MMQB Review: Peter Feels a Draft Edition (I'm Not Calling it FMIA)

I'll skip the typical preamble I've written over the last several years about trying to do more of this and I'm not sure when I'll do it again. Blah, blah, blah. You think you've heard it enough, imagine how many times I've written the "I'm trying to come back and find time..." preamble in the posts I've aborted. I figure I would give this a real shot to see if I remember how to do it. The NFL draft is a few days away and Peter King's sources help him formulate his mock draft. We know how this will play out. Trades happen, smokescreens happen and then Peter will get 4-5 picks correct. Back when I did mock drafts I usually got that many correct on a good year. Today, Peter forgets how to link columns he's referencing, Mike Mayock's daughter explains sending all of the team's scouts home a week before the draft is PERFECTLY NORMAL, and the Adieu Haiku is still a thing unfortunately.

Interesting mock draft dropped Sunday morning in the Los Angeles Times. The paper’s redoubtable NFL beat man, Sam Farmer, 
 
He has me blocked on Twitter. Why? I don't know, because I'm a really nice person.

On a side note, I always like the certainty with which these players are discussed prior to the draft. "10 year starter" and "best defensive player in the draft" is thrown around like gospel rather than the pure speculation it truly is. Also, Peter used to work with Mike Mayock at NBC, so you can feel him rooting for Mayock. I'm sure we will get some excuse-making for Mayock from the media if he struggles as a first-time GM. You know, like if he sends all of his scouts a week before the draft it could be portrayed as a normal thing to do.

had his annual sportswriter mock draft—he’s done it for 10 years—in which he asks longtime NFL writers he trusts in the franchise cities to make the pick of the team they cover. 

Great, I'd love to read it. Let me click on the link and read this despite the fact Sam Farmer has me blocked and clearly doesn't want me to read what he writes.

(Looks for the link to the Sam Farmer article in FMIA, finds nothing)

Usually, when someone refers to a writing on the Interwebs, that person also provides a link. This is especially done when mentioning the Interwebs writing in a complimentary manner. Alas, Peter shall not do this because because because.

This was Somers’ pick, and his explanation to Farmer:

“Arizona: DT Quinnen Williams, Alabama. The Cardinals like Josh Rosen, and I don’t see them taking a quarterback in the first round two years in a row. They need help on the defensive line and Williams would immediately provide that. GM Steve Keim has made some mistakes in the first round by taking guys who weren’t that passionate about football (Jonathan Cooper, Robert Nkemdiche). So I can see them taking Williams.”

This is the part where I mention I read an article about Kyler Murray in "Sports Illustrated" and it seems like one big red flag. It was a well-written article and you should read it sometime. I know, I'll link it here out of courtesy to the article's author.

I'm not stuck on Murray's height, though it doesn't help my opinion of him. He seems somewhat indifferent to what sport he plays. Mostly, I would like a happy medium between "I have made a blood oath to play football and if I violate this oath, then my family shall suffer the consequences of my actions" and "My dad told me to choose and I think I thought about it and this is what I want for now." I don't know. Murray and D.J. Metcalf are two guys I probably wouldn't draft as high as they are going to go. But guess what? No one asked me.

Interesting … and though I’m going to disagree with Somers in my projection, swept along with the Kyler Murray tidal wave, I do think there’s a good rationale for trading down or taking another player. 

To be clear, it's a very tiny tidal wave that isn't even sure it wants to sweep Peter up or not. You know, whatever the moon's gravitational pool wants the tidal wave to do and all. 

The Cardinals have done a good job in shutting up since it was reported at the combine seven weeks ago that Kingsbury let it slip that drafting Murray was a “done deal.”

EVER SINCE THE CARDINALS PUBLICLY PROCLAIMED WHO THEY ARE GOING TO PICK, THEY HAVE DONE A GOOD JOB OF PRETENDING THEY HAVEN'T PUBLICLY PROCLAIMED WHO THEY ARE GOING TO PICK.

