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Did Nawrocki cross the line?

Mr. Scot

By Mr. Scot,
in Carolina Panthers

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Mr. Scot Grand Master

Mr. Scot

Posted
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Lance Zierlein of the Houston Chronicle takes up the question of whether the personal criticism of Cam Newton was warranted, and gives some insight on Nolan Nawrocki.

Excerpts:

There are two very valid criticisms/concerns that have been brought up regarding Nawrocki's evaluation of Cam Newton. The first concern is that Nawrocki's evaluation was meant to draw attention to Pro Football Weekly and sell draft publications. The second criticism revolves around how Nawrocki was able to make such damning comments about Newton even though he's never spoken to Newton or been around him for any amount of time. I will address both.

As far as attention is concerned, if you think Nawrocki is seeking attention, you don't know him very well. I've had him on my sports talk show - (once), my NFL Draft show (once) and I've talked shop with him on a few occasions. If anything he shies away from attention. Hell, I never knew what he looked like until last week despite talking to him about the draft over the last three years. Google images? No prayer. I always figured he had some big push-broom Chicago-style mustache based on his voice.

I've given Nolan a chance to come on the radio and push his draft guides in the past and he declines. He's an evaluator and that is it. Hell, check out the video on PFW and you can see how uncomfortable he looks in front of the camera. I do, however, believe that the editors of PFW leaked Nolan's evaluation in order to draw attention to their product. I'm certain that was the case. And it worked. That wouldn't have been Nolan Nawrocki's call.

As for how he can make such damning accusations regarding Cam's character, I think it is a fair question, but one that is answered pretty simply. I've got a few contacts around the league and they all pretty much agree that Nawrocki is the most tied-in of all the analysts/evaluators out there. Some teams share info with him and he shares some with them. He and I have a few of the same contacts in the league and I know that he gets character evaluations from some of the best scouts in the business.

The good scouts have college coaches in their scouting region who trust them. These scouts are able to get all the info - good and bad - about players that they need and they take this info and build it into their player reports. If a scout really has interest in a player, he will talk to that player's high school coach, high school teacher's, ex-girlfriends, AAU basketball coaches and especially study and note the player's family and friends. One of the reasons that Percy Harvin was off the board for so many teams is because of who he hangs around with. That made their reports.

The best teams want to know every possible bit of dirt on a player so they can decide if he's worthy of being that team's pick. The higher rated the player, the more digging the good teams will do. They don't want ANY surprises after draft day. If they are drafting a turd, they want to know they are drafting a turd and what makes that player a turd so that they can better manage the player. One defensive back in this draft is a virgin according to a draft insider I spoke with. Should this matter to a team? I don't know, but I do know that teams even dig into this area with some players (I'm not always sure why, but they do).

Rob Rang, Chad Reuter and the guys over at NFLDraftScout.com do a great job of giving readers a look at player evaluations that are very professionally done and give readers great insight into the strengths and weaknesses of players. Draft Scout doesn't, however, won't go too far into the character issues for players. While they hear the stories about players from scouts and personnel people around the league, they usually won't print much of it.

What Nawrocki did (and does) is write up prospects in the same fashion that many NFL scouts write them up, not like other media outlets write them up. Not only do scouts put the focus on their on-field attributes, but they also include anything and everything that they find out about a player that could have a positive or negative effect on the player's draft stock in his own war room. If the scout doesn't do his due diligence on a player, it could end with him getting fired. It's happened plenty of times.

For the record, I thought Nawrocki may have gone a little far with some of his characterizations of Cam since he knows that the general public is reading his evaluations. The comment about knowing where the cameras are at all times seemed a little much but I've heard the same comment behind the scenes from an NFL team and they got that info from Auburn.

I understand why some people in the general public and in the draft community are slamming Nolan Nawrocki for how far he went with his Cam Newton commentary, but I also realize that Nolan is more evaluator than draft writer. He's a former Illinois linebacker who lives and breathes football. He's one of the sharpest evaluators that I've dealt with from a media standpoint and NFL teams talk to him because they consider him a "football guy" and not a "football writer." I used to read some of Nawrocki's evaluations to my dad when he was coaching O-line with the Steelers and he usually said Nawrocki was dead-on.

Just keep in mind that Nawrocki simply pulled the curtain back a little bit on the conversations that are taking place behind the scenes of many NFL teams right now about regarding Cam Newton whether you agree with what he wrote or not. I have Cam Newton as my top-rated QB, but I also consider him to be one of the biggest risk/reward prospects in the the draft.

Link: Did Nolan Nawrocki cross the line with his Cam Newton evaluation?

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Mother Grabber Grand Master

Mother Grabber

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Freedom of speech gives you the right to speak your mind without government persecution. It doesn't make you immune to public and media outcry. It also doesn't prevent an employer from firing you for your words. I'm still amazed at how many people don't understand that.

His comments can get him in trouble and "freedom of speech" has nothing to do with it.

I agree, but he can still write whatever he wants. If you don't like it, don't read it. He has a job based on readership. If he writes crap, he won't have a very large readership and he won't have a job. Let that be the deciding factor.

If he writes some wrong or defamatory then he'll get sued, his publisher will get sued and he'll get fired.

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Mr. Scot Grand Master

Mr. Scot

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That's fine if he is delivering it unfiltered, but I don't completely buy that. And if that's the case, then every team at the top of the draft either doesn't have the same opinions about Cam or they are uninformed idiots.

Some of them likely are...sort of.

Some teams don't go into the player background. Although Zierlein doesn't name them, you can probably expect that teams like the Bengals, raiders and Cowboys don't bother with that side of the evaluation. Whether or not that's smart is a debate in itself.

But beyond that, some teams have good scouting departments, and some don't. Is there any doubt the Steelers have a top flight scouting department? Likewise, is there any doubt that the Bengals scouting department probably needs an overhaul?

This is one of the things I've said plenty of times on here. Teams don't pay attention to media scouts like Kiper, Mayock, Brandt or Nawrocki. They get their info internally from their own scouts, and it's a mistake to sit back and think that just because a lot of the media guys rate a player a certain way that all the different scouting departments agree. They likely don't, and some of the gaps could be huge.

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Mr. Scot Grand Master

Mr. Scot

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you are just not going to let this die? nawrocki was a no body til this week

To you perhaps. Not to the media and scouting community.

1. Never interviewed him - strike one

2. Alabama alum - strike two :confused:

3. Trying to generate pub to sell a magazine - strike three you're out

He's a former Illinois linebacker
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ncmonzta Contributor

ncmonzta

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1. Never interviewed him - strike one

2. Alabama alum - strike two

3. Trying to generate pub to sell a magazine - strike three you're out

wait, Alabama alumni hating Cam Newton the black quarterback that embarrassed them, no way? can't be

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