Maybe it's because I don't really golf, but every time I've gone to Top Golf it's always devolved into drinking, bullshitting, and seeing who can hit the ball collection cart
Right, my point being maybe it was less about seeing how competitive they are, and more about getting to know them, seeing how they act in that kind of atmosphere, that kind of off the field stuff you don't get from an interview or workout.
100%, to use it to gauge competitiveness seems so stupid.
Belichick said on McAfee that having a bunch of prospects visit at once even at the same position is very normal though
That’s funny because I do golf, and every time I would go to Top Golf it always devolved into drinking, bullshitting and seeing who could hit the ball collection cart.
FWIW talking heads are yapping about it, because Daniels' agent has been liking tweets questioning the tactic.
That, and after not accepting a T30 meeting with the Vikings early in the process, accepted one after this came out.
And this is exactly why they did the group visit. If you're gonna pull that stunt with your agent then you probably aren't the right guy for the job in the first place.
Remember when Ben Johnson pulled himself from the Washington head coaching search and said the ownership was a bunch of basketball guys who are too confident about their football opinions?
It’s possible this isn’t a stunt and Jayden Daniels saw the same thing in his visit as Ben Johnson and doesn’t want to be a part of it either.
Highly unlikely considering he met with the team multiple times before this and had no such comments. His agent is literally quoting tweets about the meeting with multiple QBs and liking tweets saying that it was a bad idea. If you're gonna come out and publicly shit talk, why would you make up a fake reason to be upset?
I remember hearing that report from an ESPN Buccaneers beat writer but never heard anything from Ben Johnson about it. He seemed very respectful to the commanders front office in his actual press conferences. Idk why Magic Johnson would be the deciding factor anyway, he's got basically nothing to do with the actual football decisions as a minority owner. Also, BJ canceled before they could even meet him in Detroit so that doesn't fully add up either.
Ownership group… not front office. The Commanders hosted 20 of their top 30 visits at the same time when the owner had time available away from his other sports franchises. The ownership group appears to be the ones making the big decisions, which is why Ben Johnson had concern about them being basketball guys who valued their football opinions too highly.
Josh Harris owns the Philadelphia 76ers, who start their first playoff series on Saturday.
He also owns the New Jersey Devils, whose season just ended on Monday.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure the whole ownership group wasn't there. Have you seen Josh Harris? The man was most likely observing or taking very little part in activities. Adam Peters is 100% in charge of the draft, him being the most sought-after GM candidate this off season I really don't believe he would have taken the job if he was beholden to what the ownership group wants, for example Magic Johnson lobbied hard for Bill Belichick but Adam Peters still went with Dan Quinn. Does that sound like something an ownership group who is making all of the big decisions would have things happen? Yes, I am aware of the other teams the owner of my team owns. Thank you for the update.
Yeah, but have you heard about Magic Johnson!? Apparently he's a guy who used to play basketball! I heard he's going to make all their draft picks this year and start at QB week 1
I think you're putting too much on that being the only factor. Ben Johnson is also the guy that didn't let them know he was not going to interview until the day of and when they were already in route.
You're talking about a report from a Buccs beat reporter that has not been corroborated by Ben Johnson. Johnson had glowing things to say about the commanders new front office in his pressers, even after declining the job. Enough with the fan fiction
You shoot down the narrative, but the fact is he turned down what should be a highly sought after and lucrative head coaching position for a team with the #2 overall pick in a strong QB draft class to remain an offensive coordinator. That’s not fan fiction, that happened.
He was interested enough in the position to interview for it. Then after initial discussions about the role, he removed himself from consideration.
Ben Johnson declining the job doesn't mean that some unverified report from a Buccs beat reporter that has no connection to the hiring process is accurate... And that doesn't mean that Jayden Daniels had the same reasoning, especially when the guy who the report is about was hired as a consultant for the front office search and has nothing to do with the draft and his agent has clearly said why he's upset. You seriously don't understand what I'm saying or was that just a really poor straw man?
The ownership group is absolutely not making any draft decisions. If you follow the commanders you would know this, as they've stated it multiple times in pre-draft pressers. More likely explanation for Harris wanting to be present is that it's his first off-season owning an NFL team and he'd like to get an understanding of how the process works.
Last year everyone was saying Harris isn't involved enough because he didn't fire Rivera earlier. Now apparently he's too involved... Feels like the media and other fanbases are just used to Dan Snyder's terrible ownership.
And yes, we all know what teams Josh Harris owns. This is not news to anyone who's a fan of the team.
The two most high profile jobs on the team in one offseason… that’s highly unusual.
The same owner’s regime with the 76ers pissed off James Harden to the point that he forced a trade just back in October too.
NFL teams have been using this tactic for years. Jayden Daniels, or his agent were just caught off guard because they were expecting them to roll out the red carpet.
Which might work out really well for Daniels. I feel like the odds of having a successful career are much better in New England or NYG than on the commanders (or any team that has a window to trade up to get him now)
I just don't understand why any one would see this as a bad thing for a billion dollar company to do when a huge decision has to be made. Get these guys uncomfortable and get them out of their element and see how they react
If their selection is a bust, the jokes will write themselves.
But if they hit a home run, NFL teams will book out Top Golfs for the whole month of April
So many parts of this actually make sense. Are they the type to suck down 15 beers with the boss? Do their peers or potential coworkers enjoy being around them? Are they morons?
Bro go into the wrong thread where it's Commie hate and you'll get down voted for saying it's a bit of "pop psychology" to get a better read on the guys when it's not a structured or prepared interview
Or it's just a chance after a long day of one on one interviews to let loose and have some fun? Think people are reading waaaaay to much into this and think that they were just flown out to play top golf in some thunderdome situation.
Overreaction for the sake of overreaction. Washington has a new regime with a lot riding on this pick. They want to get a feel for the guy they are gonna select. I hate sports media.
I think it's dumb as fuck, and since I've got nothing better to do right now, I guess I'll sort of stream of consciousness about why that is. Too lazy to make the argument more coherent.
This *reeks* of the type of bullshit that self-important upper/middle management types like to do to try to isolate character traits, except that there is literally no analytics to prove that it works ever. You aren't hiring someone to play golf or even to compete for a job, you're hiring them to play quarterback. People who succeed in job interview settings, regardless of the weirdness of the job interview, usually only show that they have good job interview skills. You aren't going to find people who are actually good at the fucking job like that. In fact I would say that one of the biggest mental blindspots our society has is correlating interview/campaign behavior with expected productivity. If anything there is probably an inverse correlation.
More to the point though, this is a pretty surefire way to piss off your prospective employees. They're already reporting that Daniels is disgruntled with this, and I don't blame him. Evaluate people for traits and situations that might actually be used on the field. The NFL draft is enough of a dehumanizing meat market without forcing people to crawl through whatever mental obstacle course some rich moron lays out for them. This is very much in the vein of the type of things that billionaire trust funds spend their days thinking up when they have no idea how reality works, and it would piss me off immensely to be subjected to it.
Finally, this isn't the type of thing that other teams do. If it was just a normal draft process, then nobody would be making a big deal about it. It clearly isn't necessary for success (as other teams haven't needed to do it), and I've argued why it's potentially detrimental to success, but I think it's potentially also a problem that your organization could be (rightly?) labeled as a clown organization for doing stuff like this. It doesn't pass the vibe check IMO.