I can't understate how upset I am that Peter King didn't refer to Kliff Kingsbury as "precocious." I could not be more disappointed, but at least Peter uses the word once in this FMIA that is really MMQB.

Two other bits of light drama: 

There is just light drama for now. The heavy drama starts on Friday and Saturday when Mike Mayock and Jon Gruden realize the draft isn't going as they expected and there are no scouts around to bounce ideas off. But don't worry, Mike Mayock's daughter will Tweet about how all of this heavy drama is totally normal.

I have four quarterbacks going, but lower than you think—at 1, 15, 23 and 31.

Ah yes, Peter still knows what I'm thinking better than I know what I'm thinking, so he knows when I expect the quarterbacks to be drafted in Thursday's draft. 

1. Arizona: Kyler Murray, QB, Oklahoma

They could decide to take Murray, the choice of head coach Kliff Kinsgbury. They could decide to take the best edge-rusher (Nick Bosa)—who I hear is the choice of many in the building—or the best player (Quinnen Williams) in the draft.

Oh yes, Williams is "the best player in the draft." I love these labels based on projections which are never, ever wrong. I've been wrong about them, so I would expect Peter to know better, except I know better than to expect Peter to know better. 

2. San Francisco: Nick Bosa, edge rusher, Ohio State

Niners have loved him since the Cotton Bowl in 2017, when Bosa’s 1.5 sacks led the marauding Ohio State defense in a 24-7 pummeling of USC’s Sam Darnold in the last game of the star QB’s college career. I hear the Cardinals think of Bosa as a “generational player,” which just speaks to their love of Murray if they’re willing to pass on Bosa and leave him to the Niners.

(Whispers) This could also speak to Kliff Kingsbury not knowing what he's doing if he's the only one in the Cardinals organization who wants to draft Murray and the choice of many in the building is a different guy who they consider to be a "generational player."

But again, I'm just a guy typing on a keyboard, while Kliff Kingsbury is a guy who just got fired a few months ago for not winning enough football games. Though he did have creative control over Texas Tech's uniforms and the team did look very spiffy while they lost games. I'm only saying that if the choice of many in the building is considered a "generational player" and the guy who wants Kyler Murray is the head coach who went 35-40 as a head coach in college, as well as 19-35 in Big 12 play, I'm going with the "many" who want Bosa. Also, I would not have hired Kliff Kingsbury. But again, I can't discount the wisdom of the team that fired their last coach after one season because he didn't win enough games with a rookie quarterback the team is currently trying to replace.

3. New York Jets: Ed Oliver, DT, Houston

Imagine Josh McDaniels, Chad O’Shea and Brian Daboll—the offensive brains of the AFC East—designing protections to keep Leonard Williams and Oliver from wrecking games over the next three or four years.

Get rid of the ball quickly. One of these three offensive coordinators has thus far shown he knows how to design protections to do this. I'll give you a guess which AFC East team he gets paid by.

5. Tampa Bay: Devin White, LB, LSU

Lots of people love White, a tackling machine who, at 237, tackles with the force of a 260-pounder. I’m taking my best guess of what GM Jason Licht would do if he was staring at White and Josh Allen here … because the Bucs need a pass-rusher too. Jason Pierre-Paul is 30, and other than possibly the precocious Carl Nassib,

Carl Nassib is so precocious. Peter could just pinch his cheeks and slap him on the ass with a paddle as a light dramatic punishment. Why would a grown man be considered precocious? Well, at the age of 26, no defensive end should have 12 career sacks. By the definition of "precocious" (which is "exceptionally early in development or occurrence") there is no way a defensive end should average 4 sacks per season by age 26. So precocious.

Plus, White might be the best defensive leader in this draft.

