DT Malik McDowell expected to be released

[AgentDib]

Many of the responses in this thread are borderline crazy. McDowell was a top 15 talent who was only available at pick #35 because he was very young (20), extremely raw, and took plays off at times. Connecting that to a propensity to have a freak career derailing injury is just dumb. The FO would have looked bad for this pick if McDowell had turned into another unmotivated Moffitt. If he doesn't play a snap due to an ATV accident that's just bad luck. Trying to find a scapegoat for what is just bad luck is one of the primary sports fan blunders.

Why do we hope that another team can medically clear him?

The "we hope another team can medically clear him" is because that's clearly a tweet on behalf of McDowell's agent, who's job it is to "leak" stuff to guys like Rapoport in an attempt to manipulate things in favor of his client. Maybe the Hawks actually told McDowell's camp something about cutting him if a certain milestone wasn't made (doubtful), or maybe the agent is getting impatient with the Hawks medical staff not clearing McDowell and so he's looking for a change of scenery and a new medical staff.

Maybe the Hawks are indeed considering releasing McDowell, but it makes zero sense for them to have that plan set in stone and not to have already followed through on it. The June 1 thing is completely irrelevant because the CBA allows teams to cut players now and still designate them June 1 so that everybody can move on and players can find a new team sooner rather than later. The Hawks also like to cut players sooner rather than later for similar reasons.

turning your first round pick into Malik and paying a few millions signing bonus and getting zero games IS NOT OPEN BOX DISCOUNT..........

That's exactly what it is. Finding a raw talent at a good value and coaching them up is the Hawks ideal draft strategy. If they fall for "fixable" reasons then that's even better. Pete considers the job of the coaching staff to be just as much about development as it is about game planning, and motivating players is one of his primary strengths. Here's a scouting report from when McDowell was drafted:

He has a chance to be a dominant player in our league. I mean dominant. It hasn't turned on for him all the way yet but if it does, he could be like Mario Williams. He's just a little lazy and I worry about whether he is going to be a self-starter.

Getting a player like that in the second round is exactly what BPA drafting is all about. However, sometimes bad things happen but there doesn't always need to be a scapegoat.

 

[Seymour]

...... If he doesn't play a snap due to an ATV accident that's just bad luck. Trying to find a scapegoat for what is just bad luck is one of the primary sports fan blunders.

Come on....McDowell is not "a victim of bad luck". He is a victim of himself (youth plus stupidity) COMBINED with either bad luck or shitty riding skills.

Without the youth and stupidity, he's ballin'.

 

[AgentDib]

The Seahawks are the victim of bad luck. We disagree on quite a few things, but your implication that McDowell's accident is a product of immaturity that the Hawks should have predicted is by far the widest difference.

 

[Seymour]

The Seahawks are the victim of bad luck. We disagree on quite a few things, but your implication that McDowell's accident is a product of immaturity that the Hawks should have predicted is by far the widest difference.

Yes, and I also disagree with that. As pointed out, other scouting reports agreed he was the worst interview in the entire draft. That is not bad luck by the Seahawks. That is playing Russian Roulette and losing.

I am not big on blowing off responsibility like you...."oh well, bad luck, lets just do that again and hope things get better" opposed to "well we played with fire and got burned. Lets learn from that an not repeat the error".

I'll take the latter every time....

 

[mrt144]

The Seahawks are the victim of bad luck. We disagree on quite a few things, but your implication that McDowell's accident is a product of immaturity that the Hawks should have predicted is by far the widest difference.

Yes, and I also disagree with that. As pointed out, other scouting reports agreed he was the worst interview in the entire draft. That is not bad luck by the Seahawks. That is playing Russian Roulette and losing.

I am not big on blowing off responsibility like you...."oh well, bad luck, lets just do that again and hope things get better" opposed to "well we played with fire and got burned. Lets learn from that an not repeat the error".

I'll take the latter every time....

The problem with some of this scouting report stuff though is that scouts can find faults of no consequence while elevating attributes of no significance. That so much of this stuff is anonymously disseminated makes it harder to build a track record on which scouts are high on their own supply and which ones are on the money more often than not. Hell, we could look at how anon scouts reacting to Josh Rosen, the personality, sets up a fallacious factorial crucible - if Rosen doesn't succeed many will harken back to the scouting reports that played up his faults yet if he does there's no way to diminish future scouting reports that make bold claims about personality.