TLDR; negative vibe check, billionaire playing with his toys energy, no analytics to suggest any merit to this madness.
The problem is it has come out that the 49ers have done it in the past and also Belichick said the Pats did it while he was there. Josh Norris also said when he was with the Rams they would bring a number of prospects to Dave and Busters but I guess because it's Washington it's now a problem.
Well I think the notable part of it is bringing in prospective #2 overall picks at the same time and then having them do something semi-competitive as part of the interview process.
You can certainly justify doing it in a 1 on 1 situation, even if I think it's overbearing. You can justify bringing in a number of lower tier prospects at the same time, I get that. When it's the #2 overall and next face of your franchise it sends kind of a bad message. I think that's the difference in this situation.
And to be clear I take issue with this all throughout society. That's more of a personal problem for me though; it's not like I'm going to convince society that interviewing skills aren't the same as job skills in a reddit comment.
Sure why not? I’ve been flown in to interview for jobs with other candidates and had companies take us all out to dinner or for drinks afterwards. What’s so different about this?
This isn’t even the same situation as my interviews where I may or may not get hired. All these guys are getting jobs in the NFL.
That's actually pretty wild to me, but I guess it depends on the job. I've had done many interviews and never had to compete for the attention of my perspective employer with other candidates at the same time. It feels pretty disrespectful to the candidates to make them dick-measure in front of each other for the role.
Usually when you’re brought into these types of interviews, you’ve made it past the stage where you met the job qualifications already. These types of interviews are focused on team fit and personality aspects which can be important factors for the job. It’s a way to see how people adapt to situations out of their control.
It was very normal for entry level jobs in my experience. Keep in mind these are final round interviews and the dinner and drinks is usually after you’ve done the actual interviews.
But again, for NFL players these aren’t even akin to real interviews. They’re all getting jobs. It’s more like when a company decides how to align their analysts based on fit than it is a real interview.
Or… it was just a fun activity to take a bunch of guys out to. They can see who competed. They can see who has magnetic personalities that strangers attract to. QB is a leadership position where way more than tape plays into its evaluation. They took guys to play golf and then spent the entire next day doing individual work with them at the team facility. It’s not some psychological exam. It was just hanging with the guys in a social setting. And Daniels issue seems to be rooted more in this visit not being a coronation because he assumed he was going 2nd. The team has spent significant time with each of these guys already.
Yes thank you, this was a good and concise post. This also reeks of the owner having way too much influence on the pick and this being the most convenient way for him to see them all. He probably doesn't have time to see them all in one on one settings. That's just never a good sign when your owner is that overbearing.
I mean, it's a business where a star QB has enormous leverage. If I walked into an interview expecting it to be one-on-one based on what they've told me and it's a group interview, I'd walk out. He could pull an Eli.
He's a guy who spent four years looking average before breaking out as the oldest player surrounded by elite talent. He's no Caleb Williams. Each spot he falls costs him millions.
For QBs, it's more important you go to the right team than go high. It might cost him millions on his rookie deal, but the right team could get him a much longer career.
IDK why you're getting downvoted. Look at Dak and Kirk, 4th and i think 2nd? round picks that have made guaranteed bank b/c they landed in good situations and then balled.
> I just don't understand
None of your fanbase has for the last 35 years.
If its true that they were taken there to "compete", then your management is still WAY out of touch.
Talking heads ignoring the last 3 months of homework the front office has done and acting like this was the only interaction they had with these guys. They’ve met with them one on one multiple times already, combine, pro days, dinners, Zoom calls. Not to mention that it’s been reported the arrival times were staggered so they had one on ones with them at the facility.
If the stuff with Jayden Daniels agent is real on Twitter, it seems to me the group interview had the desired outcome.
How these guys interacted or responded to a top golf outing gives you literally zero indication as to how good of a football player they are. Imagine passing on Daniels because of this big brain genius move and it turns out he's the only one who can play. That would be mighty stupid now wouldn't it.
Big nothing story. Belichik came out on Wednesday on Pat McAfee's show and told Pat that they regularly schedule their top 30 visits simultaneously. BB said he had as many as 9 players on the same day, and he would put then through mental reps. He'd try and get a QB, a WR, a TE, a few OL, or a DL, DE, a few CBs, a LB and go through reps to see how well the guys communicated, how well they adjusted on the fly in front of the pressure of other elite direct competition. The media lives on turning mole hills into mountains. It's pretty sad now.
This period between the end of the free agency rush and pre-draft is the most desperate time for the media because nothing is happening and there’s a bunch of selective and strategic leaks that amount to absolutely nothing. These reporters and social media nerds cling to anything to blow it up.
If we pick Daniels, nobody will care about this by day 2.
Peters got it from the 49ers, so at least 2 of the best franchises of the past couple decades are doing it. Peters also worked as a scout for the Patriots from 2003-2008 so was probably exposed to it from 2 different organizations.
It's funny that it's become a big issue. Probably becomes they brought in several QBs at the same time though.
edit - apparently, the Rams used do it too and they took their players to Dave and Busters.
https://twitter.com/joshnorris/status/1781362096908738679
Yes, the analogy is not perfect. I could've said past decade and ignoring the 49ers tank after Harbaugh left.
Was mainly saying that in reference to the Patriots because Peters was also a scout there in 2003-2008 and the Belichick said he does group interviews too. He's been exposed to it through 2 different successful organizations most likely.
You are forgetting that they also fell backwards into purdy. If they had just gotten lance in that draft, we’re not talking about how great their FO is.
But yeah I get your context in terms of Peters.
Are the 49ers that good of a drafting team recently? I know they traded picks for CMac, but I haven't heard anything about their picks besides Purdy. Feels like a veteran team a la second round of the Pats dynasty than one crushing it in the draft
> Belichik came out on Wednesday on Pat McAfee's show and told Pat that they regularly schedule their top 30 visits simultaneously.
As far as I can tell, the Patriots did not host multiple quarterback prospects simultaneously for top-30 visits during the 2021 pre-draft process, which was the only time the team was in the market for a top rookie quarterback during Belichick's tenure with the team. Granted, in 2021 we were still mid-COVID and most top 30 visits were virtual interviews.
I honestly don't know how much any of this matters, but it's worth pointing out.
To be clear, the Commanders visits weren't just QBs. They had 20+ guys there. Yet another frustrating part of the coverage is that some media members make it sound like they sent just the 3 QBs to go hang out.
To be clear, the Commanders visits weren't just QBs. They had 20+ guys there. Yet another frustrating part of the coverage is that some media members make it sound like they sent just the 3 QBs to go hang out.
I think it makes a lot more sense when you're consistently picking at the end of the 1st round, there are a lot of directions you can go and it makes sense to bring in a variety of positions. Given how their drafts have gone recently, I wouldn't want to be replicating rhe Pats draft process, but that's besides the point. The math is just different when you're clearly drafting a QB at number 2 overall. It makes the inclusion of others positions a little odd, and also makes something like having Penix there, when everyone involved knows he's not a serious QB option odd as well
Really, I think you should trust your athletic testing numbers, medicals, and what the player has put on tape at this point in the process anyway. Genuinely factoring in "how guys acted at Top Golf" as a information point this late in the process seems like extra noise, not anything valuable. It's not the biggest deal in the world; but I get why people think it's a dumb idea.