If you are keeping score at home, which if not, why aren't you, please update your NFL Draft whiteboard with the following 2019 NFL Draft superlatives:

Kyler Murray: Most Likely to be Drafted by Kliff Kingsbury
Nick Bosa: Best Edge-Rusher/Generational Talent
Quinnen Williams: Best Player in the Draft
Devin White: Best Defensive Leader in the Draft

I don't want to spoil the next superlative, but R.I.P. Jason Witten.

A veteran personnel man who knows Dave Gettleman said the other day, “Dave wants a pass-rusher in the worst way. He won’t reach for one, but he’ll get one with one his first three picks.”

Gettleman won't reach for one, but looking at his history of drafting DE's, where the two DE's he drafted in Carolina (one in the 2nd round and one in the 3rd round) are no longer on the roster, and the 1st round DT he drafted for pass rushing purposes isn't going to have his fifth year option picked up, it doesn't look great. Other than that, "getting one" wasn't the issue. It was getting a good one in the draft, though he did draft KK Short. And I know Dave Gettleman and it's a crapshoot whether he drafts a good defensive end or not.

7. Jacksonville: T.J. Hockenson, TE, Iowa

Daniel Jeremiah said the other day he thinks Hockenson could be the reincarnation of Jason Witten. 

So when did Jason Witten die? If Hockenson is the reincarnation of Jason Witten, that has to mean Jason Witten died. Sure, some "Monday Night Football" viewers may have wished Witten was dead, but that doesn't mean he is. He only acted brain-dead.

T.J. Hockenson: Most Likely to Have Been Reincarnated as the Not-Yet-Dead Jason Witten.

Bills love Quinnen Williams, but I can’t see the Raiders parting with him if he’s there at four. Bills could also trade up for Josh Allen, 

Well, that would be confusing to draft two players named "Josh Allen" in the first round in consecutive seasons.

or pick T.J. Hockenson if he falls to them. But if they stay, Jonah Williams could be an upgrade to Spencer Long at right guard or possibly, eventually, Ty Nsekhe, at right tackle. Lots of differing opinions in the scouting community on Williams. I would ask Bills Nation to look up “quixotic” in the dictionary. 

Yeah, you fucking in-bred high school graduate Bills fans. Go look up big words in the dictionary so that you may understand the big words that Peter King doesn't even use in the context of your draft pick because you are all too stupid to get it anyway. Look up the word, come back, and then you will understand the word Peter wanted to use, but didn't, because he doesn't want to lose you. 

Jonah Williams: Basically Don Quixote

18. Minnesota: Garrett Bradbury, C, North Carolina State

Speaking of PFF, the lowest-rated NFL center in the league by far last year was Minnesota’s Pat Elflein. 

And when have PFF ratings, many of which come out an hour or two after an NFL game has ended, thereby showing no regard for space and time through which a person could grade a three hour game, ever been wrong?

The Vikings pick at 18, 50 and 81, and the perception on the scouting trail is that two of those three picks will be offensive linemen.

And if any team knows offensive linemen, it's the team that drafted Matt Kalil and signed Mike Remmers as a free agent. Very offensive. 

Garrett Bradbury: Most Likely to Not Be Offensive

20. Pittsburgh: Rock Ya-Sin, CB, Temple

Imagine the first cornerback off the board being a guy who played one year at Temple after transferring from the Presbyterian (S.C.) College Blue Hose, and who will have one of the great names in the history of whatever team drafts him. 

Okay, I imagined it. It's ironic that Peter King thinks the name of a prospect is funny when that prospect changed the name he uses for public consumption (from "Abdurrahman Ibn") because he knew many people could not pronounce it. Peter never fails to show what a man of the world he is.

Rock Ya-Sin: Most Likely to Sound Like a Rapper Who Appeared on a Nas Album That Wasn't "Illmatic" or "Stillmatic."

21. Oakland: Josh Jacobs, RB, Alabama

PROJECTED TRADE: Oakland sends 24th and 106th picks to Seattle for this choice.