In fact one of the saddest aspects of football is an unwillingness to entertain conditional factors or differentiate multiple simultaneous factors.

 

[Seymour]

Those weren't just everyday scouting reports. Those were NFL combine interviews done with team top level brass that made those statements.

Michigan State defensive lineman Malik McDowell put up impressive numbers at the NFL Combine. However, it was the interview portion that had the former Spartans star on Yahoo’s NFL Combine losers list:

Michigan State DL Malik McDowell — Allow us to explain how a 6-foot-6, 295-pound prime athlete with long arms and big hands who runs a 4.85 40 is on the “losers” list. Said one team: “Worst interview we did.” Added another: “Awful interview. Awful.” What concerns scouts most is that for all his tremendous upside — watch him destroy Michigan, for instance — McDowell’s production and tape don’t always match up. Scouts feel like he takes plays off too often. And when they asked him about that, he got defensive. They also asked him about his attitude and work ethic, which were concerns. Many of those questions remain unanswered. The cautionary tale is Clowney,” one team explained. “You see him now, he’s dominant; we had those same questions [for McDowell] when he came out. Does he love football? Is he going to work? “With [McDowell], I can’t figure out what makes this kid tick. He might be the type who, maybe he falls [in the draft] and it lights a fire under him. I don’t know. But I need that light on more often, and he didn’t like it when we asked him about that. “McDowell might never fully show his full skill, but passing on him also means you’re missing out on a potentially rare talent.”

 

[MontanaHawk05]

So bad interviews lead to ATV accidents now?

If Malik had busted because of a poor attitude, I could see blaming the Seahawks for ignoring that red flag. But not in this instance.

There doesn't need to be a scapegoat.

 

[Seymour]

So bad interviews lead to ATV accidents now?

If Malik had busted because of a poor attitude, I could see blaming the Seahawks for ignoring that red flag. But not in this instance.

There doesn't need to be a scapegoat.

No. Stupidity leads to risk increase.

 

[mrt144]

So bad interviews lead to ATV accidents now?

If Malik had busted because of a poor attitude, I could see blaming the Seahawks for ignoring that red flag. But not in this instance.

There doesn't need to be a scapegoat.

No. Stupidity leads to risk increase.

I await your article in NAAJ on defining the parameters of stupidity and modelling their risk across draft picks going back 20+ years.

 

[Seymour]

So bad interviews lead to ATV accidents now?

If Malik had busted because of a poor attitude, I could see blaming the Seahawks for ignoring that red flag. But not in this instance.

There doesn't need to be a scapegoat.

No. Stupidity leads to risk increase.

I await your article in NAAJ on defining the parameters of stupidity and modelling their risk across draft picks going back 20+ years.

Here it is. Enjoy.

[youtube]QoqMPYB0rz8[/youtube]

 

[AgentDib]

Just out of simple curiosity, do you hold Bill responsible for Aaron Hernandez going around murdering people? I assume that's completely different in your view.

 

[Seymour]

Just out of simple curiosity, do you hold Bill responsible for Aaron Hernandez going around murdering people? I assume that's completely different in your view.

No. I hold him responsible for losing that draft pick and enabling the distraction he was. :roll:

 

[KitsapGuy]

Let's stick to the original topic here.

 

[HawkGA]

I hadn't watched the arrest video before. Am I the only one who found it rather comical?

 

[mrt144]

So bad interviews lead to ATV accidents now?

If Malik had busted because of a poor attitude, I could see blaming the Seahawks for ignoring that red flag. But not in this instance.

There doesn't need to be a scapegoat.

No. Stupidity leads to risk increase.

I await your article in NAAJ on defining the parameters of stupidity and modelling their risk across draft picks going back 20+ years.

Here it is. Enjoy.

[youtube]QoqMPYB0rz8[/youtube]

So your parameters of stupidity are like the SCOTUS parameters on pornography - you know it when you see it. You can see how this is particularly wanting right? And how many instances of similar or worse stupidity hasn't imperiled every single or even most NFL players to the same degree.