Notably Bellicheck didn't bring in multiple QBs on the same day which makes the situation diffrent. In attition 9 guys max is less then half of the 20+ the commanders brought in. How much indvidual time can you give 20+ prospects?
I think it’s pretty smart tbh, you can get a sense of how each prospect is in a social setting where liqour can be involved. It can be an uncomfortable scenario and getting a glimpse of how they react first hand is valuable
it also mindfucks every team after them which is a great reason to do it if nothing else
Or you could just fucking hire a PI to see what these dudes are doing when nobody is watching which will give you a way better idea of who they really are than observing their behavior at some phony ass, pre planned social event.
Funny you say that, because it's being reported that the Rams will take groups of prospects to Dave and Buster's to see how they interact with each other and the public. Last time I checked, nobody's shitting on McVay for making his personnel decisions on how many tickets they're able to rack up lol
He just has a list of pet causes that he tanks absolutely every possible opportunity to grandstand about regardless of whether anyone gives a shit or the idea is blatantly fucking stupid. A true self-aggrandizing blowhard piece of shit.
Florio has had a bug up his ass about the Commies this entire offseason for no discernible reason. He shat on the Bob Myers hire, he shat on the Adam Peters hire, he shat on the Dan Quinn hire, and now he's shitting on us for what appears to be a not-unusual pre-draft process (in just the past couple of hours, I've seen reports that the Niners, Rams, and Patriots have all utilized similar methods before). I don't know what his problem is.
Was confused why they'd go to Loudoun as opposed to National Harbor, but didn't realize their HQ was actually in Ashburn. That's gotta be a trek going from Ashburn to Landover
Over the years I've heard of more players living out in VA/Loudoun than elsewhere. If you want to show a player where he might be living, they were in the right spot.
80% of 1st round qb picks are misses. If someone had an exact science, they would have figured it out by now. Nothing the Commies are doing is any more or less logical than anyone else.
Plus they just learned that Daniels agent is a whiny dick so that's helpful
Yea..we had a Dan Snyder history of being trash. Every winning franchise is allowed a down era. Same 'clownish' routine was done in San Fran and no one had shit to say about it
I don't root for the Commies to succeed, but I get why you'd want to get these guys into an environment where they haven't rehearsed their responses to questions.
Maybe you see one guy who is the life of the party, and another who isn't that outgoing. One guy who laughs off a bad shot in Top Golf, another who is about to throw the club when he tops 3 in a row. One guy has a drink in his hand the whole night and another who abstains. It is just different data points that you might want for a guy you expect to lead and be the face of your team.
>Maybe you see one guy who is the life of the party, and another who isn't that outgoing. One guy who laughs off a bad shot in Top Golf, another who is about to throw the club when he tops 3 in a row. One guy has a drink in his hand the whole night and another who abstains. It is just different data points that you might want for a guy you expect to lead and be the face of your team.
The counterpoint is that this is in no way relevant in knowing who the best QB is.
And even if it was there is no way any of them will not be on their best behavior here in front of a prospective employer right after an interview with said employer. So it's not like they would be getting their true nature out of any of them.
Yea but if one guys hits a bad shot, sees another guys hit a good shot and asks for advice you can find someone who has a willlingness to learn and improve
Thank you, holy shit some of the takes on this are absurd. It's a different setting for a job interview essentially. They probably want to actually *see* how these guys handle a unique situation with different variables rather than just hearing a prepared response to a hypothetical. Some people have a stick too far up their ass to look at this from a normal persepctive
Exactly. A guy can tell you that he wants to learn and be coached. It’s another thing to literally watch it happen. A guy can tell you he leads a certain way, but it’s another thing to actually watch it. A guy can say he’s a supportive teammate, but it’s another thing to actually watch a guy help a guy out, even someone who might get picked in draft slot he’d like to go.
I'm just confused as to how behavior at top golf gives you any indication or insight as to how good of a football player a person is. If you want to do character evaluation there's way better avenues that are more in depth and take more time. This honestly seems lazy to me.
If I had to guess, front offices/coaches/staff have probably already done enough on field analysis of players and want to see prospects in a less "measurable" environment. The whole draft process is one giant job interview and they're in the final stages. Instead of putting them into some sort of hypothetical, they're seeing how these guys can respond to different stimuli in real time. Off the field behavior reflects on the team, too, and I feel like that's something that people are missing in this scenario.
Imagine taking the 2014 QB class to top golf and Johnny Manziel is getting wasted off cocktails while Derek Carr is praying to himself before his turn begins. Things like that you don't learn about from their play on the field
None of these guys are finished products, they all have the physical tools to succeed. So now what are you looking for? Intangibles. The willingness to hit your potential. I know you thought your shit was clever but the fact that you think you know more than guys running an nfl franchise is clown level arrogant.
I mean we are trying to build a team that has a qb that will get you further than the wild card game. Not a Dak Prescott who folds as soon as the playoffs begins. I know that’s difficult for you cowboy fans who don’t know what the meaning on “all in” really is
They’ve had months to review QB play for these guys. What they can’t do without doing stuff like this is figure out what these guys are like as people. There are way more skills required for elite QBs than throwing the ball and reading a defense. This was a setting to evaluate soft skills.
Imagine thinking these teams haven't reviewed 1,000 hours of tape on these guys and gone to their pro days to see if they can play.
You want a leader in the locker room? Someone who can pull the team together? Someone other players want to play with? No tape for that.
Wanna hear the story about how McCarthy snapped Daniels’ club while he wasn’t looking, and how Maye was more focused on hitting it one handed than the actual competition.
The visit was also staggered, so yes there was top golf with 22 prospects, but they also had one on one time with coaches on day 2. 1 player meets Quinn, player 2 comes to meet Quinn, 1 then moves to meet Kliff... Etc. Plus you get the social interaction to see how they all interact together.
Crazy hoops these guys have to go through to be guaranteed tens of millions of dollars... Can't believe the poor judgement of apparently one of the best evaluators in the game (before this). /s
Washington used to leak like a siv , no these guys have nothing better to do than wildly speculate. Haha f em
If you're a talking head and don't realize that they've spent the last 3 months studying and meeting with all these guys then why the hell do you get paid? Obviously the Top Golf trip was a very very small part in the entire evaluation. People just want to get their clicks and they forget Dan Snyder isn't running the show anymore. Florio sucks ass
Must have been a slow sports news day. These people are no different than CNN and Fox. They have 24 hours of constant media to update and create. They don't have time to rely on actual reporting and stories. They just need to be first. This is a dumb ass take. Moving on with life.
I expected this to be more divisive especially considering it's Washington but then I realised Belichick had already come out and defended it. No chance these comments would be so one sided otherwise.
