Mel Kiper And The Crazy Feud That Changed the TV Draft Forever | NFL 1994 Draft Story

this is the 59th annual selection meeting as they call it in the NFL and as the rules change in the brave new world of the salary cap and teams and free agency perhaps more than ever before a premium on the seven rounds of the NFL Draft I mean so many things were going on in 94 that really hadn't been seen before he had underclassmen being drafted and fairly significant numbers you had free agency begin to have an effect on how teams filled needs and you had all these mock drafts taking interest in the draft to a greater degree than ever before milk hyper is doing his and dr. Z Paul Zimmerman is doing his no matter how many more hours these teams have spent having access to infant win medicals and stuff that none of us have we all think that we can do it as good as they do well Chris this is a pick that I had I had McGinnis going number four in the wing that really I thought it because he is an impact player it's all right now the Rams now on the board let's take a look at jurors where should they be looking for value well Mel Kiper has built a career for himself as the outsider with inside knowledge the first great armchair GN he has published his own draft guide every spring since 1981 complete with write-ups on each pro prospect I'm always interested to read his book as long as he sends it free by 1994 kuiper and his big board were fixtures of the broadcast there was little debate as to who would go number one but intrigued surrounded the landing spots for Heath Shuler and Trent Dilfer the top two quarterback prospects the Indianapolis Colts are now on the clock now they have to very high first-round picks the number two pick right now the number seven pick overall with the second pick in the first round the Indianapolis Colts select Marshall Faulk running back San Diego State he's great back but I strongly disagree with this pic and it's not any criticism of Marshall Faulk the Colts have to come out of this draft with a quarterback and if they thought they're right for some criticism kuiper he had been building up to weeks prior to the draft about having to take a quarterback and I was the opinion that I was running the Colts and not anybody on a network bill Tobin took the future hall-of-famer he had acquired the Colts other top ten pick by trading Jeff George to the Falcons leaving free agents I need in Harbaugh as the only quarterback on the roster the same Harbaugh that Tobin drafted eight years earlier as GM of the Chicago Bears Walter Payton and Jim Harbaugh the two most competitive players I've ever been around in my life and he's going to be my quarterback I wasn't interested in Trent Dilfer and Heath Shuler we didn't have either one of them in our top 10 players third pick of the first round the Washington Redskins select Heath Shuler quarterback Tennessee New England Patriots select Willie McGinest [Applause] see Trent Dilfer is falling can you believe that I don't know what he's saying well Santa Claus waiting on him ever this exciting no this is amazing not I get a big kick out of airier I have that ugly green suit on and a big flock of seagulls hairdo so that's uh that's why I like it beaten reruns people actually believe I had hair at one point so you are surprised oh very surprised yeah we thought for sure it would be there Indianapolis Washington or LA the next logical choice was the Indianapolis Colts the Colts traded up with the Rams moving from number seven to number five everyone thought they were moving up to take Dilfer what followed became the signature moment of the 1994 Draft the Rams have made a trade with the Indianapolis and Indianapolis has selected Trev Alberts mine backer from Nebraska Wow and that's separate well I mean Albert's a great player yeah no question about that but you get a problem with this move I think it's a typical cult move I mean here's the team that needed a franchise quarterback to pass up a Trent Dilfer when all you have is Jim Harbaugh give me a break that's why the culture picking second every year in the draft not battling for the Super Bowl like other clubs in the National Football Live it was whoa where you going bass you know in my abated Bell all of a sudden boom here he comes Mel was never shy in his opinion and he wasn't shy in his opinion in this case well you think about Jim Harbaugh was a solid quarterback not a great one and you felt like okay can these quarterbacks improve your position and I thought Trent Dilfer could and obviously general managers don't like to be called out like that by analysts so shortly afterward we kick it down to Indianapolis where Chris Mortensen is with Bill Tobin I did have one surprise for us today no surprise no that's great I mean no that's what I mean I'm not I'm a hey one question build a lot of criticism about not taking a quarterback here your response well you know we got a guy up there who in the hell is Mel Kiper in a way I mean here's a guy that is criticizes everybody whoever they take he's got the answers who you should take it who you shouldn't take in my knowledge of him he's never ever put on a jockstrap he's never been a coach he's never been a scout he's never been an administrator and all of a sudden he's an expert and he's in our papers two days ago telling us who we have to take we don't have to take anybody that Mel Kiper says we have to take Mel Kiper has no more credentials to do what he's doing that my neighbor and my neighbors a postman and he doesn't even have season tickets to the NFL at that instant it just became clear that this was reality television of the highest order oh I think I probably got my Irish up bill Tobin was a hot-headed guy loved Bill he said what the entire league thought who the hell is Mel Kiper I don't I know I am probably 27 others in managers congratulated him it was classic who in the hell is Mel Kiper Mel Kiper doesn't know any more than my postman the thing is nobody's ever really tracked down Tobin's mailman to find out exactly how much he'd like to know that sometime it could be that Tobin's mailman it was a lot about football might be more of a compliment than any of us realized well Tobin obviously not going out to dinner tonight well Chris let's say I'm securing my position obviously bill Tobin is not very secure in his position have a response like that I didn't take exception to the comments bill Tobin was entitled to his opinion he was critical what I said so be it I wasn't there to show for the NFL was there to give an opinion and I've always done that to me it's a mistake you cannot go with Jim Harbaugh and pass up Trent Dilfer forget it that's why the Colts are the laughingstock of the Whig year and in year out [Applause] information kuiper Tobin and Tobin's postman became the talk of the draft what do you want to cover first our players are men or that jerk in Baltimore you know of all the things my whole career that might be the ones people want to talk about the most it was obviously an entertaining very entertaining for the fans and it's still being talked about today Mel you know it's probably the single biggest person in terms of why the draft has been popular on ESPN so we didn't have any problem with it you know controversies good on television and we will win regardless of what Mel Kiper said in the aftermath Jim Harbaugh led the Colts to the AFC Championship game in 1995 Marshall Faulk is in the Hall of Fame Trev Alberts was out of the league in just three years bill Tobin was fired in 1997 after the Colts went 3 and 13

Channel: NFL Films

Views: 3,079,958

Keywords: NFL, Football, NFL Films, American Football, mel, kiper, jr, mock, draft, drafts, tobin, bill, feud, feuds, fight, fights, drama, dramatic, story, indianapolis, colts, pass, 1994, day, tv, television, espn, tent dilfer, pick, picks, round, first, 1st, stories, crazy, wild

Id: WYwfxtFbga8

Length: 8min 11sec (491 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 23 2018