What’s Been Glossed Over From Gruden’s Emails

[Day1PanthersFan]

Look at Rhules emails , I wonder if what we will find 

[glenwo2]

4 minutes ago, Day1PanthersFan said:

Look at Rhules emails , I wonder if what we will find 

"I wish I stayed in College"

[SizzleBuzz]

43 minutes ago, Davidson Deac II said:

Even before Fisher commented on it, I thought it was a fairly ludicrous assertion on Gruden's part.  I mean, he is basically saying that Goodell pressured one specific team to use its 7th round pick on a player due to his sexual orientation.  That would be idiotic on his part. 

Until full copies of all the emails are released we won't know what was really "said".

Don't get me wrong, clearly there was enough smoke to get Gruden to resign..:

...but context and accuracy (or the truth) have never stood between the NY Times and a good story.

[rayzor]

Moved it to NFL forum....you know, where it's NFL related stuff...where it will stay until it gets moved to the litterbox.

[ChrisSimmsspleen]

[WUnderhill]

3 hours ago, Leeroy Jenkins Ph.D. said:

 

 

 

Hadn’t seen this. Wouldn’t necessarily expect Fisher to burn any possibility of ever coaching in the NFL again by throwing the league under the bus, but who knows.

I find it interesting that the accusation was part of a private conversation between people in the know, and a little difficult to believe there’s no grain of truth there.

[Brooklyn 3.0]

How many Gruden threads are there now? Four?

[Iron Saint]

On 10/13/2021 at 5:02 PM, WUnderhill said:

Hadn’t seen this. Wouldn’t necessarily expect Fisher to burn any possibility of ever coaching in the NFL again by throwing the league under the bus, but who knows.

I find it interesting that the accusation was part of a private conversation between people in the know, and a little difficult to believe there’s no grain of truth there.

That's my thought as well, what is there to gain by making a claim like that in private if it's entirely false? To blow off steam? Especially considering he wasn't even close to coming out of retirement at the time, so it's not like he been on the Rams coaching staff and had a dog in the fight.

On 10/13/2021 at 1:53 PM, Davidson Deac II said:

Even before Fisher commented on it, I thought it was a fairly ludicrous assertion on Gruden's part.  I mean, he is basically saying that Goodell pressured one specific team to use its 7th round pick on a player due to his sexual orientation.  That would be idiotic on his part. 

If they greatly overreached for him, say a second round pick, then he might have a point.  But a seventh rounder?  I mean if you look at his pre draft projections, that is about where they thought he would picked.  So I just don't see it being a result of pressure from Goodell. 

Not true, he was projected a 4th-5th rounder on the NFL's own page and pre-Combine/before he came out, was projected to go as high as in the 3rd round according to CBS. The NFL even sent a camera crew to his house (something they only did for players drafted in the first 4 rounds) because they were anticipating him getting drafted. When he began to fall hard, the league couldn't have him go undrafted as they proceeded to show a live look-in to his living room every time a DE not named Michael Sam was drafted and simultaneously look like a bunch of bigots causing them to miss out on the revenue from the LGBT-community potentially looking to buy his jersey. The NFL says money is money.

On 10/13/2021 at 2:06 PM, SmokinwithWilly said:

I will say it wouldn't surprise me if it was done as a good ol boy type thing. There appears to be some manipulation happening during games with the refs. They've done it in regards to CTE. So to think the Goodell wouldn't give a nudge nudge wink wink for a little good publicity really doesn't seem like that far of a stretch. It's more a reflection of Goodell's handling of multiple situations as commissioner, imo.

Concur, the NFL has proven time again that they will discredit or outright suppress any information they feel will affect their bottom-line. If they feel a particular situation has the potential to harm that revenue stream, they'll get out in front of it if they can and do the damage control they can. Contrarily, if they're confident it won't get out, they'll suppress it entirely.

The Ray Rice elevator video is a prime example of both aspects of that; they had the video in the league office and still only gave him a 2-game suspension because: a.) they were confident it wouldn't get leaked since they had it in their possession so they issued a "harsh" sentence and released a statement about a "zero tolerance policy" regarding domestic abuse-blah-blah-blah, and b.) having Rice on the field for 14-games and potentially winning "Comeback Player of the Year" after an injury-riddled 2013 season was a win-win for all parties involved. Then TMZ still got their hands on it, it blew up in their faces and sent the league scrambling to put out the fires.