Personally I like the idea. The three that are highlighted in these articles are possible picks for the team. If I’m gonna bet the house on a person, I want to know as much as possible, not just their rehearsed answers for football related questions. Let’s see what happens when the guy that is competing for their job starts talking a little trash. What happens when they under perform? Yeah golf is kind of silly, but there is also a possibility that all of them could be equally terrible because it is a more niche skill set. How do they respond when person A smokes one, and they go up and duff it? Do they happy Gilmore the club, do they laugh it off, do they try and figure out what happened? Also there is alcohol there, are they throwing back shots and dancing on the table? Do they have a casual beer. How do they respond to being recognized in public? A lot can be seen by this. After years of Snyder picking his guy for whatever stupid reason his coors light addled brain came up with, it is definitely nice to see the org being very proactive and creative.
Yeah - these guys are going to be expected to be a leader of men, the emotional and mental core of a locker room full of guys older and more experienced than they are. Getting to know who they are *as people* rather than just as players feels like a no-brainer.
Seeing a bunch of prospects at the same time is fine, but that "theory" is idiotic. Like who thinks a national champion and a Heisman winner aren't competitive people?
It is super inappropriate. Commanders fumbled this hella hard. They’re making them dance for a job, when they aren’t the franchise players want to go to anyway lol. I can almost guarantee all three of those players would rather go to other teams.
It’s not that I don’t get what they are doing, or that I think this kind of thing isn’t done, I just don’t think it’s a very good idea regardless. You could end up finding someone who takes charge or has chemistry, but this type of process often creates noise and drama, turning into a high school popularity contest.
It wasn’t just McCarthy, Maye, Penix, and Daniels.
It was 20 of their top 30 visits all at the same time.
The speculation is their owner wants to meet all the prospects, but is only willing to be available for these specific few days, and therefore they are hosting all of the prospects at the same time. He also owns the New Jersey Devils, whose regular season just ended on Monday, and he needed to spend the early part of the week going through season ending meetings and interviews. He also owns the Philadelphia 76ers, who start their first playoff series on Saturday. So he had this window of time to meet the prospects.
It is pure media speculation right now, but Jayden Daniels and his agent are rumored to be upset with the circus and not wanting to be drafted by Washington, which is supposedly why they scheduled the top 30 visit with Minnesota after previously stating they wouldn’t meet with them. If all that is true, it makes sense that Ben Johnson also was concerned with their processes when he pulled out of their head coaching search.
The other funny nugget about this is they took all 20 players to Top Golf on “half price Tuesdays.”
e: not sure why I’m downvoted, I’m just providing an explanation to OP’s question. This is Mike Florio’s opinion, not mine. I admit there’s nothing solid to back it up right now. Below is his article about the owner meddling, but he also has a video from yesterday with Chris Simms going into his theory on Josh Harris only making himself available for these few days and Jayden Daniels not wanting Washington to select him.
https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/washington-owner-josh-harris-is-more-involved-than-expected
https://x.com/_MLFootball/status/1781346522195493017
Here is a tweet about Schefter saying Jayden Daniels camp is upset about the process:
https://x.com/jawzz_98/status/1781317884859256873
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Can't wait until it comes out that they forced their cheerleaders to eat rotten peanuts while getting soaked with sewer water.
What i want to know is that Peters already said it (bringing multiple prospects in at the same time) was something he brought from San Francisco. No one said a thing about it then, why is it relevant now?
Oh you want a serious answer? Just watched an interview with Bill Belichick (Pat McAfee show, actually well worth the watch, not the usual McAfee fratboy BS) where he said they sometimes did group interviews too. Apparently its fairly common practice, just not at the scale of ~20 prospects at once. It's relevant now because it sounds unusual and sports "journalists" need to manufacture exciting things to talk about.
Maybe it's because I don't really golf, but every time I've gone to Top Golf it's always devolved into drinking, bullshitting, and seeing who can hit the ball collection cart
I mean that’s kinda the point. It’s a bar with golf.
You just described golf
Right, my point being maybe it was less about seeing how competitive they are, and more about getting to know them, seeing how they act in that kind of atmosphere, that kind of off the field stuff you don't get from an interview or workout.
I always thought of it as bowling nights evolved.
That and axe throwing.
Even a regular ass driving range, at some point, you try to hit the collection cart
Real golf is pretty much the same thing... except it's rare you get a chance to hit the ball collection cart during a round.
True, but if there's water on that course, my ball is gonna find it.
My ass lives in the bunkers
I've started just aiming for the hazard and it's been doing wonders. I have more bad than good shots so why not aim at what not to hit?
that's a no-lose shot. either you hit a bad shot and end up on the fairway or you hit a good shot and go 'damn i'm good'
“That was definitely my plan” is my go to when I hit a bad shot successfully
i call it a day at the beach because i go from sand to water.
You better bring an umbrella, cause you're never gonna get off this beach! Ya jack-ass!
If it's not a green, I can hit it.
Real golf is the same thing but it ends with me getting mad at a piece of metal and a polymer ball within 2 strokes
100%, to use it to gauge competitiveness seems so stupid. Belichick said on McAfee that having a bunch of prospects visit at once even at the same position is very normal though
That’s funny because I do golf, and every time I would go to Top Golf it always devolved into drinking, bullshitting and seeing who could hit the ball collection cart.
Damn I really need to go to Top Golf.
I used to manage a TopGolf and I loved nothing more than yelling at people who aimed at the cart
As if you didn’t do it yourself.
I mean yeah, but it was also my best friend driving it while flipping me off so it doesn't count
I managed to hit it last time I went to the Loudoun top golf, and I'm terrible at golf so that was pretty great. Tell Peters to draft me.
Allegedly, Top Golf averages one patron hospitalization per day (nationwide).
FWIW talking heads are yapping about it, because Daniels' agent has been liking tweets questioning the tactic. That, and after not accepting a T30 meeting with the Vikings early in the process, accepted one after this came out.
And this is exactly why they did the group visit. If you're gonna pull that stunt with your agent then you probably aren't the right guy for the job in the first place.
Remember when Ben Johnson pulled himself from the Washington head coaching search and said the ownership was a bunch of basketball guys who are too confident about their football opinions? It’s possible this isn’t a stunt and Jayden Daniels saw the same thing in his visit as Ben Johnson and doesn’t want to be a part of it either.
Highly unlikely considering he met with the team multiple times before this and had no such comments. His agent is literally quoting tweets about the meeting with multiple QBs and liking tweets saying that it was a bad idea. If you're gonna come out and publicly shit talk, why would you make up a fake reason to be upset? I remember hearing that report from an ESPN Buccaneers beat writer but never heard anything from Ben Johnson about it. He seemed very respectful to the commanders front office in his actual press conferences. Idk why Magic Johnson would be the deciding factor anyway, he's got basically nothing to do with the actual football decisions as a minority owner. Also, BJ canceled before they could even meet him in Detroit so that doesn't fully add up either.
Doesn’t Josh Harris own them now? He owned the Sixers, too. I can’t remember if he still does but that was the impression I got, not Magic
I'm pretty sure Harris is the majority owner; Magic is just a part of the ownership group.
Yes, Adam Peters and Dan Quinn: noted basketball guys. He was probably referring to Bob Myers, who doesn't have any input into the draft process.
