A dig at Akili

[jjakq27]

http://www.nfl.com/nflnetwork/home

Check out the caption under the picture of D. McNabb.

"Somewhere, Akili Smith is wishing he had heard his name called by the Eagles in April of 1999. "

The caption should have continued, "so do the Bengals!" Ouch.

The article goes on to say,

"The right McPick: No, we're not talking about something off the McDonald's menu. This is all about Philadelphia quarterback Donovan McNabb. The second overall pick in the 1999 draft has not only has he finally gotten the Eagles to the Super Bowl, but he has done it with a lot more success than the other first-round QBs from that draft, as noted by Adam Schefter. Pick NFL Network for your Super Bowl champion. (Channel 212 on DirecTV). "

[delhole]

But just think if we would have drafted Mcnabb then we wouldn't have Carson.

[BengalByTheBay]

It's actually a lot more of a dig at the Bengals the way I read it.

[Kirkendall]

It's actually a lot more of a dig at the Bengals the way I read it.

Yea, more or less saying no matter who's drafted in Cincy, it will be a failure. That was my first impression at least.

[jjakq27]

Here is the entire article. It was not available when I made the original post. I can't believe that Akili was the top rated player by some, as the article states. I think he only started eight games in college.

Someone did an analysis back in '00 or '01,of the QB's in that draft (1999) and the ones in Mannings class (1998?) and they said that the guys that had at least two years as a starter in college (McNabb, Manning, Culpepper) fared much better in the NFL than those with less than 2 (Akili).

That's why I thought that Palmer was an obvious pick since he played in four different seasons at USC. I think McNabb also played four years at Syracuse.

McNabb proves he was the right choice

By Adam Schefter

Special to NFL.com

(Feb. 1, 2005) -- It's not an exact science -- nor holistic science -- to figure out why the Philadelphia Eagles passed up running back Ricky Williams in favor of quarterback Donovan McNabb.

McNabb is as elusive as any player in the league; Williams is just eluding playing in the league.

But what's as impressive about the first-round draft choice the Eagles exercised in 1999, when they used the second-overall pick on McNabb, was not how they skipped over Williams.

It was how many quarterbacks they had to choose from and how, despite the protestations from the fans in Philadelphia, they picked the right one.

Just look at the mistake that the Cleveland Browns made with the top overall choice. One pick before the Eagles selected McNabb, the Browns chose Kentucky quarterback Tim Couch. How's that pick working out?

Next, when the Eagles' turn came, they could have drafted Oregon quarterback Akili Smith, whom some scouts rated as the top player in the draft. They could have drafted Daunte Culpepper, who wound up going nine picks later to the Vikings. They could have opted for Cade McNown, who went one pick after Culpepper to the Bears.

But they didn't. Instead, the Eagles made the best pick the franchise ever has. Their man was McNabb.

He was their man then, and he is their man now. McNabb is the first quarterback from that 1999 first round to make it to the final Sunday of the season.

Doing the heavy lifting he has done throughout his entire career, McNabb held up one trophy after a victory against Atlanta on Jan. 23. Now he'd like to hold up one more.

[TubThumper]

The only caption I saw on the front page of the article was:

Donovan McNabb has silenced his critics and has become a fan favorite in the City of Brotherly Love.

There was something equally innocuous under another picture within the article.

I would have taken the comment as a dig at the Bengals based on the way it was presented in the post above, but I haven't seen it at all. The article itself seems to be more focused on how lucky the Eagles were to get McNabb rather than Smith than on how lucky McNab was to go to the eagles than Cincinnati. I'm sure that McNab is a lot happier in Philly than he would have been in Cincinnati, but that just doesn't seem to be the issue.

As for Akili Smith, it's the same case as Kijana Carter. I don't know what previous regimes in Bengaldom thought they were looking at when they drafted these two. It just wasn't hard to see that Carter was, as my wife put it, "a punk." We'd see him out in public and she'd say, "See, I told you. Look at him - a punk." And I had no reason to disagree. Akili didn't come off as a punk, but he was obviously immature, and "not ready," as they used to say in the vernacular. I'm sure that the present staff is better at reading these guys as people.

[redsfan2]

The only caption I saw on the front page of the article was:

Donovan McNabb has silenced his critics and has become a fan favorite in the City of Brotherly Love.

There was something equally innocuous under another picture within the article.

I would have taken the comment as a dig at the Bengals based on the way it was presented in the post above, but I haven't seen it at all.  The article itself seems to be more focused on how lucky the Eagles were to get McNabb rather than Smith than on how lucky McNab was to go to the eagles than Cincinnati.  I'm sure that McNab is a lot happier in Philly than he would have been in Cincinnati, but that just doesn't seem to be the issue.

