By Bryan Burwell
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Tuesday, Apr. 15 2008
Diogenes would have had no use for pro football in the spring. Had the ancient
Greek philosopher roamed the corridors of any NFL training center in the final
days leading up to the annual draft in search of an honest man, he would need
more than an oil lamp to unearth a candid pro football personnel man.
Honesty is not a valued commodity these days as NFL teams carefully plot,
connive and misdirect their way through the first round of pro football's
annual shopping spree. So even as the Miami Dolphins spread the word that they
are engaged in intense contract negotiations with University of Michigan
offensive tackle Jake Long to be the No. 1 pick in next weekend's draft, Rams
player personnel boss Billy Devaney refuses to indulge in the game.
"It's a poker game and it's one I refuse to play because you're playing with
the ultimate poker player in (Miami team president) Bill Parcells," said
Devaney on Monday afternoon at Rams Park. "You're wasting your time trying to
predict what he's going to do because he's the master at it. What's he
thinking? I don't know, I wouldn't pretend to know, and I won't try to predict."
Devaney has some poker player in him, too. As he sat in one of the back offices
at the Rams' training complex, he let one of those sly little grins slip across
his face. He is the man in charge of deciding what to do with the No. 2 pick in
the draft, and this 20-minute conversation turns into an entertaining tap
dance. This is Devaney's carefully measured response to the Machiavellian
doings in Miami. It's impossible to know what Parcells' true intentions are
anyway, so why bother committing to yours before he reveals his? Besides, if
Parcells isn't bluffing, doesn't that still leave many attractive cards on the
table for the Rams if the Dolphins complete pre-draft negotiations with Jake
Long before the first round April 26?
Devaney can select an immediate difference-maker (did someone say "future Pro
Bowler"?) such as LSU defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey. Devaney sounds like he
already has received more than enough medical confirmation that Dorsey has a
clean bill of health. But when he arrives at Rams Park today, Dorsey will have
one more extensive battery of tests, just to make sure. If Dorsey passes again,
Devaney would be foolish to pass him up.
Or he can sit back and listen to any anxious last-minute shoppers willing to
aggressively move up to the Rams' No. 2 slot in a trade. Devaney said that "we
have reason to believe there could be some movement with our pick" from
multiple teams interested in improving their draft position. If the Rams are
convinced they could still get an immediate impact player by moving down, and
pick up multiple first-day draft picks and/or veteran talent, it certainly
would be worth entertaining the prospect. For a Rams team coming off a
nightmarish 3-13 season, it's quite tempting to explore what value the No. 2
pick holds.
Yet before Devaney can play out his hand, Parcells and the Dolphins must play
out theirs. According to several published reports in Miami, all Parcells wants
to do is roll back the clock a few years and alter the rapidly escalating price
of doing business as the holder of the NFL's first pick. A year ago, the
Oakland Raiders gave quarterback JaMarcus Russell a staggering six-year, $62
million deal that included $31 million in guaranteed money. Parcells wants to
pretend 2007 didn't happen, and instead deal with numbers closer to 2006 levels
when Houston signed defensive end Mario Williams to a six-year contract worth
$54 million (with somewhere between $21 million and $26 million guaranteed).
Devaney has no less ambitious goals. All he wants to do is reverse the
nightmarish history of too many bad draft days past for the Rams. On the high
end of expectations, all he needs to do with the second and 33rd picks in this
year's draft is come close to duplicating the kind of franchise-shifting draft
that Rich McKay gave Tampa Bay in his first year with the Bucs (1995), grabbing
Warren Sapp (12th overall) and Derrick Brooks (26th overall).
On the lower end of expectations, all Devaney really needs to do is prove that
as a legitimate football man in charge of the Rams draft, his evaluation
instincts are going to be a lot better than the bean counter who preceded him.
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Tuesday, Apr. 15 2008
Diogenes would have had no use for pro football in the spring. Had the ancient
Greek philosopher roamed the corridors of any NFL training center in the final
days leading up to the annual draft in search of an honest man, he would need
more than an oil lamp to unearth a candid pro football personnel man.
Honesty is not a valued commodity these days as NFL teams carefully plot,
connive and misdirect their way through the first round of pro football's
annual shopping spree. So even as the Miami Dolphins spread the word that they
are engaged in intense contract negotiations with University of Michigan
offensive tackle Jake Long to be the No. 1 pick in next weekend's draft, Rams
player personnel boss Billy Devaney refuses to indulge in the game.
"It's a poker game and it's one I refuse to play because you're playing with
the ultimate poker player in (Miami team president) Bill Parcells," said
Devaney on Monday afternoon at Rams Park. "You're wasting your time trying to
predict what he's going to do because he's the master at it. What's he
thinking? I don't know, I wouldn't pretend to know, and I won't try to predict."
Devaney has some poker player in him, too. As he sat in one of the back offices
at the Rams' training complex, he let one of those sly little grins slip across
his face. He is the man in charge of deciding what to do with the No. 2 pick in
the draft, and this 20-minute conversation turns into an entertaining tap
dance. This is Devaney's carefully measured response to the Machiavellian
doings in Miami. It's impossible to know what Parcells' true intentions are
anyway, so why bother committing to yours before he reveals his? Besides, if
Parcells isn't bluffing, doesn't that still leave many attractive cards on the
table for the Rams if the Dolphins complete pre-draft negotiations with Jake
Long before the first round April 26?
Devaney can select an immediate difference-maker (did someone say "future Pro
Bowler"?) such as LSU defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey. Devaney sounds like he
already has received more than enough medical confirmation that Dorsey has a
clean bill of health. But when he arrives at Rams Park today, Dorsey will have
one more extensive battery of tests, just to make sure. If Dorsey passes again,
Devaney would be foolish to pass him up.
Or he can sit back and listen to any anxious last-minute shoppers willing to
aggressively move up to the Rams' No. 2 slot in a trade. Devaney said that "we
have reason to believe there could be some movement with our pick" from
multiple teams interested in improving their draft position. If the Rams are
convinced they could still get an immediate impact player by moving down, and
pick up multiple first-day draft picks and/or veteran talent, it certainly
would be worth entertaining the prospect. For a Rams team coming off a
nightmarish 3-13 season, it's quite tempting to explore what value the No. 2
pick holds.
Yet before Devaney can play out his hand, Parcells and the Dolphins must play
out theirs. According to several published reports in Miami, all Parcells wants
to do is roll back the clock a few years and alter the rapidly escalating price
of doing business as the holder of the NFL's first pick. A year ago, the
Oakland Raiders gave quarterback JaMarcus Russell a staggering six-year, $62
million deal that included $31 million in guaranteed money. Parcells wants to
pretend 2007 didn't happen, and instead deal with numbers closer to 2006 levels
when Houston signed defensive end Mario Williams to a six-year contract worth
$54 million (with somewhere between $21 million and $26 million guaranteed).
Devaney has no less ambitious goals. All he wants to do is reverse the
nightmarish history of too many bad draft days past for the Rams. On the high
end of expectations, all he needs to do with the second and 33rd picks in this
year's draft is come close to duplicating the kind of franchise-shifting draft
that Rich McKay gave Tampa Bay in his first year with the Bucs (1995), grabbing
Warren Sapp (12th overall) and Derrick Brooks (26th overall).
On the lower end of expectations, all Devaney really needs to do is prove that
as a legitimate football man in charge of the Rams draft, his evaluation
instincts are going to be a lot better than the bean counter who preceded him.