Who Paid Me To Write This?
Nobody. Literally. But it's the question you should always ask
Once again, it’s the week of the NFL Draft, and as I mentioned last week, there have been a lot of stories floated - will the Texans not take a QB with the 2nd pick? Are the 49ers going to trade Trey Lance? Is everyone really losing the love for Ohio State QB C.J. Stroud?
These are the two most recent posts about Trey Lance on Rotoworld. Note that both the reporters of this info are national reporters, not those close to the team specifically.
Which of these stories is true? Who knows?
But honestly, the question isn’t whether any of this is true - it all could be. (Well, the 49ers are either getting calls or not, but in general.) None of it could be. The question is why we are seeing the stories in the news in the first place.
There’s very little reason for a GM or coach to tell a reporter their plans for the draft, or a personnel decision. There’s no good reason we should know about whether Lamar Jackson was offended by the Ravens offer, etc. The only reason we know is that somebody wanted us to know. (Yes, there are investigative journalists who expose stories NOBODY wanted made public, but those are fairly obvious and not really what I’m discussing here.)
This, of course, isn’t limited to football or sports. When we see an actor or politician visiting a Children’s Hospital, let’s not pretend they didn’t coordinate with that “news'“ crew to film that segment. Half of the “political” stories we hear about - whether its rumors about yet another thing Trump did illegally or Hunter Biden’s laptop - are there because someone aggressively whispered to a reporter to get it into the news cycle. Why? You be the judge.
Every offseason I try and tell myself I won’t listen to all of this. It’s tough. Because there are many people whose job this time of year is to send out this kind of things to national NFL reporters. And while I do think Adam Schefter and Ian Rapaport do a good job, sometimes they are carrying water for stories they know are fake, just to keep up those relationships with their sources.
So, let’s just hypothesize right now, a few days before the draft.
We have heard that the Panthers, who traded up for the first pick of the draft, have moved to being enraptured by Bryce Young, who is one of the few NFL prospects I could physically intimidate. Some people are calling him “L’il Bryce.” (Nobody is doing this, but I encourage it.) Young is a top prospect and if he were 6’4”, he’s the easy #1 pick. But he’s like 5’9”, 190 lbs. Maybe. Why are we hearing about who the Panthers want? Sure, nobody can beat them to him but why has it become SO loud and clear?
Similarly, why are we now hearing that the Houston Texans, who have no real QB solution, are maybe not going to pick a QB at #2? That chorus has also been loud.
I’m out here to say that just maybe, the Panthers want C.J. Stroud as many thought. They are desperately trying to get the Texans to trade up to #1 to take Young, who they seem to covet. And the Texans are saying…nah. We don’t need a QB that bad, and we’re not willing to trade up to take a guy we don’t think you’re actually interested in.
Or maybe the Panthers do indeed take Young, and the Texans pounce on Stroud who they are perfectly happy with. Or maybe it goes as the rumors suggest after all. Who can say?
It’s poker, except we’re all watching the moves. And that’s fine and fun - just don’t be fooled into believing that everything we are reading is “NEWS” because it is a story with a purpose.