2010 NFL Draft: Was Gene Smith Blackballed?

It’s really simple either nobody was willing to give Gene the value that he wanted for the 10th spot or he felt that Tyson Alualu’s draft value was more than anything he could have got by trading down. It has nothing to do with nobody wanting to trade down with him cause they don’t like him.

Some GMs with near Cleveland (Phily for example) might backlisted Gene. OThers don’T
Let’s see SF wanted a trade(pretty far from Cleveland)
We ha ve a 2nd trade in a few days with Oakland(Far from Cleveland)
A trade with New Oreans (Fra from Cleveleans…)

BY the way:
I think the pieces start to come together. Gene don’t want to trade down; bewcause Denver were high on Alualu as well. He didn’t trade down; and picked Tyson; so Denver trade out. I think that is a very likely scenario

Apart from the fact that Alfie has worked some solid connections within the media and 1 Stadium Place, this type of article brings it all back to the fun aspect of football. Heck, this actually may be cracking open a door to more fact than fiction.

Thanks for this piece Alfie.

 I had an idea that the Jags would suffer in this draft because of what happened with Don Carey last season between the Jaguars and the Browns. I totally believe that the other GM’s in the league shut out the Jags in this years draft to make sure our GM doesn’t make anymore unethical decisions like he did in his rookie year last year. I bet he learned his lesson and he will play nice from now on.

 The only proof that I have is what I read from other teams regarding what the the Jags did and they said it is an unspoken gentlemans rule that you don’t claim other teams injured players when they are “waived”. The Jaguars did that and they were called on it. What other teams do that? It must not ever happen.

We now have a stud at MLB and jar on the shelf in Lane for Sean Lee (the guy had a serious knee injury)…Jags win again…

We only have this “stud” linebacker for a year. If he plays well this year some other team will offer him more money than the Jags and he will be gone after this season.

I wouldn’t pass on a player I was in love with for a measly 4th round pick. Denver wanted him and very well could have had him. As for Cleveland, I’m sure there is some tension there. But this the NFL, a league of competition. That’s like me going down the street and leaving a $100 bill with my name on it in front of Wal-mart and expecting it to still be there tomorrow………………….LMAO.

The only thing I see that isn’t on the table was why Philly chose Dallas.

SF 49er probably did offer to trade down 3 spots. Gene thought Miami would have grabbed Alualu 2 spots lower. I don’t think Gene wanted to lose this guy after investing “every game he played for two years, i watched”. He was in love, simple as that.

Oakland traded nicely with us.

So two teams offered to trade, no blackball there. I think the teams that traded back after us had their own reasons, one of them might be because we claimed Alualu.

Philly like Dallas better. Doubt it was payback for a Cleveland nose tweeking.

But why let facts ruin the fun!!! That is what conspiracy theories are for, the fun of it.

Again, very enjoyable.

I would rather Gene be blackballed than this:
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/04/27/jags-decision-not-to-trade-down-could-have-been-tied-to-tebow/

Florio is full of crap

Especially when Michael C. Wright said he believes there’s some truth to the idea that Gene was blackballed. I don’t think the 1st round was affected by this, but I have to believe the attempts to get Sean Lee were. As Alfie said, it’s really fishy that a team would trade with a division rival when the Jaguars reportedly made an equal or better offer.

You guys can call it a conspiracy theory all you want, but I’m about 99% sure Gene wasn’t treated completely equally due to the Carey move. I just hope this doesn’t continue year in and year out.

How often do teams snag wounded players off the waiver wire when it’s known as a common courtesy they aren’t supposed to? Give examples of teams that have please.

I doubt it. The Eagles don’t care about trading within the division. They traded a pick to New York last year, Dallas this year, and obviously McNabb to the Skins.

Point is, they take the best offer no matter who it’s from. If the Jags couldn’t trade up, it’s probably because they didn’t have enough to offer. For the 55th pick the Eagles got the 59th and the 125th pick from Dallas. I don’t see that the Jags had the ammo to beat that deal.

Plain and simple no one could match what Gene wanted for pick 10.

and didn’t want to risk losing the guy. They probably didn’t know for sure that Miami would take him a couple of picks later, but they didn’t want to risk it. Thing is, I’m not a huge fan of a front office falling in love with a certain player. Anywho, I love the thoughts about a pass rush, run stuffing and forcing interceptions into the hands of Mathis and Cox this season. Sounds awesome.

I’d like to first say that I highly doubt the Jags got blackballed in this case… I agree with JasonB above and doubt the Jags could have offered more than the Cowboys for the trade… However I just wanted to point something out

My initial suspicion was that former Browns General Manager Phil Savage is now a member of the Eagles front office, and that’s the easy connection. Phil Savage however, was fired from the Cleveland Browns in 2008, along with Romeo Crennell. While the Browns and Eagles really aren’t buddies so to speak

This wouldn’t be the connection I’d be concentrating on. Maybe the fact that Holmgren is running the show in Cleveland and Heckert is their new GM. Andy coached under Holmgren in GB for awhile and he was more or less his mentor. Additionally, Heckert was the Eagles GM up until this season. We’ve already had some dealings between the Eagles and Browns happen this off season as well. Again, I’m not supporting this blackballed thing, but the Eagles and Browns do have real connections you didn’t mention.