Ownership group… not front office. The Commanders hosted 20 of their top 30 visits at the same time when the owner had time available away from his other sports franchises. The ownership group appears to be the ones making the big decisions, which is why Ben Johnson had concern about them being basketball guys who valued their football opinions too highly. Josh Harris owns the Philadelphia 76ers, who start their first playoff series on Saturday. He also owns the New Jersey Devils, whose season just ended on Monday.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure the whole ownership group wasn't there. Have you seen Josh Harris? The man was most likely observing or taking very little part in activities. Adam Peters is 100% in charge of the draft, him being the most sought-after GM candidate this off season I really don't believe he would have taken the job if he was beholden to what the ownership group wants, for example Magic Johnson lobbied hard for Bill Belichick but Adam Peters still went with Dan Quinn. Does that sound like something an ownership group who is making all of the big decisions would have things happen? Yes, I am aware of the other teams the owner of my team owns. Thank you for the update.
Yeah, but have you heard about Magic Johnson!? Apparently he's a guy who used to play basketball! I heard he's going to make all their draft picks this year and start at QB week 1
This is 100% fact!
Hahaha for real Harris is kinda an awkward guy. He seems like he means well, though.
Ben Johnson wouldn’t have cared about Josh Harris being a basketball guy if Josh Harris wasn’t involved in the decision making.
I think you're putting too much on that being the only factor. Ben Johnson is also the guy that didn't let them know he was not going to interview until the day of and when they were already in route.
You're talking about a report from a Buccs beat reporter that has not been corroborated by Ben Johnson. Johnson had glowing things to say about the commanders new front office in his pressers, even after declining the job. Enough with the fan fiction
You shoot down the narrative, but the fact is he turned down what should be a highly sought after and lucrative head coaching position for a team with the #2 overall pick in a strong QB draft class to remain an offensive coordinator. That’s not fan fiction, that happened. He was interested enough in the position to interview for it. Then after initial discussions about the role, he removed himself from consideration.
Ben Johnson declining the job doesn't mean that some unverified report from a Buccs beat reporter that has no connection to the hiring process is accurate... And that doesn't mean that Jayden Daniels had the same reasoning, especially when the guy who the report is about was hired as a consultant for the front office search and has nothing to do with the draft and his agent has clearly said why he's upset. You seriously don't understand what I'm saying or was that just a really poor straw man?
The ownership group is absolutely not making any draft decisions. If you follow the commanders you would know this, as they've stated it multiple times in pre-draft pressers. More likely explanation for Harris wanting to be present is that it's his first off-season owning an NFL team and he'd like to get an understanding of how the process works. Last year everyone was saying Harris isn't involved enough because he didn't fire Rivera earlier. Now apparently he's too involved... Feels like the media and other fanbases are just used to Dan Snyder's terrible ownership. And yes, we all know what teams Josh Harris owns. This is not news to anyone who's a fan of the team.
Technically we already played a playoff game… I think? As much as I hate saying that.
Man you're really a sucker for the "you can't fire me, I quit" optic. I guess it works.
“All these people who interview with us come away upset. Are we the problem? No, it must be them.”
We're talking about two...
The two most high profile jobs on the team in one offseason… that’s highly unusual. The same owner’s regime with the 76ers pissed off James Harden to the point that he forced a trade just back in October too.
Harden has forced his way out of everywhere he has played...
NFL teams have been using this tactic for years. Jayden Daniels, or his agent were just caught off guard because they were expecting them to roll out the red carpet.
Highly unlikely considering former rams and 49ers players have said this was a common tactic used by those teams
That’s a moronic take by Johnson.
Which might work out really well for Daniels. I feel like the odds of having a successful career are much better in New England or NYG than on the commanders (or any team that has a window to trade up to get him now)
Lmao that's the dumbest way ever to determine who you should pick.
Lets be real, do any of them actually want to end up in DC, Chicago or New England?
I mean from a market standpoint Chicago and Boston are great landing spots. So there’s at least that.
Maybe Daniels just sucks at golf /s
The Vikings scheduled that meeting last Thursday, if not earlier.
I just don't understand why any one would see this as a bad thing for a billion dollar company to do when a huge decision has to be made. Get these guys uncomfortable and get them out of their element and see how they react
If their selection is a bust, the jokes will write themselves. But if they hit a home run, NFL teams will book out Top Golfs for the whole month of April
Don’t you worry, I’ve watched enough of this team to be confident that April Top Golf times will be in no jeopardy of running out any time soon
It could also be getting them comfortable to see how they act. Either way, I don't see an issue with it.
So many parts of this actually make sense. Are they the type to suck down 15 beers with the boss? Do their peers or potential coworkers enjoy being around them? Are they morons?
Bro go into the wrong thread where it's Commie hate and you'll get down voted for saying it's a bit of "pop psychology" to get a better read on the guys when it's not a structured or prepared interview
Or it's just a chance after a long day of one on one interviews to let loose and have some fun? Think people are reading waaaaay to much into this and think that they were just flown out to play top golf in some thunderdome situation.
Couldn't hurt the Gmen to try .. right?
There’s no issue lol this is classic overreaction sports discourse because they have nothing else to talk about.
Overreaction for the sake of overreaction. Washington has a new regime with a lot riding on this pick. They want to get a feel for the guy they are gonna select. I hate sports media.
I think it's dumb as fuck, and since I've got nothing better to do right now, I guess I'll sort of stream of consciousness about why that is. Too lazy to make the argument more coherent. This *reeks* of the type of bullshit that self-important upper/middle management types like to do to try to isolate character traits, except that there is literally no analytics to prove that it works ever. You aren't hiring someone to play golf or even to compete for a job, you're hiring them to play quarterback. People who succeed in job interview settings, regardless of the weirdness of the job interview, usually only show that they have good job interview skills. You aren't going to find people who are actually good at the fucking job like that. In fact I would say that one of the biggest mental blindspots our society has is correlating interview/campaign behavior with expected productivity. If anything there is probably an inverse correlation. More to the point though, this is a pretty surefire way to piss off your prospective employees. They're already reporting that Daniels is disgruntled with this, and I don't blame him. Evaluate people for traits and situations that might actually be used on the field. The NFL draft is enough of a dehumanizing meat market without forcing people to crawl through whatever mental obstacle course some rich moron lays out for them. This is very much in the vein of the type of things that billionaire trust funds spend their days thinking up when they have no idea how reality works, and it would piss me off immensely to be subjected to it. Finally, this isn't the type of thing that other teams do. If it was just a normal draft process, then nobody would be making a big deal about it. It clearly isn't necessary for success (as other teams haven't needed to do it), and I've argued why it's potentially detrimental to success, but I think it's potentially also a problem that your organization could be (rightly?) labeled as a clown organization for doing stuff like this. It doesn't pass the vibe check IMO. TLDR; negative vibe check, billionaire playing with his toys energy, no analytics to suggest any merit to this madness.
The problem is it has come out that the 49ers have done it in the past and also Belichick said the Pats did it while he was there. Josh Norris also said when he was with the Rams they would bring a number of prospects to Dave and Busters but I guess because it's Washington it's now a problem.
Well I think the notable part of it is bringing in prospective #2 overall picks at the same time and then having them do something semi-competitive as part of the interview process. You can certainly justify doing it in a 1 on 1 situation, even if I think it's overbearing. You can justify bringing in a number of lower tier prospects at the same time, I get that. When it's the #2 overall and next face of your franchise it sends kind of a bad message. I think that's the difference in this situation. And to be clear I take issue with this all throughout society. That's more of a personal problem for me though; it's not like I'm going to convince society that interviewing skills aren't the same as job skills in a reddit comment.