So, the best running back in this draft will probably be picked somewhere in the twenties,

Josh Jacobs: Best Running Back in the Draft

I met with Jacobs last week, by the way. Delightful fellow.

As was Johnny Manziel prior to the year he was drafted. Both played in the SEC and both have a "J" in their name. They have nothing to do with each other, but I wanted to remind you that Peter was taken in by Johnny Manziel, which I probably shouldn't really blame Peter for. Manziel just wanted to get drafted higher than he deserved so he was on his good behavior for a few months.

Josh Jacobs: Most Likely to be a Pretty Delightful Fellow

22. Baltimore: Clelin Ferrell, DE, Clemson 

New England hopes Ferrell falls 10 more spots, but he won’t. The Ravens also could trade—rookie GM Eric DeCosta would love to accumulate more picks. But Ferrell is an ideal building block on a defensive front that needs a new star. I won’t be shocked if Ferrell is gone if the Ravens take a 10-year center like Erik McCoy of Texas A&M;

Erik McCoy: Most Likely to be a 10-Year Center

23. New York Giants: Daniel Jones, QB, Duke

PROJECTED TRADE: New York gets this pick and No. 55 from Houston for No. 17 overall.

As for Jones the player, there’s a wide disparity in opinion in the man who went 17-19 as a college starter. Very smart, but he doesn’t have the deep arm of the three other first-round candidates. In Bob McGinn’s annual deep dive into the top draft prospects, the veteran scribe quotes a NFL scout saying of Jones: “He reminds me of Ryan Tannehill. There’s just something missing with him.” Damning, but the four first-rounders seem to all have zits this year.

Daniel Jones: Most Likely to Have a Weak-Ass Arm, Plus Has Challenges Controlling His Acne

I also have to address the "Four first-rounders seem to all have zits this year" comment. I feel like every year we hear two things about that draft's quarterbacks.

1. Next year's class is better than this year.
2. This year's class all have weaknesses which bothers some NFL GM's.

Other than Andrew Luck, who is the pinnacle of QB perfection and has been since the day he emerged from his mother's womb playbook in his hand, when was the last time there has been a QB or group of first-round QB's that were considered "safe" or guy(s) who didn't have questions about their talent? I can't remember a time. Every draft there are questions about the top quarterbacks in the draft. It's the nature of the NFL. I would expect the QB's to have zits every single year, as they are college quarterbacks who aren't perfect.

25. Philadelphia: Marquise Brown, WR, Oklahoma

Some love him. Some think he’s too wispy at 166, and they’re worried that he enters the NFL nursing a foot injury, and he might be prone to injury in the big-boy league.

This is not a terribly poor spot for Brown, but I would think a player of this weight and with his recent injury history should legitimately have questions about his ability to stay healthy. The list of small-ish wide receivers taken in the 1st round isn't great of late either. John Ross was let go by the Bengals, Will Fuller (he is listed at 185 pounds) has been very injury-prone, Phillip Dorsett has been a disappointment, and Tavon Austin is not that good either. Of course, Brandin Cooks has been great. But a college wide receiver that is small-ish already has a strike against him, much less a college wide receiver coming off a major injury.

Marquise Brown: Most Likely to be Wispy

27. Oakland: Deandre Baker, CB, Georgia

If the Raiders can come out of this first round with the best defensive tackle in the draft, the best running back in the draft, and a corner who should push for playing time immediately, it’s going to be a successful first draft for the rookie GM Mayock.

If you can say Williams is the best defensive tackle in the draft, Jacobs is the best running back for the draft and ignore that the Raiders are so thin at CB that any player drafted in the first two rounds then you may be Mike Mayock's friend. I'm being snide, but Mayock is a first-time GM and when has Jon Gruden been an astute drafter of talent? I will remain skeptical until I am proven otherwise.

