Tom Modrak thinks Michael Vick is "35 or 36"

[Charles Romes]

I was listening to NFL Radio tonight and Modrak was a guest. Carucci was saying how great Modrak was, etc. At the end of the interview Modrak made a comment something to the effect that he doesn't know what the Eagles plans are regarding a backup QB now that Vick is "35 or 36". I thought maybe Modrak was casting a hypothical regarding the Eagles' 5 year plan. Then Modrak made the same comment again, saying Vick was in his "mid 30s". Are you kidding me? He doesn't know a basic piece of league player information every last place fantasy football team owner knows?

[RealityCheck]

I was listening to NFL Radio tonight and Modrak was a guest. Carucci was saying how great Modrak was, etc. At the end of the interview Modrak made a comment something to the effect that he doesn't know what the Eagles plans are regarding a backup QB now that Vick is "35 or 36". I thought maybe Modrak was casting a hypothical regarding the Eagles' 5 year plan. Then Modrak made the same comment again, saying Vick was in his "mid 30s". Are you kidding me? He doesn't know a basic piece of league player information every last place fantasy football team owner knows?

And if you don't know, now you know........

[NoSaint]

Odd. A college scout doesn't know a vets age?

[Dirtbag]

he actually had vick's age as 31 on the board but jauron, ralph, donahoe and marv all had the final call. not his fault.

Edited August 9, 2011 by Dirtbag

[BillsObserver]

he actually had vick's age as 31 on the board but jauron, ralph, donahoe and marv all had the final call. not his fault.

 

haha!

[Thoner7]

There is a lot more Modrak doesnt know. Having a good draft is on the list.

[Lv-Bills]

Odd. A college scout doesn't know a vets age?

He didn't seem to know too much about "college scouting" either. Odd. A college scout, not scouting well.

[Sisyphean Bills]

He really worked hard placing the magnets though.

[NoSaint]

He didn't seem to know too much about "college scouting" either. Odd. A college scout, not scouting well.

 

I'm glad you figured out the root of the dysfunction for the last decade. I'm not going to say good or bad as none of us have a clue how, say, maybin got picked.

 

I will say we did well in late rounds when it's likely easier to just trust your grades instead of having coaches and owners possibly interfere. Odds our, as fans, we will never know. That whole front office was a mess and I'm glad we made major changes, regardless of who was at fault.

[Lv-Bills]

I'm glad you figured out the root of the dysfunction for the last decade. I'm not going to say good or bad as none of us have a clue how, say, maybin got picked.

 

I will say we did well in late rounds when it's likely easier to just trust your grades instead of having coaches and owners possibly interfere. Odds our, as fans, we will never know. That whole front office was a mess and I'm glad we made major changes, regardless of who was at fault.

Never said I knew. The only fact I go on was that he was on a putrid front office staff, for a long time, that continuously whiffed in the important rounds of the draft. So any way you look at it, he sucked evaluating talent, OR, he couldn't convince anyone to take anyone that he thought was good. Either way, he was a zero for us.

 

And I'm so sick of hearing how well our staff does late. #1 - When your team sucks, there will be many late rounders who can probably make a less talented roster. #2 - We need someone to not whiff in the early rounds. The playmaker rounds.

 

Every teams finds those late round gems and unsung heroes. We are no better than anyone else. But really, look no further than our current roster to know that anyone on this staff that was here as long as Modrak should have a TON more to show for their body of work than he did.

[Zulu Cthulhu]

I am shocked to see anyone still defending Modrak.

[Estelle Getty]

I am shocked to see anyone still defending Modrak.

 

The same goofballs who were still defending skelator in his last season.

[San Jose Bills Fan]

Wow.

 

This is kind of a bizarre anecdote.

 

Is it possible that Modrak thinks a 31 year old football player is 35 years old?

 

For non-athletes, this is not a big gap in age but for NFL players, the difference between 31 and 35 is pretty much a chasm.

 

Wow.

[Zulu Cthulhu]

The same goofballs who were still defending skelator in his last season.

 

Probably. I understand the argument saying Modrak doesn't deserve all the blame - certainly not. But as head college scout he certainly contributed to many blown draft choices over the last decade.

 

Sure, desperate coaches like Jauron probably overruled him, most likely several times. Modrak should have done a better overall job scouting, perhaps some of those overrulings would have been averted with a better, more forceful presentation from the scouting dept.

 

The ultimate blame still lies with RW, but Modrak's departure should still be celebrated.

[BillsFanM.D.]

It's hard to remember ages in the NFL.....

Edited August 9, 2011 by BillsFanM.D.

[Buffalo Barbarian]

There is a lot more Modrak doesnt know. Having a good draft is on the list.

Amen!

[Mr. WEO]

he actually had vick's age as 31 on the board but jauron, ralph, donahoe and marv all had the final call. not his fault.

2 years later, Nix publicly hinted that he told everyone back then that Vick was not 35 or 36.

[NoSaint]

Probably. I understand the argument saying Modrak doesn't deserve all the blame - certainly not. But as head college scout he certainly contributed to many blown draft choices over the last decade.

 

Sure, desperate coaches like Jauron probably overruled him, most likely several times. Modrak should have done a better overall job scouting, perhaps some of those overrulings would have been averted with a better, more forceful presentation from the scouting dept.

 

The ultimate blame still lies with RW, but Modrak's departure should still be celebrated.

 

 

Didn't defend modrak, simply said it was silly to get worked up about a college scout not being able to quote every vet players age.

 

As far as scouting we really have no idea what his role in it all was. I suspect he was an ok scout with very little pull in the room (whether he went hands off or had things taken from him) and we are better off to have cleaned house. If that's sticking up for the guy, I dunno what to tell you.

