Ask the expert: Jerry Angelo

by Gary Shelton on April 27, 2017 · 0 comments

in general, NFL, Tampa Bay Bucs

Jerry Angelo is a former personnel director for the Bucs and former general manager of the Bears. Each week, Angelo answers your questions regarding the NFL. Send your questions to GarySheltonsports@gmail.com with "ask the expert'' in the subject line. The most interesting questions will be selected.

Thursday, 4 a.m.

The NFL Draft is Thursday. If you run  an NFL team, is the hay in the barn. Or do you gather until the last minute?

No, teams pretty much know what they are going to do. Right now, it’s about making calls to see what options they may have with other teams in terms of the possible draft day trades of draft picks. You're also checking with various sources too see what other teams are going to do. As we all know its a big game of liar's poker right now. Who do you believe. So, there is plenty to do, but in terms of gathering more information on players or evaluating them, that’s over.

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Both Reuben Foster and Jabrill Peppers tested positive for diluted drug tests. Do NFL teams look at that as the same as a failed test, or is it just something else to be aware of?

I really never heard of that before. You either test positive or you don’t. So, I don’t know what it means to teams, but I do know that any player who test positive at the combine for anything has a problem. I would be very suspect of either player.

Warren Sapp, who has been known to unleash an opinion or two, ripped A&M’s Myles Garrett for being lazy and “making only four plays a game.” Is that a legitimate criticism?

Garrett is the best talent-player in the draft. He has been since day one.

For someone to come out and say the guy is lazy is a little absurd at this point. I would think in the last 4 or 5 months; if it were a real problem, we would have heard it by now and by various sources. You have to understand, players in college are playing as many as 80 to 90 snaps a game on defense. In the pros, that number drops dramatically.

So he may have taken some plays off for the obvious reason I just pointed out. But to say you wouldn’t take him, well, you have to consider the source.

DeShone Kizer says he has the brain of Tom Brady and the body of Cam Newton. Are you more amused or flabbergasted by those kind of statements?

Amused. He’s young, he's a competitor and he's just trying to get teams to believe in him. I don’t think he used good judgment.

He is a very bright kid, but there is a difference between book smarts and just good old common sense. I think Kizer, for all his intelligence may be absent in the other departments. Maybe severely absent.

When you heard of the suicide of Aaron Hernandez, what thoughts went through your head? Do you remember having a grade on him?

Maybe somewhere along the line, someone failed to address what acute problems this kid had. He obviously had a manic side to his character.

I say this based on what was depicted of him, through the media and  based on my perceptions. I’m not blaming anyone. We’re all accountable for our actions, as he was for his, but during his days at Florida, I wonder if his issues were dealt with at all or appropriately. Maybe they were to the best of his elders' abilities. Again, I’m not judging or blaming. I’m just wondering.

It’s extremely disturbing and sad that a boy took the life of another person and then his own at 27 years of age. May God be with him.

One of the more intriguing players is UConn safety Obi Melifonwu. But are his test scores better than his film? How do general managers make that call?

That’s a coin toss. Some teams will put more stock on the workout and others on the tape. He’s a good football player with great athleticism. He’s going to be a good pro, but a special one? That remains to be seen.

Say your team is picking halfway through the first round. Fifteenth, we’ll say. How much phone activity is there usually before you make your pick

It all depends on who’s on the board.

Some years the phone burns up. Other times you can put your ear next to it and hear nothing. I think the team at 15 will have some calls. There will be some offensive players there (quarterbacks), because they were pushed down or because of the run teams had on defensive players. So, there will be some real value there for the defensive counterparts.

If you were Cleveland’s boss, would you take Garrett or Mitch Trubisky first?

Cleveland needs a quarterback. They have ample amount of picks to move up and get one or just stay put and take the one that falls to them.

My opinion? You will see them move up and get the guy they want. The one thing for sure they better come out with one. I’d bet they already have a team or teams in place where they have to go to get one, and they know the compensation they will need to give up. You can be stupid for only so long. At some point, the light has to come on.

When you interviewed draft prospects, what was your most probing question.

Family background. Addressing any issues they may have had in college.

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