Given the combination of Jon Gruden and Mike Mayock in Oakland, the calisthenics required to compliment the job they are doing and remove responsibility among their friends in the media might break world records if the Raiders struggle again this year. But don't worry, we will see here in a minute that Peter has the Raiders schedule as the reason they could struggle this year. At least the NFL has given Gruden a ready-made excuse for potential mediocrity.

30. Green Bay: D.K. Metcalf, WR, Mississippi

They haven’t taken a receiver in the top 50 in 11 years (Jordy Nelson, 2008, 36th overall). I could see Andre Dillard here too, but Brian Gutekunst is trying to stock up for one last multi-year run with Aaron Rodgers, giving him the kind of weapons that will allow him to be Aaron Rodgers again.

"One last multi-year run" as if this isn't the goal of nearly every NFL GM, given the salary cap restrictions in the NFL. 

I might go Marquise Brown here if I were Green Bay, but I realize a 166-pound burner may not have the shelf life of a Sterling Sharpe-big-bodied player like Metcalf.

What if a 166-pound burner actually knows how to get open and catch a football, which D.K. Metcalf hasn't shown he can do with his 67 career receptions? Also, Metcalf played in 21 games in his college career at Ol' Miss, while Marquise Brown and his short shelf life played in 25 games over his college career at Oklahoma. Brown may seem brittle but he's been durable compared to Metcalf.

Denver likes Lock, and might be able to snag him as a two-year learner behind Joe Flacco while retaining the ability to use the 71st pick this year on a potential starter at a need position, like Texas A&M tight end Jace Sternberger. A move like this wouldn’t surprise me, but I also think the way Denver GM John Elway’s talking, he could punt on a young quarterback until the richer QB draft of 2020.

There's the narrative I like! Next year's draft is going to be a great one, at least until Jacob Fromm struggles this year, questions about Tua's height crop up and whatever else happens that causes doubts in the minds of NFL scouts ends up happening. THEN, it is the 2021 QB class with Trevor Lawrence that is the really rich one. Around and around we go. 

John Elway: Most Likely to Poorly Evaluate a College Quarterback

In the end, I struggled mightily with the Frank Clark trade from Seattle to Kansas City. I had the trade in my first draft of the mock on Friday, then took it out for 48 hours, and just put it back in Sunday night. The waffling came before I sent Clark to the Chiefs because of the Kareem Hunt and Tyreek Hill incidents. And I will not be surprised at all if the Chiefs don’t do it. But I’m taking the gamble, because the Kansas City need for edge-rush is so pronounced. 

It feels like wanting Frank Clark's ability to rush the passer is nice, but I have to think even the Chiefs are self-aware enough to not trade for him. It's not like he's beating women and children on the regular, like Tyreek Hill seems to do, but he's not exactly shown over the past few years that his lesson was learned.

• Here is something that simply should not happen. The factoid that, upon further review, is a blight on the 2019 schedule:

Raider games in Oakland in the 48 days between Sept. 16 and Nov. 2: zero.
Raider games in Oakland in the 15 days between Nov. 3 and Nov. 17: three.

Let me say, this is crazy and ridiculous scheduling by the NFL. But, I am also jaded and now that Peter likes Mike Mayock, so I can't help but be so jaded this bizarre scheduling isn't in some way going to be used as an excuse if the Raiders struggle this year. 

I’m going to try to interpret why the NFL did what it did to Oakland. First, the Raiders and the A’s are the only football and baseball teams sharing one stadium. The Raiders are not keen on playing many games on the field when it is set up for baseball, with the skin infield and pitcher’s mound.

Because with how the Oakland Raiders have treated their fans with the whole "moving town" thing, it's only right that the franchise be treated fairly so there isn't a huge gap between their home games. After all, the fans the team is abandoning want to see the team play, so the NFL should consider the needs of the fans the Raiders are screwing over. In reality, if the Raiders don't want to play on the field set up for baseball (which I understand), then it's not going to make scheduling their games easier. This is just a basic fact of the matter.

