DaJuan Morgan might turn out to be a fabulous NFL free safety, but he did himself no favors by leaving N.C. State after his junior season.
Morgan said the NFL draft advisory board projected him as a fourth-round pick in April’s draft. He had a chance to be selected higher if he returned for his senior season and then entered the draft.
In 2007, Morgan received second-team All-ACC honors after leading the Wolfpack with 117 tackles and 13 passes broken up in a breakthrough season. With first-team All-ACC players Jamie Silva of Boston College (a 2007 senior) and Kenny Phillips of Miami (also entering the draft early) not returning, Morgan had a chance to be perhaps the premier safety in the ACC in 2008.
The exposure could have helped him improve his draft status, but we’ll never know. That’s not to say leaving school early always is a mistake. When Mario Williams left after the 2005 season, it was obvious he would be a high first-round pick, and as the No. 1 pick he is poised for a fabulous career with the Houston Texans.
Morgan and Williams will share an agent, Ben Dogra of CAA Sports. But Morgan will have a much more difficult time making a team and earning big money if the fourth-round projection turns out to be true. – Ken Tysiac
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
N.C. State's Morgan may be making mistake
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
15 comments:
He could also return in 2008 and have a major injury ending his career. He basically has his degree wrapped up and led the team in tackles last year; what else does he have to prove? A 4th round pick is going to earn a little over $500,000 ea oh the first couple of years. What entry level job do you know of that pays that?
"That’s not to say leaving school early always is a mistake. "
He isn't leaving school early. He is just an internship away from graduating. In other words, he has completed his classwork. If I studied engineering and graduate during my "junior" year, am I leaving early to enter the job market?
I didn't see a cited source for where he was projected to go in the NFL draft. Did the Morgan's tell you this, did you talk to the draft advisory board, or did you collect it from another media source?
maybe Ken Tysiac writing for the Charlotte fish wrap is a mistake.
NCAA stars returning for their 5th year have an NCAA insurance policy ($2 million maximum) available to them - thus protecting against the "career ending injury" mentioned earlier. Also, 99% of players who leave college with graduation requirements left on the table will never complete their degree. This is a historical fact. Lastly, his 4th round projection is a "best case scenario" as proposed by the draft board and has been confirmed by many news sources. Tysiac's comment on his opportunity to be the premier safety in the ACC being worth taking advantage of was a major point...
I'm a true NCSU fan, surely gonna miss Morgan this coming season. I was quite upset to hear he was leaving early for the draft, especially cause I'd thought he was leaving unfinished classes behind. Reading the claims people have made on this topic, I'd have to say he's made a great decision. If he's completed all educational requirements at NCSU, it makes perfect sense to leave for the draft after the breakout season he's had. First, NCSU football is in a transition period so it's quite out of reach thinking that coming back and risking injury would attain him a national or conference title. Second, going in the fourth round is probably still going to earn him a bigger paycheck than ANY other entry level job. Third, he just has to get in the NFL, once there he has potential to have a Professional blow out season. If he does this the sky is the limit for him. Oh and if the NFL doesn't end up working out, well then he could always finish up the required internship (perhaps even in his first off-season?) and fall back on his degree. I think it's the same choice anyone of us would make if we were in his shoes. But ultimately it relies on his motivation.
The 4th round projection is not a "best case scenario," as noted above. The whole reason the NFL draft advisory board was created was to prevent football players with eligibility remaining from forsaking their eligibility and making a mistake by entering the draft prematurely when they would be better served to wait another year. For that reason, the advisory board's estimates are not "best case" - they are reasonable and safe estimates based on input from league sources. The board's purpose is to paint a reasonable picture so that players make an informed decision, not to paint a best-case scenario that leads to the players making a bad one.
Also, unless you are the premier safety in the country, it is uncommon for safeties to be drafted any higher than the third round anyway. It's not like Morgan could reasonably have played his way up the draft board much next year if he's already projected as a 4th rounder.