There even being a shred of credible evidence to that claim is part of the reason I think they're refusing to release all the email evidence they have. If any information of the league incentivizing/outright forcing the Rams to use a draft pick to select Sam gets out, it will permanently tarnish the league's relationship with the LGBT-community and all the "goodwill" earned from ousting "that bigot" Gruden will dissipate and generate far more controversy for the league than anything Gruden ever said.

Keep in mind, at this same time Kroenke was in the midst of an ongoing battle in attempts to move the team out of St. Louis and to Los Angeles, which only ~8 months later he announces he's teaming up with a capital group to build a 70,000-seat stadium in Inglewood and another year later was approved to relocate. Potentially a bit of a "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" between the league and Kroenke.

[Davidson Deac II]

5 minutes ago, Iron Saint said:

That's my thought as well, what is there to gain by making a claim like that in private if it's entirely false? To blow off steam? Especially considering he wasn't even close to coming out of retirement at the time, so it's not like he been on the Rams coaching staff and had a dog in the fight.

Not true, he was projected a 4th-5th rounder on the NFL's own page and pre-Combine/before he came out, was projected to go as high as in the 3rd round according to CBS. The NFL even sent a camera crew to his house (something they only did for players drafted in the first 4 rounds) because they were anticipating him getting drafted. When he began to fall hard, the league couldn't have him go undrafted as they proceeded to show a live look-in to his living room every time a DE not named Michael Sam was drafted and simultaneously look like a bunch of bigots causing them to miss out on the revenue from the LGBT-community potentially looking to buy his jersey. The NFL says money is money.

 

From May 2014.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2054863-michael-sams-full-scouting-report-and-outlook-heading-into-2014-nfl-draft

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Unfortunately there are a lot more cons than pros used to describe Sam leading up to the NFL draft. Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote that NFL personnel don't view him as much of a prospect. 

The Journal Sentinel polled 21 scouts with national responsibilities asking what round, if any, they would be comfortable selecting Sam.

Three said fifth round. Three said sixth round. Three said seventh round. Five said they would sign him as a free agent. Seven said they wouldn't sign him as a free agent.

Three scouts from clubs using the 4-3 defense said emphatically that Sam didn't fit their scheme. Conversely, two scouts from teams using the 3-4 defense said emphatically that Sam didn't fit their scheme.

That's about the consensus you will find from analysts, as well. He's clearly a 3-4 linebacker, at best, because of his ability to get off the edge and rush the passer, but without the versatility to do anything else, it's hard to see how he fits on a roster. 

https://www.si.com/nfl/2014/02/13/michael-sam-film-study-nfl-draft

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Sam was a good player for one season in college. He was productive, so the accolades he received were earned. But being a good college player and becoming a good NFL player are two different things (see The Golden Calf of Bristol). Sam did well for Missouri with a lot of talent around him. A majority of his production came in three games against inferior competition without a need to show much of a pass-rushing repertoire. He doesn’t show much of what the NFL looks for on special teams, and it’s difficult to project a position for him on the next level. For those reasons, Sam would project to be no better than a mid- to late-round pick. He could go undrafted. To my eyes Sam is decidedly average, with nothing exceptional about his game—though he will be helped by the fact that this draft is not deep with pass rushers, and those are always needed.

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/michael-sam-nfl-draft-scouting-report-analysis-missouri-defensive-end-gay-out/4ad01r3njk9l1sdso7p4jlrgc

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Based on his on-field performance, Michael Sam is a fringe top 100 pick, and is currently a sixth-rounder on our board.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/michael-sam-gay-nfl-draft/

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Sam, the 2013 SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Year, is rated as a sixth-round pick on the Scouts Inc. draft board, which is available through ESPN Insider. That might seem to imply that he’s likely to be drafted, because the NFL draft has seven rounds.

And in a little bit of Irony, I found this.

https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/michael-sam-comes-out/michael-sam-waits-call-nfl-draft-n100576

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I think he’s going to go late, and it has nothing to do with the storyline,” Jon Gruden, the former NFL coach and ESPN “Monday Night Football” analyst, said Thursday on MSNBC. “I think it has to do with his performance at the combine.”

Ironic that he got picked about where Gruden said he would.  Adds even more wtf to Gruden's emails.