There are times when the Twitter group think mob feeding frenzy is regrettable. There are also times when it’s a nice reinforcement that common sense can still win out. This is the latter.
Ian Rapoport went back to the well for another round of “Actually, it’s fine that teams want Lamar Jackson to work out as a receiver at the combine” today. There might be a way to express that opinion without putting your foot in your mouth, but if there is, Ian failed to find it.
It’s not uncommon that teams requested #Louisville QB Lamar Jackson to do receiver drills. For instance: RBs Ronald Jones and Sony Michel was asked to do WR drills. DE’s Bradley Chubb and Marcus Davenport were asked to do LB drills.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 3, 2018
There are two reasons Rapoport tweeted this out. Maybe it was his original thought, in which case he failed to recognize the fundamental problem with his equivalence. Running backs in the NFL are often asked to split out wide, and indeed there are certain players for whom the positional distinction is irrelevant. And Chubb, Davenport, and other college defensive ends are likely being looked at by 3-4 teams who want to use them as pass rushing outside linebackers. Again, essentially the same position, but those groups could have drills more aligned with each team’s interest.
Quarterback and wide receiver are not even close to the same position. It’s akin to asking Bradley Chubb to punt, which, granted, is something I’d personally like to see, but that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be a waste of everyone’s time, most of all Chubb’s.
The second possible reason Rapoport tweeted this is because he was asked to by a team exec, which has all the same problems as the first reason but adds a few more in for good measure.
Folks on Twitter were, unsurprisingly, displeased:
— Harry Lyles Jr. (@harrylylesjr) March 3, 2018
How many of those other guys asked to work out at different positions won the Heisman at their preferred position?
— Josiah Johnson (@KingJosiah54) March 3, 2018
Ian bit it hard with his response to that one:
1. you're mixing scott frost up with the other one.
2. they ran the triple friggin option.
just take the L.
— bomani (@bomani_jones) March 3, 2018
Things went on from there.
Rapoport followed up his original tweet with this one, which is potentially revealing as to why he’s on this particular crusade:
Lamar Jackson has said no one asked him to do WR drills. But the requests were, in fact, made. Three more: DBs Marcus Allen, Terrell Edmunds and Derwin James were asked to do LB drills.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 3, 2018
For what it’s worth, defensive back and linebacker are also very closely related, especially in today’s NFL, when teams spend a ton of time in nickel. Those three defensive backs are all big players, and it’s another example of a much more fluid positional situation than asking a quarterback to play wideout. Ian Rapoport either knows this and is pretending not to, or he doesn’t know it, in which case he must not be paying that much attention to the sport he covers.
Lamar Jackson was a tremendous college quarterback who believes his best shot at a professional career is as a quarterback. Plenty of teams do as well, regardless of what some league people would have you believe.