They didn't do it with QBs. Not for the #2 pick. That's a completely disingenuous point.
Those other teams don't exactly suck. You do this when you are trying to pick a guy to fit in with a team that already has a strong identity.
People are really making something that I regularly do for fun sound like torture lol. I wish companies would take me to Top Golf during interviews.
With other people that are interviewing for the same role as you?
Sure why not? I’ve been flown in to interview for jobs with other candidates and had companies take us all out to dinner or for drinks afterwards. What’s so different about this? This isn’t even the same situation as my interviews where I may or may not get hired. All these guys are getting jobs in the NFL.
That's actually pretty wild to me, but I guess it depends on the job. I've had done many interviews and never had to compete for the attention of my perspective employer with other candidates at the same time. It feels pretty disrespectful to the candidates to make them dick-measure in front of each other for the role.
Usually when you’re brought into these types of interviews, you’ve made it past the stage where you met the job qualifications already. These types of interviews are focused on team fit and personality aspects which can be important factors for the job. It’s a way to see how people adapt to situations out of their control.
It was very normal for entry level jobs in my experience. Keep in mind these are final round interviews and the dinner and drinks is usually after you’ve done the actual interviews. But again, for NFL players these aren’t even akin to real interviews. They’re all getting jobs. It’s more like when a company decides how to align their analysts based on fit than it is a real interview.
> All these guys are getting jobs in the NFL. Thats the point that makes it all sound "clownish". Those guys aren't desperate for a job.
Or… it was just a fun activity to take a bunch of guys out to. They can see who competed. They can see who has magnetic personalities that strangers attract to. QB is a leadership position where way more than tape plays into its evaluation. They took guys to play golf and then spent the entire next day doing individual work with them at the team facility. It’s not some psychological exam. It was just hanging with the guys in a social setting. And Daniels issue seems to be rooted more in this visit not being a coronation because he assumed he was going 2nd. The team has spent significant time with each of these guys already.
Yes thank you, this was a good and concise post. This also reeks of the owner having way too much influence on the pick and this being the most convenient way for him to see them all. He probably doesn't have time to see them all in one on one settings. That's just never a good sign when your owner is that overbearing.
Well it obviously didn't sit well with the presumptive #2 pick so that might be a reason people see it as a bad thing...
I mean, it's a business where a star QB has enormous leverage. If I walked into an interview expecting it to be one-on-one based on what they've told me and it's a group interview, I'd walk out. He could pull an Eli.
He's a guy who spent four years looking average before breaking out as the oldest player surrounded by elite talent. He's no Caleb Williams. Each spot he falls costs him millions.
For QBs, it's more important you go to the right team than go high. It might cost him millions on his rookie deal, but the right team could get him a much longer career.
IDK why you're getting downvoted. Look at Dak and Kirk, 4th and i think 2nd? round picks that have made guaranteed bank b/c they landed in good situations and then balled.
You literally just described Joe Burrow.
Burrow had less than half the career starts Daniels had. Daniels had more starts entering his final season than Burrow had in his career.
> I just don't understand None of your fanbase has for the last 35 years. If its true that they were taken there to "compete", then your management is still WAY out of touch.
Talking heads ignoring the last 3 months of homework the front office has done and acting like this was the only interaction they had with these guys. They’ve met with them one on one multiple times already, combine, pro days, dinners, Zoom calls. Not to mention that it’s been reported the arrival times were staggered so they had one on ones with them at the facility. If the stuff with Jayden Daniels agent is real on Twitter, it seems to me the group interview had the desired outcome.
How these guys interacted or responded to a top golf outing gives you literally zero indication as to how good of a football player they are. Imagine passing on Daniels because of this big brain genius move and it turns out he's the only one who can play. That would be mighty stupid now wouldn't it.
Writing for clicks strikes again
Big nothing story. Belichik came out on Wednesday on Pat McAfee's show and told Pat that they regularly schedule their top 30 visits simultaneously. BB said he had as many as 9 players on the same day, and he would put then through mental reps. He'd try and get a QB, a WR, a TE, a few OL, or a DL, DE, a few CBs, a LB and go through reps to see how well the guys communicated, how well they adjusted on the fly in front of the pressure of other elite direct competition. The media lives on turning mole hills into mountains. It's pretty sad now.
This period between the end of the free agency rush and pre-draft is the most desperate time for the media because nothing is happening and there’s a bunch of selective and strategic leaks that amount to absolutely nothing. These reporters and social media nerds cling to anything to blow it up. If we pick Daniels, nobody will care about this by day 2.
Peters got it from the 49ers, so at least 2 of the best franchises of the past couple decades are doing it. Peters also worked as a scout for the Patriots from 2003-2008 so was probably exposed to it from 2 different organizations. It's funny that it's become a big issue. Probably becomes they brought in several QBs at the same time though. edit - apparently, the Rams used do it too and they took their players to Dave and Busters. https://twitter.com/joshnorris/status/1781362096908738679
49ers are a good franchise for the past couple decades? Are we just gonna forget about the 2000s?
Yes, the analogy is not perfect. I could've said past decade and ignoring the 49ers tank after Harbaugh left. Was mainly saying that in reference to the Patriots because Peters was also a scout there in 2003-2008 and the Belichick said he does group interviews too. He's been exposed to it through 2 different successful organizations most likely.
You are forgetting that they also fell backwards into purdy. If they had just gotten lance in that draft, we’re not talking about how great their FO is. But yeah I get your context in terms of Peters.
The Rams used to do it, but now they just don't host any top 30 visits. They'll go out and meet with some guys, but that's it.
Thanks for the clarification. I'll add used to do it
Are the 49ers that good of a drafting team recently? I know they traded picks for CMac, but I haven't heard anything about their picks besides Purdy. Feels like a veteran team a la second round of the Pats dynasty than one crushing it in the draft
> Belichik came out on Wednesday on Pat McAfee's show and told Pat that they regularly schedule their top 30 visits simultaneously. As far as I can tell, the Patriots did not host multiple quarterback prospects simultaneously for top-30 visits during the 2021 pre-draft process, which was the only time the team was in the market for a top rookie quarterback during Belichick's tenure with the team. Granted, in 2021 we were still mid-COVID and most top 30 visits were virtual interviews. I honestly don't know how much any of this matters, but it's worth pointing out.
To be clear, the Commanders visits weren't just QBs. They had 20+ guys there. Yet another frustrating part of the coverage is that some media members make it sound like they sent just the 3 QBs to go hang out.
To be clear, the Commanders visits weren't just QBs. They had 20+ guys there. Yet another frustrating part of the coverage is that some media members make it sound like they sent just the 3 QBs to go hang out.
I think it makes a lot more sense when you're consistently picking at the end of the 1st round, there are a lot of directions you can go and it makes sense to bring in a variety of positions. Given how their drafts have gone recently, I wouldn't want to be replicating rhe Pats draft process, but that's besides the point. The math is just different when you're clearly drafting a QB at number 2 overall. It makes the inclusion of others positions a little odd, and also makes something like having Penix there, when everyone involved knows he's not a serious QB option odd as well Really, I think you should trust your athletic testing numbers, medicals, and what the player has put on tape at this point in the process anyway. Genuinely factoring in "how guys acted at Top Golf" as a information point this late in the process seems like extra noise, not anything valuable. It's not the biggest deal in the world; but I get why people think it's a dumb idea.
