Clayton likes Stafford, not Jenkins

by: Chris Sullivan

I got the rare opportunity today to listen to John Clayton's morning show on KJR today. I didn't hear the whole show, mostly just the last hour, but Clayton was taking calls from the listeners and the discussion focused mainly on the Seahawks draft options.

I missed any discussion on Crabtree, but Clayton gave Stafford very high marks saying he would have one of the top three arms in the league. (I saw a pass last year where Stafford threw a TD pass 53 yards through the air -- it was a little short, but didn't bring the receiver out of his route. I was impressed.) Stafford suffers from a bit of cockiness and, despite the popular opinion, Clayton said that Stafford would probably benefit from sitting behind Matt for two years or so while he learns the speed of the game and improves on his decision making and reads. Clayton also said that if Stafford dropped, he would have to be considered -- it's not every day that an NFL team can find a successor for the "most important position in football."

He also noted that there were two people who would likely be on the board at #4 who might be trade bait: Stafford and BJ Raji. Really? I don't see many yearning over Raji at #4 money plus a loss of a later trade pick, but maybe the scouts feel otherwise? Again, I didn't hear any discussion of Crabtree, so it's possible that Clayton doesn't feel he's worth trading up for or that he'll be gone by #4.

When a caller asked if the Hawks would be interested in Malcom Jenkins in the first, Clayton literally interrupted saying "Too slow." There's no chance of him going at 4, despite his size and obvious skill, because "by the end of his rookie contract, he'll be too slow to keep up." The 40 times are BS to me -- whats the difference between a 4.5 and a 4.45, really? -- but the fact is that Jenkins did get beat fairly regularly on the field and I think thats the real concern. It will be interesting to see how well Jennings and Wilson play if the Hawks can actually put pressure on the QB -- remember 2007 when Jennings was actually... good? Or at least, goodish?

Anyway, its a bit slow right now, so I thought I've throw this out there for discussion. Clayton is a guy I respect both for his insight and his understanding of the NFL game specifically. If anyone else heard him discussing Crabtree, I'd love to hear what he was saying.