Imagine if Al Davis saw this schedule. The Raiders play five straight games between Sept. 22 and Oct. 27, at mid-morning on their bodyclocks. Five games in a row, all at 10 a.m. PT.

Counterargument: If the Raiders play five straight games at 1pm EST, then it should be easier to acclimate their bodyclocks to playing at this time compared to having games at 1pm EST throughout their schedule. The Raiders will have a chance to get used to playing at 1pm if they play five games in a row at that time.

• Bills Mafia will be screaming about respect. Bills fans are an insular lot, with the Bills Mafia as loyal a fan group as exists in the NFL. What must the Mafiosos have been thinking when Buffalo was the only team of 32 to get zero prime time games? The coaches must love 14 games with 1 p.m. ET starts, and five road trips of an hour or less in the air. But the fans feel only disrespect. The only nod to national attraction is Buffalo’s first Thanksgiving game in 25 years—the mid-afternoon CBS tilt at Dallas.

I would think a Thanksgiving game is not terribly disrespectful. It's only going to be one of the most-watched games of the year. But every NFL fan base screams about respect. My favorite team's fan base is always whining about how nobody respects the team. It's standard fandom stuff. 

“As a kid, my whole dream was to win Super Bowls and play QB in the NFL. For me it was always football. But at the same time it wasn’t.”

—Kyler Murray, to Robert Klemko of The MMQB and Sports Illustrated in a magazine story this week.

Again, reading that article didn't make me question that Kyler Murray likes to play football. It made me question whether Murray didn't like playing baseball as much as he likes playing football and made me wonder what happens when his father has less of a say in the decision. Throw in that even Lincoln Riley indicates that Murray's leadership skills aren't necessarily one of his best attributes and he's a lot of red flags for me.

Bill Belichick turned 67 the other day, which is about the time most normal human beings are seriously pondering retirement.

I seriously ponder retirement around the same time I die, partly because my Social Security money is being drained by Baby Boomers like Bill Belichick and medical care will be so expensive at that point in my life I may have to work just to pay for it. Anyway, carry on...

In fact, 12 of the 15 winningest coaches have not coached, or did not coach, at age 67 or older. Belichick will make that 11 of 15 this fall.

Looking at the top 15, and how many seasons they coached after turning 67:

1. Don Shula: 0. Coached last game at 65.
2. George Halas: 6. Went 47-33-5 and won one NFL title after turning 67.
3. Belichick.
4. Tom Landry: 0. Coached last game at 64.
5. Curly Lambeau: 0. Coached last game at 55.
6. Chuck Noll: 0. Coached last game at 59.
7. Andy Reid: 0. He is 61.
8. Marty Schottenheimer: 0. Coached last game at 63.
9. Dan Reeves: 0. Coached last game at 59.
10. Chuck Knox: 0. Coached last game at 62.
11. Bill Parcells: 0. Coached last game at 65.
12. Tom Coughlin: 3. Went 19-29 after turning 67.
13. Mike Shanahan: 0. Coached last game at 61.
14. Jeff Fisher: 0. Coached last game at 58.
15. Paul Brown: 1. Went 11-4 after turning 67.

You can not convince me that Peter didn't include this information just so he could put Jeff Fisher's name up here. My level of jaded is off the charts.

Lots of Steve Keim criticism. From Ravven L.: “I find it interesting that you say the Cards personnel people are at ‘the upper end among personnel people in belief in their ability to pick players’ but then you detail the incredible lack of talent on that team. How are these two statements compatible?”

My statement was about how confident GM Steve Keim and VP of player personnel Terry McDonough are about their personnel acumen—not about their recent performance in the draft and free agency, which has obviously been lacking. 

So because the Cardinals think they are good at picking players, not based on the recent performance of picking players, the Cards personnel people are at "the upper end among personnel people in belief in their ability to pick players"? I feel like this is a sort of circular reasoning.

