Incompetent GMs


I know this is just a movie, but I could not get over how stupid the general managers were in this movie. No sane GM would do any of the trades portrayed in this film because it would mean being immediately fired.

I can almost understand the Browns GM (Kevin Costner) giving up three #1 picks to move up to the #1 pick if they believed they were taking the next Peyton Manning, but to give up so much for a questionable prospect would be insane. Not to mention it seemed like the Browns did not do their homework on the QB prospect before they traded up for the chance to pick him. This is unrealistic. In real life top prospects are thoroughly researched by the GM, coaches, scouts, etc long before the actual draft day. No NFL team would give up a historic amount of picks without being completely sold on the player.

After making the trade to #1, there is no way that they would then take the LB that they were originally targeting with the 6th pick. If they would have done this in real life they would have been the laughing stock of the league, and the owner would basically have no choice but to fire Kevin Costner on the spot for being completely incompetent.

The worst trade of all was made by the Seahawks GM. Owning the 7th pick in the draft, he gives up three #1 picks to move up from 7 to 6 in order to draft the quarterback they were considering taking with the first pick. After being giving a gift of a trade by the Browns, no GM would give up 3 number one picks to move from 7 to 6. That is just way too much to give up and would never happen. According to the draft value chart which NFL GMs use to value draft picks, the difference between the 7th overall pick and the 6th overall pick is 100 points. They would only have to give up about a 3rd or 4th round pick to move up 1 spot. No NFL GM in their right mind would give up around 5,000 points to move up 100 points. Any GM that did this would be fired on the spot and the trade would go down in NFL history as the worst trade of all time.

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One thing I really did not understand was after he made the pick to take Vontae Mack, he was in the office and it just so happened that all the other teams were passing on the number one prospect. From there, he was able to get leverage and take Jacksonville's pick at 6 to negotiate getting his number ones back from Seattle. Here's the part that doesn't make sense, what would happen if that "can't miss" QB prospect was taken at number two? Now Costner, looks like the biggest idiot in the world because he took a kid at one he could have gotten at seven, lost three number ones and has to pay him additional money for salary cap because he's the number one pick. In reality, any other team would have taken that QB next.

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One thing I really did not understand was after he made the pick to take Vontae Mack, he was in the office and it just so happened that all the other teams were passing on the number one prospect. From there, he was able to get leverage and take Jacksonville's pick at 6 to negotiate getting his number ones back from Seattle. Here's the part that doesn't make sense, what would happen if that "can't miss" QB prospect was taken at number two? Now Costner, looks like the biggest idiot in the world because he took a kid at one he could have gotten at seven, lost three number ones and has to pay him additional money for salary cap because he's the number one pick. In reality, any other team would have taken that QB next.

Maybe maybe not. In 2005 Aaron Rodgers and Alex Smith were both touted as potential first overall picks by the 49ers. They chose Smith and Rodgers fell (thankfully) to the Packers at #24. It is conceivable that once Costner chose Mack several other teams would have passed on Callahan as well because they were either set at QB or had other needs that were stronger. You are right though, the way they made it out he was considered by pretty much everyone to be a can't miss player so in all likelihood someone would have either taken him at 2-6 or they would have traded the pick away to someone lower who would have taken him.

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know this is just a movie, but I could not get over how stupid the general managers were in this movie. No sane GM would do any of the trades portrayed in this film because it would mean being immediately fired.


Don't you remember when the GM for the Rams traded the whole draft one time for the first pick on the draft to get Ricky Williams.

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Yes, the Saints traded all of their 99 draft and the first pick in 2000 draft to get Ricky Williams because Ditka scouted him and really liked him and did everything to pick him.

Now imagine if the Saints did all that and minutes before turning over their pick, they decide to pick a guy they could've picked even if they traded down and got more picks on the way. Wouldn't that be stupid? And even more stupid if the reason they didn't pick that guy is because no one went to his birthday party.

And the rest of the trades were ridiculous, Jacksonville giving a No.6 for second rounds? and the whole war room applauding that ridiculous trade? Teams don't pick up recent college graduates that panic in the draft because 2 players were taken in the draft.

Then the Seahawks trade crowned it all.

All those 3 GM's would've been fired, one didn't have a clue who to pick with the 6th pick because 2 teams got the players he wanted and decided it was better to get second rounders, the other one got 3 first round picks and traded them back and Sonny got a late teens pick with the pricetag of a no.1 overall pick and a problematic RB and a punt returner and lost all of his second rounders for the next 3 years.

And something not football related that crowned the stupidity of all of it, between the 2nd pick and the 5th pick the Browns owner left the radio city music hall in NY, took his plane to Cleveland and got to the Browns facility in time for the 6th pick. Yes he did all of that in 40 minutes tops and most likely even less.

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All those 3 GM's would've been fired,

I'm not so sure about that... yes, Jaguars GM would get fired but he's an incompetent idiot anyway [then again, Detroit Lions kept Matt Millen for years despite his incompetence] but the other two would probably keep their jobs.

As far as Seattle go, while that final trade is rather questionable [then again, if giving away three 1st round picks to draft Bo is OK at #1 spot then it should be an OK deal at #6 spot... it's the same player] the team owner was in the war room and OK'ed the deal. And Browns owner wanted Sonny to make a "splash" in the draft, which he most certainly did... even more so than if he simply drafted Bo at #1.

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No, but I remember when the Saints traded their whole draft for Ricky Williams.

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What was never shown in this absurd movie is the draft chart. All teams use it and it shows a point value for each pick in the draft and is used as a guide to evaluate swapping of picks.