[Zulu Cthulhu]

Fair enough, but Mike Vick is a little different than some journeyman offensive lineman. Vick's one of the most visible and high profile players in the NFL, for better or worse. Being completely off on his age says something about Modrak.

[Beerball]

I am shocked to see anyone still defending Modrak.

Tom Modrak is Satan's spawn & he drinks baby's blood.

[BillsFanM.D.]

Tom Modrak is Satan's spawn & he drinks baby's blood.

 

We could get a Modrak vs. Donahoe thing here....in the theme of Alien vs. Predator.

[Beerball]

We could get a Modrak vs. Donahoe thing here....in the theme of Alien vs. Predator.

Or, we could say that Modrak is the spawn of Satan's spawn since Donahoe was his daddy.

[San Jose Bills Fan]

We could get a Modrak vs. Donahoe thing here....in the theme of Alien vs. Predator.

Like I said, for NFL players, the difference between 31 and "35 or 36" is pretty huge. I'd bet that most of us here could name the age of most of the NFL stars within 2-3 years.

 

Now that Modrak's gone, it's become fashionable to blame Nix for our recent drafting "aarors."

 

No need to compare Modrak to Donahoe… no need to go back that far. But if we do, Modrak seemed like a bigger guy so my money is on him over old Whitey.

 

 

[GaryPinC]

Didn't defend modrak, simply said it was silly to get worked up about a college scout not being able to quote every vet players age.

 

As far as scouting we really have no idea what his role in it all was. I suspect he was an ok scout with very little pull in the room (whether he went hands off or had things taken from him) and we are better off to have cleaned house. If that's sticking up for the guy, I dunno what to tell you.

 

I look at Modrak's role this way: there has been a history of poor early round drafting for a decade or so. No matter who's making the choice it's being pulled from Modrak's draft rankings/talent evaluation.

 

You could argue that the draft decision maker ignored Modrak's board, but every damn year?

 

You could argue that Modrak disagreed with each poor draft decision in the early rounds but the bust that got picked had to have been top-ranked by Modrak at their position most of the time.

 

Would Ralph consistently spend first/early round money on guys that could be drafted later for less $?

 

Mr. Wilson's inability to judge front-office talent forces him to blindly latch on to people hired from successful organizations, that's why it takes so long to root out their incompetence.

[DDD]

he actually had vick's age as 31 on the board but jauron, ralph, donahoe and marv all had the final call. not his fault.

 

[Jauronimo]

Modrak didn't mean 35 or 36 in actual years, but in prison adjusted years. 2 years in Fed Pen is like 4 or 5 years on the outside depending on the frequency and severity of sexual assault. Citing age in prison adjusted years is a common practice amongst NFL scouts, and is accepted industry jargon. By all accounts Modrak was right and Vick did age quickly in prison, as evidenced by this anonymous quote from a source deep within the Eagles organization "Mike still doesn't shower with the team. He waits until everyone is out of there to shower, and most of the time he wears his jeans."

[NoSaint]

I look at Modrak's role this way: there has been a history of poor early round drafting for a decade or so. No matter who's making the choice it's being pulled from Modrak's draft rankings/talent evaluation.

 

You could argue that the draft decision maker ignored Modrak's board, but every damn year?

 

You could argue that Modrak disagreed with each poor draft decision in the early rounds but the bust that got picked had to have been top-ranked by Modrak at their position most of the time.

 

Would Ralph consistently spend first/early round money on guys that could be drafted later for less $?

 

Mr. Wilson's inability to judge front-office talent forces him to blindly latch on to people hired from successful organizations, that's why it takes so long to root out their incompetence.

 

Roughly agree.

 

But if they came and said "and the DE with best first step?" "well that's maybin but he's far riskier than orakpo" would be a fair assessment... I agree the record is ridiculously long and he's obviously not off the hook either way, but it's never been his final call clearly, so we have no idea how to rate him. He stuck around for a long time and is regarded around the league so odds are he wasn't quite as awful as we pin on him. Doesn't make him good though. Just being objective with what we know vs what we think. It was definitely time turn the page though.

Edited August 9, 2011 by NoSaint

[Jobu]

Tom Modrak is your daddy.

[GaryPinC]

Roughly agree.

 

But if they came and said "and the DE with best first step?" "well that's maybin but he's far riskier than orakpo" would be a fair assessment... I agree the record is ridiculously long and he's obviously not off the hook either way, but it's never been his final call clearly, so we have no idea how to rate him. He stuck around for a long time and is regarded around the league so odds are he wasn't quite as awful as we pin on him. Doesn't make him good though. Just being objective with what we know vs what we think. It was definitely time turn the page though.

 

I agree that situations similar to the hypothetical Maybin scenario came up, but IMO don't think it explains 10 years of high round futility.

Definitely agree it was time to turn the page and would just add that Buddy seemed to regard Modrak highly when he became GM then fired him about a year later.

[Sisyphean Bills]

I agree that situations similar to the hypothetical Maybin scenario came up, but IMO don't think it explains 10 years of high round futility.

Definitely agree it was time to turn the page and would just add that Buddy seemed to regard Modrak highly when he became GM then fired him about a year later.

Well, he also had him scout the Midwest and Northeast last year, as was evident from the way the Bills draft unfolded.

[GaryPinC]

Well, he also had him scout the Midwest and Northeast last year, as was evident from the way the Bills draft unfolded.

 

That's funny. Did Buddy even bother to fill that position after Modrak left?

[birdog1960]

did carucci call him on it? if not, he's doing his job about as well as modrak did his.

[mattsox]

Modrak. Him and Matt Millen should manage a football team together. They could get Jauron to be the Head Coach. SOunds like a winning team, right??