Commentary: NFL Instant Reactions

Published 8:01 pm Saturday, May 6, 2017

Reid Kerr thinks Jay Cutler will be good as a TV broadcaster.

As anyone who has ever met me knows, I put a lot of time and energy into the NFL Draft. Apparently far too much, which led to a family intervention at one point, but still it’s my favorite day of the year. That first round is just absolutely steeped in danger and opportunity, like a game of high-stakes poker that doesn’t fully play out until five or ten years later.

That said, when the draft is done, I lapse into a coma for a couple of weeks, all spent and in desperate need of cocooning. When I come back around, I find all sorts of things have happened. Here are my instant reactions to NFL events of the last two weeks.

Subject: NFL Draft Grades

Reaction: Truly, the worst ratio of actual information to unspeculated guessing that exists in sports journalism. I’m as guilty of this as anyone else, but I don’t subject my readers to my uninformed opinions. Unless I’m really hurting for a column idea, of course. In an industry where the fail rate of first-round quarterbacks is about 50 percent, you can’t possibly think anyone other than a lucky fortune teller or a shaman would be able to judge future results based on past events.

“Why didn’t my team draft this guy at this position they needed?”



Well, maybe he showed up for his interview late, drunk, and with LaVar Ball as his agent. We don’t know, we have to trust them. And second-guess them, of course.

Subject: Orangutans and Mike Mayock.

Reaction: The NFL Network’s Mike Mayock got pretty angry with this one, as the Colts draft pick was revealed by an orangutan on live camera at the Indianapolis Zoo. I understand Mayock’s disgust, he’s a football purist and that’s why he’s good at his job, but come on. The over-coverage of the NFL and sports in general is what has led to things like 70,000 people showing up for the draft and ratings that crushed the NBA and NHL playoffs that same night.

In fact, it’s the same crazed fan enthusiasm that leads to televised drafts, Mike Mayock’s job, and this column. So I’m willing to let a bit of silliness slide.

Subject: The Cleveland Browns draft.

Reaction: Like I said, early judgment is usually useless, but Cleveland stocking an empty roster certainly seems like a good idea. When you’re a Browns fan, you need hope, and this draft at least gives you a reason to look forward to the season. Unlike…

Subject: Buffalo firing their General Manager and entire scouting department about four minutes after the draft ended.

Reaction: The Bills have been a steady-rolling tire-fire for almost two decades now, and that seems like it’s continuing under new ownership. If you need to think too long about firing the guy who gave up two first round picks for Sammy Watkins, or anything greater than a bag of dirt for EJ Manuel, you’re putting too much thought into it.

Remember, Buffalo is still the only NFL team that hasn’t made the playoffs in a year beginning with the number “two.”

Subject: Joe Mixon going to Cincinnati.

Reaction: Uh-oh. This seems like a match made for awful reality TV.

Subject: Jay Cutler going to FOX as a broadcaster.

Reaction: Tony Romo has started a trend, it seems. Cutler will always go down as an enigma, a guy with a rocket arm and a face you just wanted to punch. He was far better than he seemed to be because people’s perceptions of Cutler were based on the way he never really seemed to be affected by winning or losing.

I think Cutler will be good on television.

Like I always said, he might not have been the best quarterback in the league, but he was certainly the best quarterback on “The League.”

Reid Kerr talks a lot, as his wife always reminds him. Reid’s second book, “I Hate It Here: A Love Story,” is out now o Amazon.com. You can always tweet questions, comments, and angry messages to him at @reidaboutit.