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I remember Costners character saying to Denis Leary's character, "Is that how they do it in Dallas?" when talking about something to do with how the general manager runs things. All I could think was, "yes...yes they do do it differently in Dallas of all places, Jerry Jones is the owner and general manager." haha.

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I didn't really think the deal was that bad. The catch is that we don't really know what the needs of the other 30ish ('ish' because we only get vague mentions of where the other teams sit) teams.

It's entirely possible that Mack was being targeted by one of the teams choosing 2-6 with none of the other teams behind them needing a linebacker (see Aaron Rodgers' draft day).

Also, as detailed as teams get in their scouting, they also prioritize players based on the likelihood that they'll get them. Callahan being the slam dunk, can't-miss at #1, would mean that the Browns probably (and rightfully) decided that they didn't need to dedicate a lot of scouting resources to him since he'll be long gone before they get to pick.

From Jacksonville's standpoint, Mack going #1 threw their plans out of whack. The player they planned to take at 6 was gone and, though it was probably exaggerated, the rookie GM panicked. I can imagine his panic a little bit here because their plan has gone up in smoke, and he's faced with a can't-miss prospect that was originally part of their plan. How many times have you heard on draft day "we just took the best player on the board"? That's PR-speak for 'Yeah, we had a plan and we changed it". Being a rookie GM, he probably didn't want to face that kind of x-factor in his first year.

Weaver's move for the 7th isn't an uncommon draft tactic. GMs are aware of who other GMs are interested just by watching who they scout and being aware of other team's needs. So it happens when GM's leverage their draft positions and threaten taking their prospect if they don't make a trade.

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Trading up six spots to get the #1 overall QB makes sense, but it makes no sense that they would give up two extra 1st rounders do it for an obscure LB (and pay for the #1 overall slot). It also makes no sense to give up two extra first rounders to move up one spot for a QB that five teams have already passed on.

And in reality, it makes no sense to have a "feel good" ending for a movie after a draft. I guess that this is the Browns, so it makes a lot of sense actually, but you shouldn't be celebrating after a draft, you should be celebrating after play-off wins. Think about how many "great drafts" teams have had, to see them turn into busts. Oh, he gave the ball to his dying sister, oh he didn't talk about the $100, boohoo, none of that means anything on a football field.

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I ended up rating this movie a 2 because of the ridiculously stupid moves by all the GM and the completely unnecessary pregnant girlfriend storyline. JMO but in reality Seattle's GM would've told Costner to stick his trade offer and just taken his QB at 7 and kept Cleveland's picks. That would have left Cleveland with a mid teens LB taken at #1 and no 1st or 2nd round picks for the next three years. Costner would've been fired before the draft ended.

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What the Browns could have done (that's not really done very often in real life however) is drafted the QB to show that they were serious, and then auctioned him off to the highest bidder. But really, there's no way that you give up three first rounders for any position other than QB. Especially somebody that may slide to end of the first round.

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When Sonny woke up that morning he was very clear what he was going to do. He liked his QB Brian Drew, and he was going to take Mack at 7. Then pancake eating mutherf@cker calls him with an offer, and Browns owner ambushes him at a water park.

Everyone commenting here forgets the conversation Weaver had with the owner. He put incredible pressure on Sonny to "make a splash". So he makes the deal with pancake, with full intention of abandoning his original plan and going with Callahan, so he could do exactly what his boss told him to do, or else get fired.

Grabbing the #1 pick will cost you exactly what Sonny gave up, especially for a consensus franchise player, so there was no incompetence on Sonny's part.

If you were paying attention, Sonny agreed with coach Penn, Drew was his man. Sonny drafted him. He stuck by him when he got hurt, and even gave him an extension. WTF did Sonny want with Callahan? Why should he draft a guy he thought was a lesser man than his guy Drew, just because his d!p$h!t boss wanted a draft day headline?

Plus, he always wanted Mack. What difference does it make where you draft him if you get your guy? You can argue the money you pay the #1 pick all you want, but if he takes a guy he doesn't want or need in Callahan, there was no way he would get Mack, the guy he wanted and needed. Sonny made a smart "football" decision.

Was pancake an incompetent GM? No. He had a cap problem. If he drafted Callahan he would have had to further gut an already last place team. He was looking big picture, and didn't care what PR problems it would cause. He was making both a good "business" and "football" decision.

You've seen guys drop in the draft in real life, so why does it take some incredible suspension of belief to imagine Callahan dropping? Other teams have their plan on draft day, and if it doesn't include going off script, then they will take who they scouted if he is there, and pass on a guy they might not really have a handle on. This is why Aaron Rodgers dropped to #24, when he easily could have gone (and should have gone) #1.

Since the draft was so out of whack so early, it isn't hard to believe that the rookie GM in Jacksonville might have had 2 or maybe even 3 potential picks at #6 pulled right out from under him. He also had his doubts about Callahan, and listened to Sonny's advice about regrouping instead of making some wild guess on a guy for whom he had no feel. And Sonny didn't actually lie to him. He thought Callahan would be a bust. Anyway, Jeff Carter got 3 second rounders for his trouble. Look up the % of 2nd rounders who make NFL rosters, and you'll see that this was not an incompetent move.

So now Sonny has the pick that can effectively c@ck block Seattle "dream draft". Pancake has looked out his window and has seen himself hung in effegy, and heard all the talk radio rubes calling for his head. Pancake actually wanted Bo but couldn't afford him. Now he can, but he is going to be a pick late. Of course he's going to make the deal. He has his image restored, and has solved his cap issue all by agreeing to the deal. Not incompetent.

There was clearly some luck involved all this maneuvering, but this stuff happens all the time on draft day. And in the case of this movie, at least on paper, everybody kind of wins at the end of the day.

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