Never let anyone tell you to be yourself. You never know what people will find odd about your “personality”. I ate peanut butter and cheese tacos as a kid, but I would never broadcast it if I was projected to be a first round pick in the NFL. According to experts – mail kiper and some redditorSpecifically – Will Lewis was likely to be the second quarterback selected in the 2023 NFL Draft, and the only possible reason for him to skip the second day was His love of mayo in his coffee.
General managers will knock prospects for anything and everything, including their performance on manufactured standardized tests. Inconsistency, inaccuracy, eye tests, and collegiate success aside, I blame Hellmans-Folgers Moccachino for many teams needing a passing QB on the Kentucky product. It just has to happen, right?
When choosing between Anthony Richardson and Lewis — two guys with physical attributes that would make Todd McShea blush — there has to be a tiebreaker. It could have been Richardson’s handspring at Florida’s pro day that won Indy’s favor, or it could have been the dollop of aioli he saw Lewis slurp down in his cold brew.
Do I fear the excessive use of condiments brought in by the people who dipped their Italian BMTs in mayo during my stint at Subway? One hundred percent, and there’s no way I’d draft Lewis on that fact alone, but I’m also not trying to keep a seven-figure gig that’s constantly sabotaged by bad quarterback play.
The real reason for the fall of Lewis
We were subjected to the sad Lewis family for the last half of the first round because, despite not being an actual franchise man, a lot more organization is set at the quarterback than you might think. Tampa Bay, Atlanta, Green Bay, Tennessee and Washington all passed.
Neither Jordan Love, Desmond Ridder, Sam Howell, Ryan Tannehill or Baker Mayfield inspire confidence in their respective fans. I also think that once the draft was won – and with all the trades on Thursday night, it was crappy – the front office and war room panicked as their game plan changed.
I don’t care if Las Vegas and New Orleans sign Jimmy Garoppolo or David Carr to be their starters. NFL teams don’t get rid of quarterbacks they think are solid starters, and a quality backup/potential QB1 with high upside for a good price is worth meeting other needs in one round. I’ve raved about Lewis throughout the draft process long enough and probably before, but even I thought the kind of acclaim he’s garnered would make him a first-rounder.
Are NFL GMs Evolving? Has the quarterback’s success rate embarrassed him? Did social media break through the groupthink that turned guys like Mitch Trubisky and Mayfield into the top one or two picks in the draft?
Yeah, I don’t think so either. It is an anomaly that Lewis spent the duration of the first round at Union Station. And it definitely has nothing to do with Miracle Whip lattes.