouldn’t go after that, makes me wonder how he approached his Bills meeting. Given they were at 12, how aware was he they might trade up into the top 5? He went to Miami after he was in Buffalo - given the rumors he wanted to play there awhile back, did he focus more on that one even though they are currently  at 11 (but are rumored to be in talks to trade up to 6)? Also, the big rumors about the Jets being locked in on him at 3 started emerging right after his visit three. Did he put everything he had into his jets visit, knocking it out of the park? Did he tank his visit to Cleveland, since one of their primary media members has a crusade against him and he’s already blocked him in twitter?

 

 

I also saw it suggested that the reason Lamar Jackson didn’t use an agent was so he could control where he went. Perhaps he only wanted to visit and work out for certain teams. Could this be why he is the only 1st rd QB who didn’t visit with Buffalo?

 

He could have had no interest being here. But even if so, it may have been mutual.

My guess is that Buffalo just doesn't want a mobile QB like that. 

 

IMO everything they've done so far suggests they want more of a pocket passer. The QBs they've brought in - Peterman and Maccarron are both pocket passers. They were linked to Sam Bradford in free agency. They brought in Daboll who will run the EP offense and has favored pocket passers in his NFL career. They got rid of Tyrod even after making the playoffs with him. Almost brought in Brian Hoyer last year.

We heard rumors of McD liking Trubisky last draft (and rumors of that being the only QB they were interested in drafting, and they did pass on both Mahomes and Watson who were sitting there for the taking). 

 

But I guess we will see next Thursday!

 

 

I think you are right about Mayfield btw. 

 

Edited April 19, 2018 by BillsFan4

[jr1]

he did fine with Mariucci and Wilson

[DriveFor1Outta5]

On 2/21/2018 at 4:06 PM, Marv's Neighbor said:

Gotta be the Russians again!

Ha, I was thinking somewhere along the lines of saying that these guys aren’t KGB agents. Lets not give them too much credit for crafty intelligence. 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

On 2/21/2018 at 12:22 PM, YoloinOhio said:

I was thinking that there is very little that draft prospects can control during the process. Of course they all want to go as high as possible but the film is in the bag. They trained for the upcoming combine and the workouts can help/hurt them to some degree. But one of the biggest variables that comes out of the combine other than medicals are the team interviews.

 

Take the QBs- they will interview with a ton of teams, some of which they may not want to go to. When a normal person is in the job market, they get to decide who they want to interview with based on where they want to work. If you are a prospect who wants to have some control over where you play the next 4-5 years before you can “decide” in FA, can’t you purposely blow the interview with a team like the Browns or (gulp - Bills) if you don’t want to go there? Not act like a total jerk or say anything outlandish that could get leaked/reported but just say some things that you think could be looked at as negative by that team ... like if you know the Bills are all about “process” so you purposely give an example of how you are more dialed in on Gameday but the week leading up to it you don’t need to focus as much. Or stumble over questions about preparation and leadership. Then when you interview with the teams you want to play for you knock it out of the park. I feel like it wouldn’t be too hard to figure out what each team wants to hear. 

 

For the pre-draft visits.... same thing. They pretty much can’t choose whether or not to go if invited, but could certainly choose to portray themselves a certain way. 

 

 

It's a very dangerous game.  People talk.

 

It's claimed that Leaf manipulated the process to avoid being drafted by the Colts.  Here's what Polian has to say on it.

[K D]

I was just thinking about this yesterday and was going to post something. At the senior bowl I think it was the Bears scout that came up to him and he was like no thanks I don't want to talk to the Bears, didn't you just draft Trubisky? I think him and Rosen would be ballsy enough to botch certain interviews on purpose. I know they would both like to be in NY or Denver and that is where they are slotted to go. Coincidence?

[Mr. WEO]

Why would Baker waste time interviewing with the Bears?

[Sky Diver]

If a player doesn’t want to play for a particular team, why can’t he say no to a pre-draft workout?

[MJS]

Maybe Lamar Jackson has purposefully botched all his stuff. Terrible wonderlic. Looked bad at his pro day. Teams not able to get ahold of him for interviews.

 

Maybe a team at the end of the first told him they want him so he is trying to slide.