SHUT UP COACH, YOU'RE NOT HELPING!!!!

During a recent interview on Sirius NFL Radio (The best radio on radio) Boston College Head Coach Jeff Jagodzinski said, “Matt Ryan should definitely be a top 5 NFL Draft Pick because he is the next Matt Hasselbeck.” I have a feeling that he was directing that comment toward the Atlanta Falcons because they obviously are a team that will be drafting a QB at some point in the draft and have the third overall pick. I was not surprised that Jagodzinski was attempting to hype his player because that is what coaches do around draft time, but comparing him to Matt Hasselbeck? Coach couldn’t you have done better. For instance, before the 2007 NFL Draft, Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis said that Brady Quinn was a combination on Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. I will give everyone a moment to finish laughing. Done? OK. Tom Brady and Peyton Manning are the best two quarterbacks in the game today. While it was a ridiculous statement, he at least tried to give NFL teams the illusion that they were getting the best quarterback to ever step on a football field. That is how you attempt to sell your player.

Listening to coach Jagodzinski’s comment, what I think he was really saying was, “Some team with a legendary quarterback should draft Matt Ryan in the sixth round (just like Green Bay drafted Matt Hasselbeck), and send him to the practice squad for a year. For the next two years he should be a backup to the legend. He should then be traded to another team where he can share the starting job with a journeyman quarterback (i.e Matt Hasselbeck sharing the job with Jon Kitna in Seattle). After all of that you will have a slightly above average NFL quarterback. Now I ask, does that sound like a player that is worthy of a potential top 5 draft pick? In my opinion teams should take what coach Jagodzinski is saying at face value because there is no way that Matt Ryan impressed me in COLLEGE the way other top QB’s such as Demarcus Russell, Michael Vick, Peyton Manning, Carson Palmer, or Donavan McNabb did. So with a year on the practice squad and a couple of years as a backup and a part-time starter, it is indeed possible that he could be as good as Matt Hasslebeck. Jamarcus Russell, the first quarterback taken in the ’07 draft received a six-year $68 million contract with $32 million guaranteed. The third pick in the ’07 draft (where Jagodzinski wants Ryan to land), Left Tackle Joe Thomas, received a five year $42.5 million contract with $23 million guaranteed. Meanwhile a sixth round pick in the ’07 draft received a salary of $391,500. Although coach Jagodzinski has the best intentions in mind when trying to create a buzz for his player, he is not helping his case. If he succeeds in convincing NFL teams that Matt Ryan is truly the next Matt Hasselbeck, they will draft him in the sixth round. If that happens then we can all say that coach Jeff Jagodzinski has cost Matt Ryan a lot of STRAIGHT CASH HOMEY!!!!