Matt admitted that “what scares me is that millen really likes stafford. he really liked harrington, really liked kitna…” And he’s right, that’s very scary. I was googling a little bit to try to get a quote from Millen about Charles Rogers in the olde days, but I found this instead from the Associated Press:
Millen gets higher grades for his past couple of drafts and for hiring Mariucci.
But many key players are in their first or second years, most importantly quarterback Joey Harrington and wide receiver Charles Rogers, high No. 1s the last two years.
“I have no doubt that one day they’ll be up there with combinations like Joe Montana to Jerry Rice and Dan Marino to Mark Duper and Mark Clayton,” Mariucci says. “But they’re not close yet. It’s not going to happen overnight.”
You can’t make this stuff up.
Remember when columnists and draft analysts used to salivate over Millen’s choices? Those were the days.
indeed, indeed 
June 16, 2009 at 3:05 pm |
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/2003/draft/news/2003/04/26/lions_rogers_ap/
June 16, 2009 at 3:43 pm |
i’m obviously a homer, but to be honest i thought Rogers would be a good reciever in the league. He had some success early on before the collarbone injuries, and I think he was never able to fully recover his upper body strength after those. And frankly he couldn’t afford to lose any strength.
Similarly Kevin Jones had a really good rookie season, and then tore up his ankly and never got his ability back.
Now even if those guys had become legitimate starters, it wouldn’t have made the Lions close to being a playoff team.
I hate to even come close to complimenting Millen, but I think as a judge of individual talent he was ok (Obviously he wasn’t good, but i’ll give him ok). His problem was not having any ability to see the bigger picture of his football team as a whole, and how to make it a good TEAM. That’s why I think the old adage “take the best player available” is a little disingenuous. Millen was getting great marks for his draft because he seemingly was adept at taking highly rated skilled players (That draft where he got Williams and then traded up for Kevin Jones he was widely praised for doing that). But he never had a philosophy on how to build the team as a whole.
June 16, 2009 at 3:47 pm |
yeah, might be one of the reasons you don’t hire announcers as GMs.
also, rogers always had some character question marks. a lot of players have injury issues that they transcend through hard work and training.
June 16, 2009 at 3:56 pm |
not that i’m always a “character first” guy. i’m ivo’s biggest fan! i’m not saying you have to be ward cleaver. but you need guys who are going to buy into a system and understand the implications of not buying in. though millen had no system.
also, i was always anti-chuck rogers and mike williams, as i’ve documented many a times. though i think my dad was the most vocal opponent of the rogers pick. probably the only times either of us has been correct about a football idea.
June 16, 2009 at 5:47 pm |
there is something to be said about a guy who get’s stabbed in the back by his babymomma in high school. maybe character is lacking, just maybe.