Apparently Todd McShay Doesn't Know Shit

Many NFL scouts have a sore spot for failed NFL scouts who enter the media and attempt to critique the work of NFL scouts who have not yet failed. Even more NFL scouts have a sore spot for guys who were never NFL scouts, couldn't be if they wanted to, and then attempt to critique the work of folks who became NFL scouts. Once upon a time, Mel Kiper was the primary target of NFL scouts; Kiper has been supplanted by his on-air protege/rival at ESPN, Todd McShay. As McShay's profile increases, and as he takes on the likes of quarterback Jimmy Clausen for reasons that many league insiders believe have no merit, McShay becomes a magnet for criticism. "Most people at my level feel he is a joke," a veteran NFL scout told us via e-mail. "People in the league respect Kiper. He is not a true scout but he does work at it. A lot of his info he gets from connections in the league, and over the years he has made quite a few. When he was younger he used to burn some bridges. He doesn't do that any more." So what about McShay? "McShay does not have any good connections," the source opined. "Higher-ups in the league think he is an arrogant asshole. A know-it-all. And he really knows nothing. Whatever he says about a quarterback, take it to the bank, it will be the opposite. Remember, last August he stated that Jevan Snead was better than Colt McCoy and would get drafted in the top five. He has yet to publicly retract that statement.

The only reason I like McShay is because he's a guy who really has no extensive background in his field and he's still making the most of it. Kind of like an inspiration, I guess. And he seems like a nice boy with kind eyes. He's a Boston kid who payed QB in high school, cut film for the coaching staff at Richmond then signed on as intern for a scouting publication out of college, that company got bought out by ESPN and then he climbed aboard the powerhouse in Bristol as a football analyst. It's like an episode of How To Make It In America for the sports obsessed blogger. So I don't really care what some bitter NFL scout, making half of McShay's salary has to say. He's living the dream as far as I'm concerned.