Ask the expert: Jerry Angelo

by Gary Shelton on July 20, 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.

With the Panthers firing Dave Gettleman and the Chiefs firing John Dorsey, two successful execs, what lessons can a current general manager take?
He needs to make sure the head coach and him are on the same page about the big things.

The union between the two is not always going to go well, that’s understandable. But the key for both to coexist is the commonality they have together on the big picture. Philosophically, they have to be on the same page.

If they are not, then it’s not going to work. At some point their egos will

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get in the way and things will be said and lines will be drawn and then the owner has to make a decision.

Several former Panthers’ players (Sean Smith, Josh Norman) seem to have enjoyed the team's firing of Gettleman.  Their glee aside, did the move make sense to you?

The timing is what’s strange. I understand that relationships can go south and a decision has to be made, but that’s usually done at the end of the season, not in the summer prior to training camp.

Something happened that created a real stir and things apparently got very unpleasant, to say the least.

The Redskins offered Kirk Cousins a lot of money shot-term ($53 million), but wanted an out after two years. Do you blame Cousins for not signing the deal, or does he have more leverage than that?

Cousins is now in the driver seat. He’s made an incredible amount of money in two years and will in all likelihood be a free agent at the end of the season with at least three teams bidding for his service -- the 49ers, the Redskins and possibly the Rams.

There will be others for sure, but those three stand out right now. To me, the Redskins had their opportunity but wanted to play it safe. Cousins couldn’t be happier. The ball is in his court and he can take it anywhere he wants.

Ezekiel Elliott has now been in a bar fight to go with domestic violence reports from last season. Do you feel that he might have some slippage as a player this year?

I don’t see that, but he is a troublemaker going back to his days in college. Nothing over the top, but stuff.

Hopefully he’ll eventually learn that to be a pro, it’s an all the time business, not just when he gets to the facility and on game day. He would be wise to follow in the footsteps of Cowboy great Emmitt Smith. I’m not sold on Elliott’s character. He’s got a lot of growing up to do.

I thought Peter King had a fun idea at Sports Illustrated. He got 12 experts together and had an all-time draft. It started with Lawrence Taylor, Joe Greene and Johnny Unitas. But drafting fourth, Dan Fouts picked punter Ray Guy. Given Jim Brown, Jerry Rice and Tom Brady were still available,would that be your pick?

If Ray Guy was drafted ahead of the guys you mentioned, it follows that I have to question the validity of the “experts."

My first pick would have been Brady, my second would have been Elway, My third Montana. The first non-quarterback position would have come down to LT and-or Reggie White. Ray Lewis would have been in there somewhere, as would Bruce Smith. Brown and Rice would have been in there at the top as well.

Ray Guy? That doesn’t make you just scratch your head. It makes you think that one of the experts had a real affinity for the AFL. I see some real “homers” in this group.

We’re almost through with our NFL quarterbacks by division. This week,  let’s go the AFC South. That gives us a rating of Andrew Luck, Marcus Mariota, Blake Bortles and DeShaun Watson. We’ll finish up next week with the AFC West.

Well this is an easy one. Luck then Mariota.Watson ahead of Bortles because we know Bortles.

Reports out of Denver suggest that young Paxton Lynch is ready to push Trevor Siemian. Either way, are the Broncos resigned to playing with a game manager at quarterback?

Yes, they are and why not, based on what he showed in his first year as a starter. Siemian showed a lot of moxie and poise at the position. More so than a lot of younger more highly profiled quarterbacks.

Lynch has more physically going for him, but so did many others like him who failed. My money is on Siemain. He has a special intangible I didn’t see in Lynch.

It might be a Robert Griffin-Kirk Cousins scenario all over again.

Miko Grimes tells Sports Illustrated that her ripping the Dolphins was a scheme to get him to a new team. In your time in the league, did you ever encounter problem with a wife or relative of a player, and how would you handle it if you did?

Yes, but not to her level. Before you sign Grimes, you bring them both in and get an understanding that she is not to say a negative thing in any form about the team or anyone who is employed by the organization.

I would check with the league and see if I could put anything in his contract with similar language so that in the event something is said by her a substantial fine could be imposed on him.

What she is doing is undermining his husband's livelihood whether she thinks so or not. If the truth were known, this is about her and the attention she gets from it. It's very selfish and very wrong. Ask yourself, who wins in all this?

It’s time to talk college football. Who is your all-time favorite Ohio State player: a)  Jack Tatum; b) Archie Griffin; c) Maurice Clarett; d) Hopalong Cassidy; e) Paul Warfield. You can pick another player if you wish.

I’m going with Antoine Winfield my favorite Buckeye, followed closely by Chris Spielman.

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