1. All the lying
One scout called this time of year in the NFL "The Bulls--- Season." And there is lots of it. So, so much. The lying about prospects. The lying by prospects, their agents, teams, scouts and coaches.
A good example of this happened recently due to a garbage story on NJ.com in which an NFC personnel man called Jadeveon Clowney "spoiled" and "lazy," among other things.
I've covered more than 20 drafts, and there's always at least one story like this. Some scout saying some negative thing about some prospect.
Sometimes that belief is sincere. I've used anonymous personnel quotes. In fact, just recently, a scout told me the decision by Clowney to skip team private workouts was "gutless." That's the word he used. Gutless.
Now, I think calling Clowney's decision gutless is stupid, but that, to me, is within the parameters of legitimate criticism. After all, the scout wasn't calling Clowney gutless. (Clowney's agent Bus Cook told USA Today that Clowney might do one more workout, for one team, with no heavy lifting. Thus, basically, Clowney isn't working out.)
But there are certain things that cross the line, and calling Clowney lazy is one of them. Particularly for the reason these quotes were given.
The line is fine. I get that. But spoiled and lazy are personal attacks. And that is the crux of The Bulls--- Season. The more personal and believable, the better chance the crap will be repeated in the media.
The lazy and spoiled comments were likely said in order to knock down Clowney's stock. Most fans don't realize this is extremely common. It happens numerous times each draft. The idea is to say negative things in the media about a prospect and hope some sucker team actually falls for the hokum, and occasionally, some dumb team does.
The history of this is long. Scouts interviewed for this story gave some notable examples...
So when you read all of the draft rumors, just remember what season it is.
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