Jordan Lynch made it to my “2014 Publicity NFL Mock Draft.”
It would go like this:
Johnny Manziel goes first to Houston, Michael Sam second to St. Louis (hey that really happened six rounds later) AJ McCarron third to Jacksonville, Tommy Rees 4th overall to Cleveland, well you get the idea. As fun an idea as this is, you start to only have regional names left around the picks in the teens. By the mid-teens, you’re left with guys that only hard core college football fans had heard of.
The point is to see how media coverage and NFL pro potential are very often inversely related. NIU quarterback turned running back Jordan Lynch is a prime example. However, NFL training camps opened up yesterday and that means every team is 16-0 and all players are first team on the depth chart. Chicago Bears GM Phil Emery and Coach Marc Trestman gave a press conference today and the name Jordan Lynch came up twice.
Basically, they said that after Matt Forte, it’s wide open. The RB2 and RB3 slots are completely wide open to whoever wins the positional battles in camp. I would post the exact verbatim quotes, but the presser was essentially pointless and EXCRUCIATING to listen to and watch.
The entire exercise was pointless and PAINFUL; as Trestman said the word “process” like 70 times and “take it one day at a time” like 20 times.
Luckily Mel Kiper Jr. ESPN Draft Guru did a media conference cal; this summer and I asked him about Lynch’s NFL potential. Unlike the Bears presser today, this is actually something you can consume without wanting to commit homicide/suicide.
Here’s the audio.
I also looked at how the Bears backfield stacks up, and where Lynch might fit in here.
“For him it’s about finding a niche,” Mel Kiper Jr said.
“Your mindset changes, you have to learn a new position, it’s difficult, but he’s a tough kid and a competitor.”
Make no mistake, Jordan faces extremely long odds. His best chances are with the practice squad; if that. But this is a meritocracy, and he will get his opportunity.
Still, if there’s one thing Jordan Lynch does, it’s prove all the naysayers and skeptics wrong. He’s done it over and over. I had an exclusive with Lynch’s former teammate at NIU, current Huskies WR Da’Ron Brown.
“He’s looking good, the transition shouldn’t be hard at all. He’s a great athlete. He can play any position on the field,” Brown said.
“One thing that Jordan loves to do, what pushes him that feeling that proved somebody wrong, he loves it,” he continued.
Paul M. Banks owns The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports and Yahoo! He’s been a guest on news talk shows all across the world and serves as a special contributor to the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. Banks has been featured in numerous media outlets including NFL.com, Forbes, Bleacher Report, Deadspin, ESPN, NBC, CBS, the History Channel and more. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)