As for Akili Smith, it's the same case as Kijana Carter.  I don't know what previous regimes in Bengaldom thought they were looking at when they drafted these two.  It just wasn't hard to see that Carter was, as my wife put it, "a punk."  We'd see him out in public and she'd say, "See, I told you.  Look at him - a punk."  And I had no reason to disagree.  Akili didn't come off as a punk, but he was obviously immature, and "not ready," as they used to say in the vernacular.  I'm sure that the present staff is better at reading these guys as people.

Yeah .. I really didn't take this as a Cincinnati dig either ... or Akili dig for that matter.

As to the players themselves, I haven't had the chance to see Carter in person but I'm inclined to take you at your word. most of the young guys ( football and baseball ) are pretty full of themselves at the outset. Early 20's and a millionaire ??? Pretty understandable. Most outgrow it ... or get it knocked out of them on the field. The others were just destined to be s**theads whether they had money or not. That goes for a lot of people that aren't athletes as well too though.

As for Akili ..... He was one that I was hoping I would be wrong about. He had all the grace and poise at the quarterback position of a mechanical player in an arcade game. The first time I saw him throw, I thought " what the hell were they thinking ?? " . I've seen punters throw with better technique. Guesss they thought pretty much the same thing in Green Bay.

[jjakq27]

...As for Akili Smith, it's the same case as Kijana Carter.  I don't know what previous regimes in Bengaldom thought they were looking at when they drafted these two.

When you have a pick at the top of the draft you cannot afford to miss. If you are gunshy then trade down. The sad part is the Saints made us an unthinkable offer and we turned it down. I still believe that we could have made the trade with NO, and then traded back to the top 6 or 8 and still gotten Akili and had picks left over.

Given the same scenario I think ML would have been all over that one.

Unfortunately MBs track record in the 90's looks like a train wreck.

1992 David Klingler over Troy Vincent

1994 Dan Wilkerson over Marshall Faulk

1995 KiJana Carter over Tony Boselli

1999 Akili Smith over a pot of gold

[CTBengalsFan]

a funny dig at Jeff Blake from profootballtalk one-liners:

"Eagles third-string QB Jeff Blake is thrilled that he has finally made it to the Super Bowl; Philly fans are equally thrilled that Blake won't be the one taking the snaps on Sunday."

[BengalByTheBay]

As for Akili Smith, it's the same case as Kijana Carter. I don't know what previous regimes in Bengaldom thought they were looking at when they drafted these two. It just wasn't hard to see that Carter was, as my wife put it, "a punk." We'd see him out in public and she'd say, "See, I told you. Look at him - a punk." And I had no reason to disagree. Akili didn't come off as a punk, but he was obviously immature, and "not ready," as they used to say in the vernacular. I'm sure that the present staff is better at reading these guys as people.

Can't say as I agree with your take on Ki-Jana. IMO that wasn't a case of a bad pick, just bad luck after the pick. You can't call him a bust just because he blew his knee out before his career even got going. Ki-Jana had ungodly speed in college -- I'm not sure I've ever seen anybody who hit the hole faster. Was he a punk in person? Hell, I don't know--probably. But that doesn't mean he couldn't have been a great player on the field.

Akili, on the other hand, was a horrible decision.

[ShulaSteakhouse]

Just when I thought I had forgotten about Akili....

How's his comeback going by the way?

[TubThumper]

As for Akili Smith, it's the same case as Kijana Carter.  I don't know what previous regimes in Bengaldom thought they were looking at when they drafted these two.  It just wasn't hard to see that Carter was, as my wife put it, "a punk."  We'd see him out in public and she'd say, "See, I told you.  Look at him - a punk."  And I had no reason to disagree.  Akili didn't come off as a punk, but he was obviously immature, and "not ready," as they used to say in the vernacular.  I'm sure that the present staff is better at reading these guys as people.

Can't say as I agree with your take on Ki-Jana. IMO that wasn't a case of a bad pick, just bad luck after the pick. You can't call him a bust just because he blew his knee out before his career even got going. Ki-Jana had ungodly speed in college -- I'm not sure I've ever seen anybody who hit the hole faster. Was he a punk in person? Hell, I don't know--probably. But that doesn't mean he couldn't have been a great player on the field.

Akili, on the other hand, was a horrible decision.

He blew his knee out avoiding contact. He busted his arm trying to avoid contact with the ground. One of the big problems the Bengals have had in recent years is their inability to access character. They seemed to think that thugs were tough guys and mama's boys were high-character guys. Some thugs are warriors, some aren't. Some Eagle Scouts are warriors and some are mama's boys. Kijana was a mama's boy - and he wasn't exactly an Eagle Scout. When the money's on the line and the big boys are playing for keeps it shows, as it did with him - it wasn't luck.