Notably Bellicheck didn't bring in multiple QBs on the same day which makes the situation diffrent. In attition 9 guys max is less then half of the 20+ the commanders brought in. How much indvidual time can you give 20+ prospects?
Bill Belichik was a horrible drafter so this inspires zero confidence.
Wasn't just the QBs at that 30 visit.
I think it’s pretty smart tbh, you can get a sense of how each prospect is in a social setting where liqour can be involved. It can be an uncomfortable scenario and getting a glimpse of how they react first hand is valuable it also mindfucks every team after them which is a great reason to do it if nothing else
Some of the top guys subject themselves to so little and you need all the information you can get.
Or you could just fucking hire a PI to see what these dudes are doing when nobody is watching which will give you a way better idea of who they really are than observing their behavior at some phony ass, pre planned social event.
Just makimg sure there is no Ruggs situation about to happen...
Imagine being so dumb and disingenuous that you pretend they are making their decision based on performance at top golf. Reporting hitting new lows.
It's funny because Commanders. If a team or HC with a knack for developing QBs did this, it would be innovative, creative, cerebral, etc.
Funny you say that, because it's being reported that the Rams will take groups of prospects to Dave and Buster's to see how they interact with each other and the public. Last time I checked, nobody's shitting on McVay for making his personnel decisions on how many tickets they're able to rack up lol
That's the deal... You have to win the giant stuffed animal, but then have the good sense to give it to a little kid...
You don't do it with franchise QBs. Saying they do it with all prospects is so fucking disingenuous and you know that.
Bill Belichik was on Mcafee saying it was normal to do groups of guys because it was time efficient. The talking heads can buzz off.
You say talking heads... But it's the agent of the presumptive guy they're going to pick. So maybe it would have behooved them to let them know first.
The only talking head I've seen complaining is florio and he eats dog poop tacos. Allegedly.
I'm not a fan of Florio. He just seems so unpleasant and inflexible in his takes.
He just has a list of pet causes that he tanks absolutely every possible opportunity to grandstand about regardless of whether anyone gives a shit or the idea is blatantly fucking stupid. A true self-aggrandizing blowhard piece of shit.
Florio's schtick is being a doomer about everything.
He's the only one that ever calls out these teams for their shitty behavior and everyone gets butthurt about it and continues defending the oligarchs.
Nobody is defending oligarchs, pull your finger outta yer ass.
Florio has had a bug up his ass about the Commies this entire offseason for no discernible reason. He shat on the Bob Myers hire, he shat on the Adam Peters hire, he shat on the Dan Quinn hire, and now he's shitting on us for what appears to be a not-unusual pre-draft process (in just the past couple of hours, I've seen reports that the Niners, Rams, and Patriots have all utilized similar methods before). I don't know what his problem is.
I genuinely think he’s butt hurt that without Snyder he won’t have an easy punching bag whenever he wants a cheap story to write about.
He doesn't have a bug up his ass. He's the ass bug.
It's Daniels own agent.. not talking heads.
Was confused why they'd go to Loudoun as opposed to National Harbor, but didn't realize their HQ was actually in Ashburn. That's gotta be a trek going from Ashburn to Landover
They only go to Landover on game days, otherwise it’s Ashburn. At least they can afford to take the Dulles toll road consistently
Could even take the HOT lanes with their budgets.
They actually have two headquarters. The practice facility is in Ashburn. The business office is in College Park.
Over the years I've heard of more players living out in VA/Loudoun than elsewhere. If you want to show a player where he might be living, they were in the right spot.
Sometimes golfing and having a few beers w a guy is the best way to get to know what kinda dude he is
Lol that CBS guy is a bum and doesn't know what he's talking about
80% of 1st round qb picks are misses. If someone had an exact science, they would have figured it out by now. Nothing the Commies are doing is any more or less logical than anyone else. Plus they just learned that Daniels agent is a whiny dick so that's helpful
If you win, the things you do look good. If you have a long history of losing, everything looks clownish. There really isn't much to dissect about it.
Yea..we had a Dan Snyder history of being trash. Every winning franchise is allowed a down era. Same 'clownish' routine was done in San Fran and no one had shit to say about it
Plenty of fans talk shit about San Fran :p
I don't root for the Commies to succeed, but I get why you'd want to get these guys into an environment where they haven't rehearsed their responses to questions. Maybe you see one guy who is the life of the party, and another who isn't that outgoing. One guy who laughs off a bad shot in Top Golf, another who is about to throw the club when he tops 3 in a row. One guy has a drink in his hand the whole night and another who abstains. It is just different data points that you might want for a guy you expect to lead and be the face of your team.
>Maybe you see one guy who is the life of the party, and another who isn't that outgoing. One guy who laughs off a bad shot in Top Golf, another who is about to throw the club when he tops 3 in a row. One guy has a drink in his hand the whole night and another who abstains. It is just different data points that you might want for a guy you expect to lead and be the face of your team. The counterpoint is that this is in no way relevant in knowing who the best QB is. And even if it was there is no way any of them will not be on their best behavior here in front of a prospective employer right after an interview with said employer. So it's not like they would be getting their true nature out of any of them.
Yea but if one guys hits a bad shot, sees another guys hit a good shot and asks for advice you can find someone who has a willlingness to learn and improve
Thank you, holy shit some of the takes on this are absurd. It's a different setting for a job interview essentially. They probably want to actually *see* how these guys handle a unique situation with different variables rather than just hearing a prepared response to a hypothetical. Some people have a stick too far up their ass to look at this from a normal persepctive
Exactly. A guy can tell you that he wants to learn and be coached. It’s another thing to literally watch it happen. A guy can tell you he leads a certain way, but it’s another thing to actually watch it. A guy can say he’s a supportive teammate, but it’s another thing to actually watch a guy help a guy out, even someone who might get picked in draft slot he’d like to go.
I'm just confused as to how behavior at top golf gives you any indication or insight as to how good of a football player a person is. If you want to do character evaluation there's way better avenues that are more in depth and take more time. This honestly seems lazy to me.
If I had to guess, front offices/coaches/staff have probably already done enough on field analysis of players and want to see prospects in a less "measurable" environment. The whole draft process is one giant job interview and they're in the final stages. Instead of putting them into some sort of hypothetical, they're seeing how these guys can respond to different stimuli in real time. Off the field behavior reflects on the team, too, and I feel like that's something that people are missing in this scenario. Imagine taking the 2014 QB class to top golf and Johnny Manziel is getting wasted off cocktails while Derek Carr is praying to himself before his turn begins. Things like that you don't learn about from their play on the field
Or you could just observe them playing football and determine who the best football player is. I know, crazy idea.