In the balance of things for DaJuan, there was more potential downside to staying than leaving. He made a good decision.
Morgan is "leaving early" in the sense that he has a year of football eligibility left. It's pretty simple folks.
You either leave school with a degree... or you don't. No parsing. You have a degree or you don't have a degree.
The very commonly used injury insurance was already covered.
The number of safeties drafted in the first three rounds in recent years is:
2007- Eight (4) (3) (1)
2006- Eight (2) (4) (2)
2005- Five (1) (2) (2)
"..it is uncommon for safeties to be drafted any higher than the third round anyway. It's not like Morgan could reasonably have played his way up the draft board much next year if he's already projected as a 4th rounder."
Whaaat the..???
Why on earth are people even bringing up the "entry level" comparison to other professions? Totally irrelevant to the point of absurdity.
Do any of you have any knowledge of the guaranteed bonuses available for rookies depending where they are drafted? And talk about risk, guess what part of rookie contracts are guaranteed and which are not: and what round it is that bonus offers typically stop. You bet, that’d be round four.
The very simple and absolutely correct point the writer was making is that Morgan could potentially double or even triple his income in his rookie contract by moving up from the fourth round.
Why would most of you feel the need to post this drivel when you obviously have no idea of what you are talking about?
Wow! (shakes head)
I guess Mel Kiper disagrees...you are truly horrible Tysiac. What ax do you have to grind you hack? Hopefully the Panthers have the fortitude to draft a Wolfpacker.
Safeties
1. Kenny Phillips, Miami*
2. Marcus Griffin, Texas
3. Craig Steltz, LSU
4. Jamie Silva, Boston College
5. DaJuan Morgan, NC State*
Honestly does this guy really get paid for such blogs and so forth.
It speaks volumes on how little knowledge you must have these days to be a journalist. Not too mention this guy does work for the Charlotte N&O....big city with a small town paper.
Ken Tysiac keep you the great work!
I'm pretty sure thats what everyone said about Stephen Tulloch. He's doing just fine.
I don't think Tysiac's assumption of Morgan's draft position is going to be correct at all. So the entire premise may well be based on a bad assumption.
With that said, there are other salient points on here. For one thing, just the data presented in this thread does indicate that safeties are under drafted. 7% of all players taken in the first three rounds in the last three years were safeties, whereas even if you exclude all special teams players, 9% of NFL starters are safeties. Of course the bigtime dollars are in the first round. In the last 10 drafts, 16 safeties were taken in the first round, or 5%.
The data seems to suggest, as has often been conjectured, that safeties are not seen as a high round priority. I feel strongly that further analysis would show a disproportionate number of starting NFL safeties being drafted later on average than the starters at every other position.
Lastly, the fact that Tysiac failed to point out, and probably doesn't even know what Morgan's status is with respect to completing his degree is just shoddy journalism.
It's easy to sit in the back row, watch things happen, and say "hey that may turn out to be a mistake!" I think I could just as effectively argue that it is actually likely not to be a mistake.
The truth of the matter is that neither one of us really knows.
with incomprehensible drivel like that I don't think you could argue that the sun was going to come up tomorrow.
"Morgan said the NFL draft advisory board projected him as a fourth-round pick in April’s draft."
It isn't "Tysiac's assumption of Morgan's draft position", it's what Morgan states that he was told by the board.
Do you knuckleheads even read the articles before you start trying to come up with some hateful blather to post?
Yeah, I'm talking about you pinhead.
I think that is is a big mistake for Morgan to enter the NFL Draft. Not only is he leaving his team out to dry, but he really isn't doing himself any favors. He could go much higher if he would come back for his senior year.
^ Well it looks like you all turned out to be wrong, as Dejuan is now projected to go late first, early second round. He REALLY didn't do himself any favors leaving...not. Next year's safety class is loaded and he is VERY smart for leaving this year. And don't even start with leaving his team out to dry, he has contributed for three solid years, that is absolutely ridiculous. Nice article Ken, way to be completely off base like usual.
Post a Comment