oregonpackfan
04-26-2006, 02:58 PM
I have posted before how many NFL scouts are dismissing WR Mike Hass of Oregon State because he does not possess some of the ideal "measurables" for a pro wide receiver.
Sportswriter John Canzano of The Oregonian has an excellent article in today's paper. He states some NFL team is going to be very fortunate to choose Hass. I hope the Packers will choose him for the 4th round or lower.
Here is the article:
Elephant in the room not race, it's foolishness
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
I n case you didn't know, Oregon State wide receiver Mike Hass is . . . eek . . . Caucasian.
I only point this out because a local radio personality asked Hass in an interview on Tuesday if he thought his skin color was causing him to be unfairly stereotyped when it comes to this weekend's NFL draft. Don't blame the host. The question wouldn't have been asked if fans, posting on draft message boards and e-mailing this columnist, hadn't already been bringing up Hass' skin color.
Hass, who seemed taken aback by the question, said he hoped people didn't think that way.
So today's deep question is: Huh?
Let's see. Hass, a walk-on, led the country in receiving last season. He's one of 10 players in college football history to have three consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons. And he won the Biletnikoff Award as the nation's top receiver. He runs great routes. He has arguably the best hands in the entire draft.
And for all of this, Hass is expected to be drafted somewhere between the third and fifth rounds, long after a handful of less talented receivers with better 40-yard dash times have been selected.
This is not a race issue. This is a brain issue, people.
As in, if we opened the heads of NFL scouts and player personnel directors, we'd have a giant pile of sawdust on our hands. There's no other way to explain how often the NFL scouting people miss when it comes to evaluating college talent. Which is why scouts, one bad pick away from being canned, have been trained to rely upon tangible, neat, tidy criteria such as 40-yard times, vertical jumps and shuttle runs when really, they should just pick the best football player available.
"Competed well, but against sub-par college competition."
"Mediocre 40-yard time."
"Has lapses in concentration that cause him to drop too many passes."
Oh, those remarks aren't about Hass. Former 49ers coach Bill Walsh once told me that those were the things scouts once said about Jerry Rice, who ran a shaky 4.59 in the 40-yard dash at the 1985 combine, then went on to score more touchdowns than any player in league history.
San Francisco saw something in Rice. So the 49ers, coming off a Super Bowl victory, traded its first-, second- and third-round picks to New England for the Patriots' first- and third-round picks so they could move up from 28th to 16th in the first round to take Rice. He made them look smart.
Which brings us to Hass, who has the potential to make some regular front-office dolt picking in the third, fourth or fifth round look like a genius for getting such a good player so late.
T hat's not to say Hass is the next Rice. Think more Hines Ward (third round, 1998). But he's going to go down as one of the best values in this draft because the guys making the picks have forgotten that football is more than running really fast and jumping really high. Or else Carl Lewis and Edwin Moses, and not Rice, would be a lock for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Hass has done everything within his control, but in the end, he had no chance to beat a system that can't see past silly numbers on a clipboard.
Skin color?
Let's not go there.
If Hass had run faster, he'd be a lock for the first two rounds. Making him the latest poster child for "White Men Can't Jump," is ridiculous. The scouts wouldn't care if he were purple or blue if he could run a 4.35.
We've been watching Hass perform in high school and college, which is why we won't be surprised when he makes a roster next season, then finds himself starting someday, then spends his Sundays making fans in some NFL city say, "Yeah, best part is, we never saw him coming."
Yeah, we know. We've been saying it for years.
John Canzano: 503-294-5065; JohnCanzano@aol.com; to read his Web log, go to www.oregonlive.com/canzano Catch him on the radio on "The Bald-Faced Truth," KFXX (1080), weekdays at 5:25 p.m.
Oregonpackfan
Sportswriter John Canzano of The Oregonian has an excellent article in today's paper. He states some NFL team is going to be very fortunate to choose Hass. I hope the Packers will choose him for the 4th round or lower.
Here is the article:
Elephant in the room not race, it's foolishness
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
I n case you didn't know, Oregon State wide receiver Mike Hass is . . . eek . . . Caucasian.
I only point this out because a local radio personality asked Hass in an interview on Tuesday if he thought his skin color was causing him to be unfairly stereotyped when it comes to this weekend's NFL draft. Don't blame the host. The question wouldn't have been asked if fans, posting on draft message boards and e-mailing this columnist, hadn't already been bringing up Hass' skin color.
Hass, who seemed taken aback by the question, said he hoped people didn't think that way.
So today's deep question is: Huh?
Let's see. Hass, a walk-on, led the country in receiving last season. He's one of 10 players in college football history to have three consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons. And he won the Biletnikoff Award as the nation's top receiver. He runs great routes. He has arguably the best hands in the entire draft.
And for all of this, Hass is expected to be drafted somewhere between the third and fifth rounds, long after a handful of less talented receivers with better 40-yard dash times have been selected.
This is not a race issue. This is a brain issue, people.
As in, if we opened the heads of NFL scouts and player personnel directors, we'd have a giant pile of sawdust on our hands. There's no other way to explain how often the NFL scouting people miss when it comes to evaluating college talent. Which is why scouts, one bad pick away from being canned, have been trained to rely upon tangible, neat, tidy criteria such as 40-yard times, vertical jumps and shuttle runs when really, they should just pick the best football player available.
"Competed well, but against sub-par college competition."
"Mediocre 40-yard time."
"Has lapses in concentration that cause him to drop too many passes."
Oh, those remarks aren't about Hass. Former 49ers coach Bill Walsh once told me that those were the things scouts once said about Jerry Rice, who ran a shaky 4.59 in the 40-yard dash at the 1985 combine, then went on to score more touchdowns than any player in league history.
San Francisco saw something in Rice. So the 49ers, coming off a Super Bowl victory, traded its first-, second- and third-round picks to New England for the Patriots' first- and third-round picks so they could move up from 28th to 16th in the first round to take Rice. He made them look smart.
Which brings us to Hass, who has the potential to make some regular front-office dolt picking in the third, fourth or fifth round look like a genius for getting such a good player so late.
T hat's not to say Hass is the next Rice. Think more Hines Ward (third round, 1998). But he's going to go down as one of the best values in this draft because the guys making the picks have forgotten that football is more than running really fast and jumping really high. Or else Carl Lewis and Edwin Moses, and not Rice, would be a lock for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Hass has done everything within his control, but in the end, he had no chance to beat a system that can't see past silly numbers on a clipboard.
Skin color?
Let's not go there.
If Hass had run faster, he'd be a lock for the first two rounds. Making him the latest poster child for "White Men Can't Jump," is ridiculous. The scouts wouldn't care if he were purple or blue if he could run a 4.35.
We've been watching Hass perform in high school and college, which is why we won't be surprised when he makes a roster next season, then finds himself starting someday, then spends his Sundays making fans in some NFL city say, "Yeah, best part is, we never saw him coming."
Yeah, we know. We've been saying it for years.
John Canzano: 503-294-5065; JohnCanzano@aol.com; to read his Web log, go to www.oregonlive.com/canzano Catch him on the radio on "The Bald-Faced Truth," KFXX (1080), weekdays at 5:25 p.m.
Oregonpackfan