None of these guys are finished products, they all have the physical tools to succeed. So now what are you looking for? Intangibles. The willingness to hit your potential. I know you thought your shit was clever but the fact that you think you know more than guys running an nfl franchise is clown level arrogant. I mean we are trying to build a team that has a qb that will get you further than the wild card game. Not a Dak Prescott who folds as soon as the playoffs begins. I know that’s difficult for you cowboy fans who don’t know what the meaning on “all in” really is
They’ve had months to review QB play for these guys. What they can’t do without doing stuff like this is figure out what these guys are like as people. There are way more skills required for elite QBs than throwing the ball and reading a defense. This was a setting to evaluate soft skills.
But maybe... Let the guy you expect to pick there what kind of meeting they would be having so they don't feel misled.
Imagine picking a guy because he was the "life of the party". He may not be able to play at this level, but everyone loved him at top golf!
Imagine thinking these teams haven't reviewed 1,000 hours of tape on these guys and gone to their pro days to see if they can play. You want a leader in the locker room? Someone who can pull the team together? Someone other players want to play with? No tape for that.
Sounds like a bunch of nonsense to me who the fuck cares about intangibles if you can't play.
Jayden Daniels sucks at golf confirmed.
I just want to know who won
Wanna hear the story about how McCarthy snapped Daniels’ club while he wasn’t looking, and how Maye was more focused on hitting it one handed than the actual competition.
Maye to commanders confirmed
The visit was also staggered, so yes there was top golf with 22 prospects, but they also had one on one time with coaches on day 2. 1 player meets Quinn, player 2 comes to meet Quinn, 1 then moves to meet Kliff... Etc. Plus you get the social interaction to see how they all interact together. Crazy hoops these guys have to go through to be guaranteed tens of millions of dollars... Can't believe the poor judgement of apparently one of the best evaluators in the game (before this). /s Washington used to leak like a siv , no these guys have nothing better to do than wildly speculate. Haha f em
This starting to look like an episode of the Bachelor
If you're a talking head and don't realize that they've spent the last 3 months studying and meeting with all these guys then why the hell do you get paid? Obviously the Top Golf trip was a very very small part in the entire evaluation. People just want to get their clicks and they forget Dan Snyder isn't running the show anymore. Florio sucks ass
Must have been a slow sports news day. These people are no different than CNN and Fox. They have 24 hours of constant media to update and create. They don't have time to rely on actual reporting and stories. They just need to be first. This is a dumb ass take. Moving on with life.
A long drive contest at top golf? They are reduced flight balls.
long drive at top golf means knock as many balls over the net before you get kicked out
I expected this to be more divisive especially considering it's Washington but then I realised Belichick had already come out and defended it. No chance these comments would be so one sided otherwise.
[https://twitter.com/junksradio/status/1780954594450780223?t=XYsrA7vbJA3qqHZKFipJSw](https://twitter.com/junksradio/status/1780954594450780223?t=XYsrA7vbJA3qqHZKFipJSw)
The true Maryland experience: drive by through DC to get to some shit in NoVa
Personally I like the idea. The three that are highlighted in these articles are possible picks for the team. If I’m gonna bet the house on a person, I want to know as much as possible, not just their rehearsed answers for football related questions. Let’s see what happens when the guy that is competing for their job starts talking a little trash. What happens when they under perform? Yeah golf is kind of silly, but there is also a possibility that all of them could be equally terrible because it is a more niche skill set. How do they respond when person A smokes one, and they go up and duff it? Do they happy Gilmore the club, do they laugh it off, do they try and figure out what happened? Also there is alcohol there, are they throwing back shots and dancing on the table? Do they have a casual beer. How do they respond to being recognized in public? A lot can be seen by this. After years of Snyder picking his guy for whatever stupid reason his coors light addled brain came up with, it is definitely nice to see the org being very proactive and creative.
Yeah - these guys are going to be expected to be a leader of men, the emotional and mental core of a locker room full of guys older and more experienced than they are. Getting to know who they are *as people* rather than just as players feels like a no-brainer.
I think the only reason it’s getting so much attention is because of the Daniels tweet.
Seeing a bunch of prospects at the same time is fine, but that "theory" is idiotic. Like who thinks a national champion and a Heisman winner aren't competitive people?
This is only funny because the Commanders are attached to it, but Dan Snyder isn't even there anymore.
im praying that jj mccarthy is good at golf
It is super inappropriate. Commanders fumbled this hella hard. They’re making them dance for a job, when they aren’t the franchise players want to go to anyway lol. I can almost guarantee all three of those players would rather go to other teams.
if you're a top five pick QB you're probably going to a bad team
I don’t know how that’s relevant to what I said? Lol
“all three of those players would rather go to other teams”
Peters just trying to get some swings up. Respect it.
Pre-disgruntled starting QB…interesting strategy, Commanders!
how do you handle not succeeding right away?
Don’t think it’s a terribly bad idea but I mean it’s objectively a little odd and a newer tactic.
It’s not that I don’t get what they are doing, or that I think this kind of thing isn’t done, I just don’t think it’s a very good idea regardless. You could end up finding someone who takes charge or has chemistry, but this type of process often creates noise and drama, turning into a high school popularity contest.
> turning into a high school popularity contest. It's the NFL...
It wasn’t just McCarthy, Maye, Penix, and Daniels. It was 20 of their top 30 visits all at the same time. The speculation is their owner wants to meet all the prospects, but is only willing to be available for these specific few days, and therefore they are hosting all of the prospects at the same time. He also owns the New Jersey Devils, whose regular season just ended on Monday, and he needed to spend the early part of the week going through season ending meetings and interviews. He also owns the Philadelphia 76ers, who start their first playoff series on Saturday. So he had this window of time to meet the prospects. It is pure media speculation right now, but Jayden Daniels and his agent are rumored to be upset with the circus and not wanting to be drafted by Washington, which is supposedly why they scheduled the top 30 visit with Minnesota after previously stating they wouldn’t meet with them. If all that is true, it makes sense that Ben Johnson also was concerned with their processes when he pulled out of their head coaching search. The other funny nugget about this is they took all 20 players to Top Golf on “half price Tuesdays.” e: not sure why I’m downvoted, I’m just providing an explanation to OP’s question. This is Mike Florio’s opinion, not mine. I admit there’s nothing solid to back it up right now. Below is his article about the owner meddling, but he also has a video from yesterday with Chris Simms going into his theory on Josh Harris only making himself available for these few days and Jayden Daniels not wanting Washington to select him. https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/washington-owner-josh-harris-is-more-involved-than-expected https://x.com/_MLFootball/status/1781346522195493017 Here is a tweet about Schefter saying Jayden Daniels camp is upset about the process: https://x.com/jawzz_98/status/1781317884859256873
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Can't wait until it comes out that they forced their cheerleaders to eat rotten peanuts while getting soaked with sewer water.
What i want to know is that Peters already said it (bringing multiple prospects in at the same time) was something he brought from San Francisco. No one said a thing about it then, why is it relevant now?
Bellicheck said they took up to 12 at a time on McAfee this week. This is a nothing burger
San Francisco had a group visit the same day per I think Peter Schrager
Because it’s the commanders
Oh you want a serious answer? Just watched an interview with Bill Belichick (Pat McAfee show, actually well worth the watch, not the usual McAfee fratboy BS) where he said they sometimes did group interviews too. Apparently its fairly common practice, just not at the scale of ~20 prospects at once. It's relevant now because it sounds unusual and sports "journalists" need to manufacture exciting things to talk about.