"Because we believe we are good at picking players, we will continue to believe that we are good at picking players based on this belief."

But let’s be fair. Arizona won 50 games in Keim’s first five years as GM, got Carson Palmer very cheap in trade with Oakland, and hired Bruce Arians as one of his first decisions as GM (along with club president Michael Bidwill). In his drafts, Keim drafted Tyrann Mathieu with the 69th pick, John Brown with the 91st, and David Johnson with the 86th. He traded the 61st pick plus guard Jonathan Cooper to New England for Chandler Jones; Jones has recorded 41 sacks in his three Cardinals seasons. It’s okay to say Keim is in a personnel slump, but overall, his six years have been better than average.

He also fired Steve Wilks after one season, used the #10 pick on a quarterback he may no longer want, while Mathieu/Brown are no longer with the team. The problem is a personnel slump can set an NFL team back quite a few seasons. While Peter points to the 50 games the Cardinals have won over Keim's first five seasons, they have won 18 games over the last three seasons. That is a more important and relevant statistic. 

1. I think there was a lot of buzz Friday when NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport tweeted that the Raiders would send home their scouts for the weekend, and for the days leading up to the draft, preventing them from leaking any of the information on the team’s draft board. “The belief is they [Jon Gruden and Mike Mayock] don’t know who to trust and wanted to clear the room,” Rapoport reported. A few thoughts:

Peter has to cape up for Mike Mayock now. He spends four solid paragraphs of bullet points pointing out that "this is all really fucking normal, guys." Perhaps it is normal, which is contrary to most of what I have read. It seems like a chaotic situation to me.

There is also this doozy:

• Re Mayock: One of his friends in the league told me the other day he felt this was Mayock’s attempt to take control over a process that he’s running for the first time in his life. “Wouldn’t you think it’s fair for Mike, with three picks in the first round, to close the circle and keep it as tight as he can?” this friend said.

Sure, if I'm desperate to make excuses for Mayock and I'm his friend, this is how I would reason out the decision. If I were a reasonable person who did not know Mike Mayock personally, I would say as a rookie GM running his first draft wouldn't I want the same scouts who have provided me with evaluations over the past few months to be present in the draft room so I can ensure the best decisions are being made for the future of the franchise? I wouldn't say it's "fair" for Mayock to close the circle, because that's an odd choice of words, but it's certainly within his right to do it. Why Mayock (and Gruden) would do this is the concern, not whether Mayock could do it.

I take the opinion of a Mayock's friend with a grain of salt. They are friends, so of course wrong or right, the friend will rationalize it.

 • Mayock’s daughter Leigh tweeted over the weekend that she went out to dinner with her dad recently and when he went to the bathroom, he took his draft notebook with him rather than leave it at the table, where only his daughter was. “Don’t take it personal scouties,” she said.

Oh, well if Mike Mayock's daughter says this is normal then I guess I should change my mind. In this situation, Mayock didn't leave his draft notebook in public with his daughter at the table where any stranger could run up and grab it. If Mayock considers his scouts to be strangers who would take his draft notebook for nefarious purposes, then perhaps they should have been fired a long time ago. I get that Mayock (and Gruden) want total control over the draft process, but they can do this without essentially telling their scouts to find other jobs. So despite what Mike Mayock's daughter says, telling the Raiders scouts to not show up for the draft is really odd. 

2. I think for all of you, particularly in Packer Nation, who wonder why in the world Green Bay has never played in England or Mexico, you may not have to wonder that much more. I think Green Bay’s time is coming, likely as soon as 2020, to finally go on the road to play a game in London. The reasons why Green Bay has never had to make the trip are predictable—the Packers don’t want to give up one of eight sold-out home games, and no team hosting the Packers wants to give up that gate because the Packers travel so well and fill the stadium and local hotels with fans. But I think the NFL is conscious of not giving a prized franchise special treatment.

