Smitty's pre-draft analysis of Nalo

[TD alt]

Before I give my short overall take of Steve Smith's take, let me acknowledge the disdain and pure dislike that some have for 89 because of his personality--perceived or very real smugness--and some of his asshole-ish ways. I get that. But a certain amount of people are going to mature and grow, and I believe that you should allow for that if they're talking you and showing you that that's what they're trying to do. In my opinion, sometimes people make unfair assumptions--and sometimes even create things akin to lies in their own mind about a person--based on times when that person was at their worst. 

Now, that I've gotten that out of the way, I realize that people have said that 89 loves this receiver or that receiver based upon his reviews, but like I've told you before, his reviews are not an endeavor to sh¡t on a kid, and they're not necessarily an endorsement either. He said as much in the linked video in so many words. Sure, his rebiews may have a decidedly positive spin because 89 doesn't want to crush a kid hoping to join the league, but Smitty is also going to keep it real in his own way. 

As for Tetairoa McMillan, a.k.a. Nalo a.k.a. T-mac (or Tmac for short), Steve Smith expressly said that he thinks that he'll be good, but not great. He thinks that T-Mac has a fairly good floor.  He doesn't necessarily think T-Mac will be great, unless and only if T-Mac puts in the work to be great and stops "taking playings off" due to being disinterested when he's not the focal point of the offense, or is simply being handled by a very physical corner (or even one that is near his same physical stature). Smitty basically says that T-mac's size is not going to be enough of a distinction to get him into the "great" realm, but that T-Mac is going to have to consistently use his size to attain the upside that many believe that he has. 

For me, what Smitty said is fair. It's not sh¡tting on T-Mac as much as it is saying that T-Mac is going to have to get his sh¡t together to become that WR1 that a top 10 pick supposedly represents or reflects.

 

 

As a bonus, I guess Nalo's WR coach took offense and Smitty responded.

 

[Jackofalltrades]

Most propositions here on the Huddle become "all or nothing." It's a constant swinging from one extreme to the other with very little tolerance of anything in the middle. It's sad.

I didn't want TMac, but I'm a fan now and hope he has a lot of success regardless of my pre-draft biases.

[NAS]

I always liked Smitty he is one of my favorite Panthers but don’t care for his WR analysis or any thoughts on football he’s just not that good.  I remember when Larry Fitzgerald was a rookie, Smitty was on WFNZ radio after a game saying how he looked slow and wasn’t impressed. Needless to say Larry had an even better career 

[tukafan21]

8 minutes ago, NAS said:

I always liked Smitty he is one of my favorite Panthers but don’t care for his WR analysis or any thoughts on football he’s just not that good.  I remember when Larry Fitzgerald was a rookie, Smitty was on WFNZ radio after a game saying how he looked slow and wasn’t impressed. Needless to say Larry had an even better career 

One of my favorite things about us taking T-Mac is that I get to see my Arizona boards attack my GOAT (haven't been able too decide which boards I'm enjoying more... rubbing it in my fellow Wildcat fan's faces that my NFL team took our guy or just celebrating on here that we took him, they're equally fun in different ways lol).

Needless to say, Smitty is not a well liked person these days in Tucson, and all the Wildcat family is talking about how they hope T-Mac takes all his Panthers records away (which frankly I agree now as just a Panthers fan, because it means we drafted a HOFer).

But one of the things I keep telling them is that as Panthers fans, we know Smitty is regularly wrong on his WR projections and that Smitty hating on T-Mac is probably a better sign for his career than the opposite.

Edited April 27 by tukafan21

[Swaggasaurus]

I’m pretty much fuging over this guy. He’s got himself on wayyy to high a pedestal. Also…see Jonathan Mingo.

[jfra78]

I'm not throwing anymore shade at Tmac, hope he becomes a great player for the Panthers

[kungfoodude]

I have seen some suggestion that T-Mac has issues with work ethic. I hope those reach his ears and he takes that as motivation to work extremely hard to be dominant. 

[jfra78]

4 minutes ago, tukafan21 said:

One of my favorite things about us taking T-Mac is that I get to see my Arizona boards attack my GOAT.

Needless to say, Smitty is not a well liked person these days in Tucson, and all the Wildcat family is talking about how they hope T-Mac takes all his Panthers records away (which frankly I agree now as just a Panthers fan, because it means we drafted a HOFer).

But one of the things I keep telling them is that as Panthers fans, we know Smitty is regularly wrong on his WR projections and that Smitty hating on T-Mac is probably a better sign for his career than the opposite.

I wouldnt say regularly 

[tukafan21]

1 minute ago, jfra78 said:

I wouldnt say regularly 

I'm not saying he's wrong on all of his projections, he's right on some, no doubt about it.  

But I'd say he's been way more wrong than right when evaluating WRs over the last 5 years or so, I'd consider that regularly in my book, but to each his own.

[TD alt]

4 minutes ago, NAS said:

I always liked Smitty he is one of my favorite Panthers but don’t care for his WR analysis or any thoughts on football he’s just not that good.  I remember when Larry Fitzgerald was a rookie, Smitty was on WFNZ radio after a game saying how he looked slow and wasn’t impressed. Needless to say Larry had an even better career 

Smitty is out here guessing like everyone is. He's wrong a lot for sure, but not wrong all the time. That being said, he should know that it doesn't even take blazing or even great speed to have a damned good career. He was the little man who played like a big man. Loved his effort (even though he admitted that he took plays off at some point during his career)! I think he's growing though...hopefully. He's particularly hard on receivers that he perceives as not putting in the necessary effort.

On an off note: Truthfully--being totally honest--If there was another asshole receiver just like Smitty, I'd draft him in a heartbeat if I were a GM and had the opportunity. 

[jfra78]

Just now, tukafan21 said:

I'm not saying he's wrong on all of his projections, he's right on some, no doubt about it.  

But I'd say he's been way more wrong than right when evaluating WRs over the last 5 years or so, I'd consider that regularly in my book, but to each his own.

I think its the other way around he has been wrong a few times and people hang onto it.  

[tukafan21]

2 minutes ago, kungfoodude said:

I have seen some suggestion that T-Mac has issues with work ethic. I hope those reach his ears and he takes that as motivation to work extremely hard to be dominant. 

As I said in another thread, the majority of his "work ethic issues" stem from that McShay report, that is pretty widely assumed/known in the Arizona community that it was our POS old coach who was throwing shade because he was upset that T-Mac and Fifita didn't follow him to Washington.

In 3 years at Arizona, there was never a single shred of evidence or mention that he had work ethic issues.

[TD alt]

4 minutes ago, Swaggasaurus said:

I’m pretty much fuging over this guy. He’s got himself on wayyy to high a pedestal. Also…see Jonathan Mingo.

I have listened to Smitty's reviews, especially the one on Mingo, and Smitty was still positive but still decidedly noncommittal at the end of the day. He never ever said that Mingo was going to be some great receiver. Y'all need to be truthful.

[LinvilleGorge]

Smitty's response is exactly the problem a lot of people have with Smitty. A college position coach is just sticking up for his kid and Smitty immediately takes it personally and just outright attacks him. At least he's doing it on YouTube now instead of breaking noses but it just shows that Smitty hasn't grown in that regard.