Why Geno Smith fell in the draft

[tk13]

I've seen a couple other posts about this... but this probably deserves it's own thread considering how many hours we've wasted arguing about the guy. This is the first article I've seen theorizing why Geno fell in the draft. Time will tell whether it's accurate.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nfl--ge...183846651.html

On April 23, Smith, his agents, some family members and several friends gathered for dinner in New York in advance of the draft, a gathering confirmed by a family member. At one point, everyone around the table stood to give a toast to celebrate the evening.

Smith went last, thanking everyone and declaring that entire group – his agents included – were a "family" that would stay together his entire career, if not the rest of his life, the sources said. Smith, who at one point was expecting to be the No. 1 overall pick and at least a top 10 selection, has big plans for his career. Smith, according to the sources, hopes to emulate players such as Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers, putting himself cut above the rest of the quarterback fray.

The problem is that NFL types see a guy who, right now, doesn't understand how to get there.

"His biggest problem is that he doesn't know what he doesn't know," said a league executive, who spent extensive time assessing Smith before the draft.

"I'm not sure he knows how to take instruction because he pretty much wouldn't listen or talk to our coaches … he's talented. He can sling it, he can fit it into tight spots, he can do a lot of things and I think he wants to be good. But you can't tell him anything right now. He's tuned out because he thinks he's got it all down."

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One possible factor in Smith dropping to the second round is a concern about leadership.

"He doesn't have much presence, not much of a leader," said another league executive, who spent a great deal of time studying Smith before the draft. "I don't think he's a bad person, but that's not enough to be a quarterback in this league."

Two sources indicated that when Smith went on some visits to teams, rather than interact with coaches and front-office people, he would spend much of his time on his cell phone. Instead of being engaged with team officials, he would be texting friends or reading Twitter or a number of other distracting activities.

"All these other players who were in there were talking to the coaches, trying to get to know people and he was over there by himself," one of the sources said. "That's not what you want out of your quarterback."

Both sources indicated that Florida State's E.J. Manuel, who was selected ahead of Smith at No. 16 overall by Buffalo, was far more impressive in terms of his personality and maturity.

"Manuel gets it, he gets the whole big picture of what it takes to lead a team," one of the league executives said.

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By Sunday, Smith was being convinced by other friends that it was the fault of his agents that he slipped so much in the draft, according to one of the sources.

"Right now, he's blaming everybody but himself and he has some buddies around him who are telling him that same thing," the source said.

[GoChargers]

True Fan "logic" never fails to be laughable.

Geno texts on his phone = "too risky, bust, glad we don't have him"

Alex Smith compiles YEARS of proven sub-mediocrity, gets benched for a parade of scrub quarterbacks, watches his backup lead their team to the Super Bowl, and is a mentally fragile bitch = "So glad we traded for him!"

The blind Geno haters on here remind me of all the Charger fans who spent years blindly defending AJ and Norv just because they were associated with the Chargers. Dumb "logic" like this from far-too-easily-pleased True Fans allows franchises to justify charging everyone else a premium for mediocrity.

[Baby Lee]

Originally Posted by BigCatDaddy

If Geno isn't your flavor than there of a half dozen other guys they could have had in later rounds. Hell they could have had comparable players to Smiff for 6th round picks and kept their 2nd. I REALLY don't think people realize what Alex is and how far away this team actually is. I think 5-6 wins is probably it.

Amazing how people can completely agree and completely disagree at the same time.

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by BigCatDaddy

If Geno isn't your flavor than there of a half dozen other guys they could have had in later rounds. Hell they could have had comparable players to Smiff for 6th round picks and kept their 2nd. I REALLY don't think people realize what Alex is and how far away this team actually is. I think 5-6 wins is probably it.

Andy Reid apparently disagrees with you on this. And given both Alex Smith's strong performance over the past couple of years and the unmistakable vote of non-confidence in this rookie QB class by all 32 NFL teams we just witnessed, I'm going to have to go with Andy Reid's opinion over BigCatDaddy's.

[BigCatDaddy]

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

Amazing how people can completely agree and completely disagree at the same time.

After about 5-6 games in a Chief uni it won't be that way.

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

Amazing how people can completely agree and completely disagree at the same time.

Yes.

[Baby Lee]

Originally Posted by BigCatDaddy

After about 5-6 games in a Chief uni it won't be that way.

Wow!! It continues.

[BigCatDaddy]

Originally Posted by patteeu

Andy Reid apparently disagrees with you on this. And given both Alex Smith's strong performance over the past couple of years and the unmistakable vote of non-confidence in this rookie QB class by all 32 NFL teams we just witnessed, I'm going to have to go with Andy Reid's opinion over BigCatDaddy's.

Strong performance? Wut?

Ah, yes yes. You also would likely have gone with the Exec of the decade's opinion on Matt Cassell as well.

[BigCatDaddy]

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

Wow!! It continues.

What? The people that like Alex haven't seen him play. Once they see him playing for THEIR team it's going to be ugly.

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by BigCatDaddy

Strong performance? Wut?

Ah, yes yes. You also would likely have gone with the Exec of the decade's opinion on Matt Cassell as well.

I wasn't a fan of acquiring Matt Cassel because I thought his New England year was based on smoke and mirrors and he had absolutely no history of success prior to that, but I wasn't conceited enough to think that I had all the answers either. I suppressed my skepticism and took a wait and see approach based on the fact that Scott ***** was in a much better position to judge Cassel than I was.

You were a fan of the Scott Pioli hiring, right?

[GoChargers]

Originally Posted by patteeu

And given both Alex Smith's strong performance over the past couple of years

Nothing says "strong performance" like being benched for the likes of J.T. O'Sullivan and David Carr!

[Hootie]

that was a pretty good point that was made

but I'm pretty sure a few times (like Matt Ryan) if we REALLY wanted to...we could have traded up from 5 to 3 to take Ryan

[|Zach|]

[BigCatDaddy]

Originally Posted by patteeu

I wasn't a fan of acquiring Matt Cassel because I thought his New England year was based on smoke and mirrors and he had absolutely no history of success prior to that, but I wasn't conceited enough to think that I had all the answers either. I suppressed my skepticism and took a wait and see approach based on the fact that Scott ***** was in a much better position to judge Cassel than I was.

You were a fan of the Scott ***** hiring, right?

Yes

[BigCatDaddy]

Originally Posted by Hootie

that was a pretty good point that was made

but I'm pretty sure a few times (like Matt Ryan) if we REALLY wanted to...we could have traded up from 5 to 3 to take Ryan

Tannehill could have been had fairly easy as well.

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by GoChargers

Nothing says "strong performance" like being benched for the likes of J.T. O'Sullivan and David Carr!

What are you talking about? Those guys weren't even on the team.