Because when I think of the NFL, I think of them being conscious of not giving prized franchises special treatment. Any review of the schedule of primetime games shows that the NFL definitely doesn't play favorites. It just feels like the Cowboys play three Sunday Night Football games every single year. Sometimes they play two and sometimes they play four. 

5. I think that’s why the draft is so compelling. So many people. So many opinions

And yet, Twitter is a cesspool for these same reasons. Weird. 

8. I think my favorite quote of the spring, and nothing is close for second place, is Giants GM Dave Gettleman responding to a question about the strengths of the 2019 draft by saying, in part, “The wides are thick.” Meaning there are a lot of wide receivers on the Giants board. I just love the way he said it.

I have been a Dave Gettleman defender in the past. I cannot lie and say otherwise, but the rose is off the bloom for me. He seems to use fun words that sportswriters enjoy writing down (Hog Mollies, Blue Gooses) and then drafts players that end up not panning out. If I'm a Giants fan, the guy who drafted Kelvin Benjamin and Devin Funchess better not be talking about "thick" receivers or else I'm afraid I may get a thick receiver. Gettleman can say it in a fun manner, but I do hope he's learned his lesson. The fact he traded the most dynamic wide receiver in the NFL, while swallowing dead money, tells me otherwise though. 

10. I think these are my other thoughts of the week:

a. God help our country.

Thanks Peter. Your contribution is appreciated. Maybe Donald Trump should tell all of his advisors not to show up to Cabinet and departmental meetings and that will fix things. After all, he just needs to get full control over the process. It's only fair. 

e. Story of the Week: The Rise and Fall of a New York Shock Jock, by Nick Paumgarten of the New Yorker. Great story about the downfall of Craig Carton, who teamed with Boomer Esiason on New York sports station WFAN’s morning show. Man, gambling is a one-way street to hell. Just read this piece. And an excellent job of taking us deep inside the story by Paumgarten.

f. “Are you Craig Carton?”

g. “Yes I am.”

h. “You’re under arrest.”

a. Why.

b. Was this.

c. Four points on the outline.

d. When it is simply one point that Peter wanted to mention

e. ?

i. My wife and I watch “Jeopardy” most nights. 

What? I'm so shocked about this. I bet Peter watches "Seinfeld" re-runs when he's not watching "Jeopardy." It's so outside the realm of Peter's demographic to watch "Jeopardy" and "Seinfeld" though.

We’ve been riveted in the last couple of weeks by James Holzhauer, the incredibly intelligent, lighning-fast-with-the-buzzer champion who already has the five most lucrative winning shows of all time. Holzhauer is a professional sports gambler, according to the show.

Now Peter, I've heard that gambling is a one-way street to hell. Maybe go talk to the person that said that. He's brilliant and asked God to help our country so you know for sure he's trying to help out.

j. Joe Pinsker of The Atlantic with an interesting story about how Holzhauer, essentially, is so brilliant his games are not fair fights.

k. When the challengers get introduced at the start of the show, they’re lambs led to the slaughter. I’ve never seen anything like it.

It sounds like gambling is no longer a one-way street to hell. It's almost like it depends on the person doing the gambling. 

l. Coffeenerdness: For some reason that is foreign to me, because it’s never happened in my 61 years on earth, I have been getting allergy attacks. 

Maybe you have been gambling too much and your body is telling you that it's a one-way street to hell, unless you are good at it, in which case you get to be on "Jeopardy" and people like you will be in awe of you.

The Adieu Haiku

My mock draft stinks. Stinks!
Over/under on direct
hits: Four point five. Hmmmm.

It's not shocking that "Sports Illustrated" didn't fight tooth and nail to keep the Adieu Haiku like they fought to keep the name "MMQB."

Speaking of stinks, I wish that Peter knew the Adieu Haiku stinks. I mean, he ended this haiku with "Hmmmm." Not very poetic.