Robert Shields - From the Bench - Mallet won't go in the 2nd Round

Arms Like Mallett’s Don’t Go in the Second Round

Robert Shields

On Thursday, Ryan Mallett will be drafted into the NFL. The former starting quarterback and strong-armed flamethrower for the Razorbacks will finally get paid for his services as maybe he could have if he had gone to another school (Auburn haters can insert them here). Where he will go or in what position has been debated for weeks. His stock rises and falls with each latest report.

The thing is that NFL teams don’t like showing their hand as to who they are going to draft because they think it can give them a competitive advantage in the selection process. I pretend to be and expert at a lot of things, but I will freely admit that I know very little about the strategy NFL teams use to draft. For the most part, they draft the best player possible at their turn like at recess in school (except in the school yard you can’t trade your possible pick for more players later.) To do anything else is beyond the rational-consumer model of economics.

With all that said, I will be shocked if Mallett falls into the second round. His arm is one of a kind in this draft, and that type of ability does not come available every year. The Hogs were lucky he stayed around another year. I had a previous NFL player tell me when Mallett was a sophomore that he would be crazy not to come out early and that no NFL team would pass up that arm.

The extra year in college did not affect his arm and actually improved his understanding of the game. He also proved to be a little more mobile in buying time than in his sophomore season. Pressure bothered him quite a bit his sophomore year, but by his junior year he was much calmer in the pocket and it was evident in road games.

I have seen few quarterbacks have the ability to throw the deep ball with such a low trajectory. Most have to wind it up and let it fall back from outer space as the receiver runs under it. With Mallett, you’re not going to outrun his throw. And when it’s coming to you on a route, you better be ready because it’s going to be there when you turn around for it. We’ve seen a few balls clang off receivers’ helmets over the years from guys who weren’t quite ready for Mallett’s throws.

The fear he may fall in the draft comes from continued reports of his supposed partying. This may have been true when he first arrived from Michigan because he had one incident on Dickson Street. But if you’re a college student at the University of Arkansas and you have never had at least one incident or lost memory on Dickson Street, then you missed out on getting the full college experience.

Since that incident, there have been no other run-ins with the law. There have been no reports. Yet the stigma has stuck with him. The Auburn quarterback, Cam Newton, has been dogged by all types of allegations from a laptop thrown out a window (you need to read the police report), to academic fraud, to Newton’s own father admitting he peddled his son’s services and then was told to avoid Auburn football events and yet still attended at least one. Somehow it has not affected his draft status by the pundits.

Such is life in the public eye as you can just ask the Royal Couple (congrats, William and Kate!). You’re always under the microscope.

I have little doubt Mallett will be drafted high because of his ability. I do not believe all the allegations against him on character, and even if it was true, does it really matter in the NFL where you have one quarterback that was involved in a dog-killing ring and another blamed for sexual misconduct and both still play. Do you think having a few drinks two years ago on Dickson Street matter now to a team needing a great quarterback?

Bobby Petrino says he has never failed a drug test. I am sure NFL teams looking at him also performed one. I bet he passed.

The latest bunk was that he was out partying and missed a meeting the next morning with the Panthers. The story was disproved. My advice to Mallett is that he should have stuck it out with the meetings until the end or until you had to go to the emergency room or be seen immediately by a doctor. My reasoning is that if I’m going to an interview, I’m going to be Iron Man until they carry me out.

I’m going to run with the conspiracy theory that NFL teams are downplaying him hoping to outfox the next team to get a great quarterback at a cheaper price. I will not be shocked to find out Thursday he was the first quarterback taken. Because if I’m on the playground and starting my team, I’m giving no clue to the other captain who is my pick -- and Mallet’s my first pick.

With all this said, the best words of wisdom I heard over the last week in this discussion put things in perspective: “Stop worrying about him. He is about to make more in the next year than most people make in a lifetime. It’s like worrying about Faith Hill if she’s going to find work – you know with her problem of being ugly and having no ability to sing.”



Send your lost Dickson Street memories to fromthebench@yahoo.com.

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