Laremy Tunsil and the Clown Show at ESPN

Artist rendering of draft meeting at ESPN

So, I had the weekend to think about it and I'm now going to give my take on the Laremy Tunsil slide in last week's draft. As you may know by now, Tunsil was the only player in this draft that I had any expectations for. I figured that he was the most ready and best prepared to be a pro football player. The whole bong gas mask and text message debacle between him and his coach have not changed my view on Tunsil, the player. I still think that he is going to be an all pro caliber offensive lineman that will be a quality to great starter for many years in the pros. He is a humongous road grater, and smoking weed and getting 300 bucks from a coach does not deter my views on that.

Do you know some other players that slid in the draft because of off field weed issues, Warren Sapp and Randy Moss. Sapp had a much similar slide to Tunsil. Sapp was projected as a top five pick, but then some people said he was a weed smoker and he failed a drug test prior to the draft. So, instead of being picked very early, he slid to the middle of the first round, 13 if I remember correctly, same as Tunsil. I think both Sapp and the Buccaneers were extremely thrilled and couldn't have cared less about him smoking pot. Sapp was an all time great defensive lineman, who put in work, and is now a hall of famer. Randy Moss had an even bigger tumble after a failed drug test, and many people letting the NFL know that he liked to get high. Moss slid all the way out of the top ten, teens and ended up in the 20's, 22 if I remember correctly, to the Vikings. Remember his rookie year? Remember his time in New England? Remember his career? Sure, he could be a headache, but he too put in work and he was dominate. Moss may be the best deep ball threat the NFL has ever had. Moss made Daunte Culpepper a pro bowl QB. Moss revived Randall Cunningham's career. Moss was part of the last decent Oakland Raiders team. Moss and Tom Brady were one of the most lethal threats of all time. So, yeah, I don't think Randy Moss' affection to marijuana really made him any less great at football. He too, if he isn't already, is a hall of famer.

So, if I were a betting man, I'd say that Tunsil will have a career that will be at least comparable to a long time starter in the NFL, with Warren Sapp on offense being his best case scenario. I don't care at all about the video that surfaced and the text thread that surfaced, it was the timing and the way the "experts" at ESPN and the NFL Network handled the whole situation. The NFL Network did a "better" job, kind of burying the story and not making it out to be a humongous deal. But, ESPN took the exact opposite direction. They talked this story to death. They showed the video over and over and over again. They constantly put the text thread on TV for all to see. They continually questioned Tunsil's maturity with how he handled the situation. And, do you know who they blamed? They put it all on Laremy Tunsil. They didn't say one bad thing about Ole Miss, or any of the adults that were involved in this whole thing. Yes, Tunsil is now a professional, but I feel like he handled this whole thing as well as one could imagine. He didn't deny or confirm anything. He didn't blame anyone but himself. He owned up to his mistakes. Yes, he said he took money from a coach at Ole Miss, but I didn't read that as him passing the blame, I read it as him telling what he believed to be the truth.

ESPN did not see it that way. This further makes me so sure about the demise of this network that I wrote about last week. They had their "experts" bad mouthing Tunsil left and right. Chris Berman called him out as being immature. Trent Dilfer, who is reportedly leaving ESPN, said he didn't seem ready for professional life. Jon Gruden, who if you aren't a QB, he doesn't care about you, said that he wouldn't have picked him at all, which is insane. But, the most repulsive and sorry excuse for a reporter was that dip shit Todd McShay. McShay basically said that, since he told the truth, he clearly wasn't ready to be a pro. He said that his people didn't have him well enough prepared to handle a press conference of this magnitude. He called him immature. All of this because Tunsil told the truth. McShay seems to think that, if you come out and tell the truth, you are unprepared to be a pro football player. He'd rather Tunsil lied than said anything at all. This is absolutely terrible "reporting" and "journalism" from a guy that is clearly an amateur, AKA, the future of ESPN. This makes McShay look like the complete and udder moron that is most definitely is.

Naturally, Roger Goodell had to give his two cents. He said, and I quote, "this is what makes the draft so exciting. It's unpredictable". What a god damn idiot. I'm sure that Tunsil was thrilled and excited that every time he got passed on, he lost another million dollars. I'm sure he was so happy with the "unpredictableness" that cost him over 6 million dollars. I'm sure his family loved it as well, seeing one of their loved ones suffering and having a panic attack. God, Roger Goodell is such an idiot. Why is he not fired yet?

