Unless you have never followed the NFL draft or have been hiding under a rock since 1984, you have to be familiar with Mel Kiper Jr. Kiper, who collected a $400.00 Paycheck for his first assignment for ESPN’s football coverage, has been voicing his NFL draft opinion about college prospects eligible for the annual NFL draft ever since.
Chicago has two picks in the top ten for this year’s draft, courtesy of the Carolina Panthers. Everyone who is anyone will opine what they think Chicago should do. Mel Kiper Jr. is getting his draft card in early.
One has to give credit to Mel Kiper. He has made a fortune living and breathing his passion. Kiper has never played or coached football but has made a living with his draft analysis. However, he often gets criticized by NFL GMs.
In 1990 his QB Draft board had Andre Ware listed as a can’t-miss prospect. Ware was drafted 7th overall by Detroit and only started 6 NFL games. In 1991, he had Dan McGwire and Brett Favre listed similarly. McGwire is better known as the brother of MLB great Mark McGwire, while Favre is a Hall of Fame QB.
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His legitimacy came into question by several NFL General Managers in the mid-ninties. In the 1994 draft, Kiper blasted the Colts for not drafting Trent Dilfer. That led the Vice President of Colts, Bill Tobin, to say the ESPN analyst had no more credibility than Tobin’s next-door neighbor. Tobin then uttered a quote that is still used today to describe Kiper.
“who the hell is mel kiper?”
Bill Tobin
In 1998 Kiper opined that Ryan Leaf’s character would be an asset in the NFL. And we all know about Ryan Leaf and his character. He touted JaMarcus Russel as the next John Elway in the 2007 draft. Both Leaf and Russell are considered among the biggest busts in NFL history. Also, in 2007, Kiper was adamant the Lions should have selected Brady Quinn with the second overall pick. Detroit used their pick and selected WR Calvin Johnson.
Just recently Kiper was criticized for missing on 20 of his first round predictions.
Mel Kiper has been guilty of over-hyping draft prospects during his 38 years as the lead draft analyst for ESPN. While the jury is still out on this year’s Quarterbacks, it will be interesting to see if his hype of Caleb Williams is on the right track or, as is often the case, is misguided.
Lol,I’ll take option A and I’ll be in Vegas next week
For the folks in the back!!! Poles is a business man! Cj Stroud is not worth more then Dj Moore, Darnell Wright, and Stevenson and whichever choice, or haul he gets with this year’s #1 pick from Carolina. Fields and the Bears progressed quite a bit than some give them credit for. Yeah we’ve heard about him holding the ball, taking sacks, can’t read defenses, blah blah, blah. He could’ve won the Denver and Cleveland game, the first Detroit game and maybe another. Wins which would’ve put us in the playoffs. Getsy’s play calling and our defense lost those games,… Read more »
This!
Mel Kiper’s business is entertainment, and the more he is wrong, and the more people dislike him, drives up his entertainment value and $$
Actually, you get more information reading what’s posted on here and fact checking than what ESPN, Mel Kiper and the rest put out. ESPN has become the soap opera of sports, and I don’t even watch it unless a game I’m interested in comes on. Watching people hollering, overtalking each other isn’t sports.