 

[mikeak]

So your parameters of stupidity are like the SCOTUS parameters on pornography - you know it when you see it. You can see how this is particularly wanting right? And how many instances of similar or worse stupidity hasn't imperiled every single or even most NFL players to the same degree.

Can't speak for this poster, but there were a lot of upset people in the draft forum on the draft day

Moving out of round 1 again and not getting the 5th year option

not drafting a OL player

not drafting one of the top corners (seems to have been a good call or they wouldn't have gotten Shaq)

drafting a guy that looks lazy on tape and not motivated by the game

Guess what - we have seen it before but in different acting. It was Johnny Manziel that went to Vegas every weekend when there wasn't a training camp. You can argue that sure that is his spare time, but we all know that the rookie QBs that succeeds are staying at the facility, studying film and working out

If it wasn't the ATV accident then it would have been the something else. The way to motivate a guy with huge upside but lazy / non-interested attitude is NOT by giving him $6million

 

[Seymour]

So your parameters of stupidity are like the SCOTUS parameters on pornography - you know it when you see it. You can see how this is particularly wanting right? And how many instances of similar or worse stupidity hasn't imperiled every single or even most NFL players to the same degree.

Can't speak for this poster, but there were a lot of upset people in the draft forum on the draft day

Moving out of round 1 again and not getting the 5th year option

not drafting a OL player

not drafting one of the top corners (seems to have been a good call or they wouldn't have gotten Shaq)

drafting a guy that looks lazy on tape and not motivated by the game

Guess what - we have seen it before but in different acting. It was Johnny Manziel that went to Vegas every weekend when there wasn't a training camp. You can argue that sure that is his spare time, but we all know that the rookie QBs that succeeds are staying at the facility, studying film and working out

If it wasn't the ATV accident then it would have been the something else. The way to motivate a guy with huge upside but lazy / non-interested attitude is NOT by giving him $6million

Bingo! Someone gets it.

The other post I will ignore, it's a useless discussion. Either you see the issue with the character or you don't. Not my job to convince you.

 

[mrt144]

Im asking for a more robust way of identifying it than you simplying saying, "see, i was right about this based on three key instances of behavior and a busted career."

Its not your job to convince me but its not my job to listen to post hoc reasoning that pretends it isnt.

 

[mrt144]

So your parameters of stupidity are like the SCOTUS parameters on pornography - you know it when you see it. You can see how this is particularly wanting right? And how many instances of similar or worse stupidity hasn't imperiled every single or even most NFL players to the same degree.

Can't speak for this poster, but there were a lot of upset people in the draft forum on the draft day

Moving out of round 1 again and not getting the 5th year option

not drafting a OL player

not drafting one of the top corners (seems to have been a good call or they wouldn't have gotten Shaq)

drafting a guy that looks lazy on tape and not motivated by the game

Guess what - we have seen it before but in different acting. It was Johnny Manziel that went to Vegas every weekend when there wasn't a training camp. You can argue that sure that is his spare time, but we all know that the rookie QBs that succeeds are staying at the facility, studying film and working out

If it wasn't the ATV accident then it would have been the something else. The way to motivate a guy with huge upside but lazy / non-interested attitude is NOT by giving him $6million

The opportunity cost of selecting X player isnt predictive of player X being a bust waiting to happen.

 

[AgentDib]

Moving out of round 1 again and not getting the 5th year option... not drafting a OL player... not drafting one of the top corners... drafting a guy that looks lazy on tape and not motivated by the game

Those are all fine reasons to not like a selection. I'm not defending the pick here and it's entirely possible that McDowell would have been a bust.

If it wasn't the ATV accident then it would have been the something else.

That's entirely possible but it looks like we may never know due to the ATV accident. The ATV accident sucks but it isn't the FO's fault and will probably end up in making this an incomplete grade rather than a good or bad one. Maybe in your view the FO is getting off easy there due to us never seeing Malik bust on the field, but you can always stick to your guns that he would have been a bust. The ATV accident itself is not what makes the pick a bad (or good) selection.