I don't understand the personal attack on Tunsil from ESPN basically. He's a kid. I know he's a pro, and stuff like this shouldn't happen, but they spent a thousand more minutes on this than they did on D'Angelo Russell secretly filming a teammate. They have not once talked about all the Peyton Manning allegations. They spend little to no time on the fact that last years number one pick, Jameis Winston, had many, many more criminal charges before last years draft. They barely, if ever, blame that piece of garbage Johnny Manziel for all the crazy stuff he does everyday. Basically, ESPN will only talk about Tunsil's "immaturity" and "deflategate".

ESPN sucks.

Really quick, why is no one going after Ole Miss? They have clearly done something wrong and possibly illegal, according to the NCAA. The bong gas mask thing isn't their fault, that's just a dumb kid making a very dumb decision and letting someone film it. Also, why was there a confederate flag in the background during that video? That's terrifying. And no one is talking about that either. But, clearly Ole Miss was giving a player money, and that is against the rules. That is not allowed, but apparently, they were giving Tunsil's family money every year that he was playing football there. Also, they got really good, really fast. And it was all of the sudden. One day Ole miss was an also ran, the next, they were pulling in five stars and competing in the hyper competitive SEC. Ole Miss has clearly broken several rules, but don't go to ESPN for any coverage of that because they feel the need to scold Laremy Tunsil some more. This is a joke.

So, I think, after all of this, Tunsil is still going to be a very good to great pro player. I think he has handled this whole thing the best way he knew how and he did a decent job. I'm not too worried about his love for pot because I think he will put in the necessary work to be a good pro, much like Sapp and Moss. ESPN and their panel of "experts" are the bad guys here. They are terrible "journalists" and "reporters". They clearly have no clue what they are doing and they are a mess. Just remember how ESPN, Mel Kiper, Jon Gruden, Trent Dilfer, Chris Berman, Todd McShay and Roger Goodell treated Tunsil when we look at him in five years. Tunsil will be an all pro and all the stooges at ESPN will either be fired, the network will be gone, or they will all have moved on to some lower level of the sports journalism world. I guarantee it.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He remembers the golden years of ESPN, back when Chris Berman stuck out as being the lone idiot in the crowd. Now Berman blends in with the rest. Ty is on twitter and you should follow him @tykulik.

The Browns and Titans have Already made their Teams Better

The future looks bright in Cleveland and Nashville. Time to break out the shades.

The NFL draft starts next week. There has been a lot of movement in the two weeks prior to this years draft, a lot more than usual.

Last week the Titans traded the number one overall pick to the LA Rams (one more time I want to say SCREW YOU STAN KROENKE). They moved back in the first round and they also acquired a ton of other picks in this year and future drafts. I thought this was unusual, but the Rams just moved back to LA and they want to make a splash. It still doesn't make a lot of sense to me, and Tennessee got a much better deal out of it, but, sometimes weird stuff like this happens prior to the draft.

Then, just a couple of days ago, the Cleveland Browns traded the number two overall pick to the Eagles, again for a bunch of later and future draft picks. This really piqued my interest. Cleveland has been a gutter team ever since returning to the NFL in the early 90's. They have had about a million different players start at QB, and since they've blown every QB draft choice, they haven't really panned out so well with other position draft picks. Guys like Trent Richardson, Joe Thomas and Josh Gordon have not been that good since they entered the league. So, I assumed, like everyone else, they would stick with this pick and draft another QB. I know they signed Robert Griffin, but he simply cannot stay healthy. I also heard a lot about how there were three QB's in the upcoming draft that could be franchise players. So, Cleveland keeping the second pick just made sense to me.  Why would they trade this pick? Do they not like the QB's as much as other teams do? Do they think they can get someone later and have them sit behind Griffin for a couple of years? I have a million more questions, but these three will have to suffice for now.

Question one, why trade the pick? I think they like the idea of having multiple choices and not having to reach for a QB so early in the draft. This is actually a pretty smart idea by a front office that has seemed incompetent at times. Stockpile picks and draft players in the later rounds. Players picked in the later rounds seem to be more successful in the future than a lot of the first rounders. So, good, savvy move by the Browns.

Question two, do they not like the QB's available in round one as much as other teams do? I don't think its' just the QB's, I think this whole draft is pretty weak. This is actually, the main point of the blog today. After these two trades occurred, I did some of my own research about the draft because I think both Mel Kiper Jr and Todd McShay are morons. They're glorified, wannabe head coaches that have nothing but free time and they sit around and watch game film as if they are involved with an actual NFL franchise. Both of those guys are absolute jokes and they work for ESPN. It's a double whammy of idiocy. So, since I am just as qualified as both McShay and Kiper Jr, I looked into the draft class, and as I said before, it is not great. Sure, there's some good, quality guys that could be starters and even pro bowlers, but there is no franchise changing player out there. There's not one player that makes me think that they can turn one of the teams picking early in to immediate contenders. In fact, there hasn't been many transformative players since Cam Newton was picked first overall four years ago. But this draft class, oof, it's mediocre.

The QB's that every "expert" are high on, I don't see all that much from. Jared Goff is tall and has a good arm, but he's skinny, played in an offense that allowed him to throw a lot and he was still average and he did not lead Cal to more than 8 victories while he was there. He's about as good as Jay Cutler. Carson Wentz, the hottest name in the draft right now, played 1-AA college football, so he wasn't playing the toughest competition and he is a bit undersized. He did win a bunch in college, but so did Joe Flacco. Yeah, Flacco was the QB of a Super Bowl winning team, but that team won with defense, not because of Flacco. Wentz's name and stock will never be higher, but I'm not as impressed as others seem to be. The other notable first round QB is Paxton Lynch. Yeah, he started really strong and yeah, Memphis beat Ole Miss early in the year, but when that team needed him to lead the most, they folded. I would not draft him until the third or fourth round.

It's not just the QB's that don't impress me, it's most of the class. There's Ezekiel Elliot, who was great in college, but so was Melvin Gordon and he looked not so great his rookie year. I think Elliot is a lot like Gordon. It will be tough sledding for the first few years. On the defensive side of the ball, there's guys like Jalen Ramsey, Joey Bosa, Myles Jack, Vernan Hargreaves and Shaq Lawson. None of these guys really jump out as stars to me. Jalen Ramsey is big and fast, but he also gets beat deep sometimes. Bosa is tough to block, but he'd rather get high that work on his game. Myles Jack was injured all of last year and he kind of comes off as a spoiled brat. Hargreaves was torched by Michigan and Jake Rudock in the Citrus Bowl. That should scare a lot of teams away. Shaq Lawson is fast, but he is very undersized. None of these guys project as a Charles Woodson or a Bruce Smith. They all seem more like situational type players that will look good at times, but will also look mediocre most times. Even the offensive line players, usually the easiest ones to predict future success, look suspect with one exception. That exception is Laremy Tunsil. He is going to be a very, very good offensive lineman in the NFL. He has the size, strength, footwork and ability to put it all together. Everyone else in this draft is very ho hum to me. I don't see any great players, except for Tunsil. This is the biggest reason I think the Browns and Titans traded out of the top two spots. There's no pressure from the fan base to take a QB that early. The Titans already have a good, young QB in Marcus Mariota and the Browns, they have time to put a team together. Robert Griffin is not going to turn that team around.

Which brings us to my third question for the Browns, are they willing to draft a QB in the later rounds and let him sit behind Griffin for a couple of years? Absolutely. They have nothing but time. They can wait because that team is a total pile of garbage. The fans have no expectations for this team to be any good for awhile now. They can take someone and stash him on the bench and let him learn the system. They got rid of Johnny Manziel, who is a locker room cancer and just an all around garbage person, so the young QB they draft will not have to listen to his whining and complaining. And the Titans, they can draft a ton of other weapons with all the picks they stockpiled to help out Mariota in a year or two.

I can't believe I'm going to say this, but the Titans and the Browns front offices both did a very good job, getting these deals done. The Eagles and the Rams on the other hand, they made very poor choices. I'm sure the Rams will take Goff and I'm sure they'll go 6-10 or 7-9 like they do every year and their offense will be inept. Poor Todd Gurley. He has to deal with this shotty offense. He is the only real playmaker and Goff will not make any team fear the pass. Everyone will load the box against the Rams. And I'm sure the Eagles will take Wentz, which will piss off Sam Bradford, but the inevitable moment he gets injured, Wentz will be thrown into the fire. That's not how you want to bring a young QB along in the NFL. This draft is crummy and I don't get all the hype surrounding the QB's and the two big trades.

On a more serious not, I just want to say Rest In Peace to Prince. I heard the news that he died at the age of 57 today. I don't know too much about Prince, other than the fact that he is an exceptional guitar player and that he has written some of the best pop songs of all time. He voice just wasn't for me. But, I know our head editor, RD, is a huge fan of his and I know he will put together a much better, much more touching piece than I could ever write for you guys. You will be missed Prince and the cool people in the world need to quit dying.

Also, Rest In Peace to Pearl Washington. Many of you may not know who he was, but he is one of the all time great college basketball players. He played for Syracuse during the time when the Big East was the best and most competitive conference in the sport and Pearl Washington was the best player. He combined street ball with college ball and shined. He was an all time great. We lost two great people this week and that stinks. Rest In Peace Pearl Washington and Prince. You both will be missed by a lot of people.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Follow him on twitter @tykulik.