Veteran scout opines on McShay, Kiper, Mayock

Those following the path of former Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow to the 2010 NFL Draft are well aware that ESPN analyst Todd McShay has been less than complimentary to the former Heisman Trophy winner throughout the process. Along with McShay, ESPN‘s NFL Draft expert Mel Kiper, Jr. and NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock have raised their doubts about Tebow, albeit in a less antagonistic manner.

In fact, if you had to rank the three premiere television analysts on their confidence in Tebow’s ability to succeed at the next level, your list would probably look like this:
(1) Mayock, (2) Kiper, (3) McShay.

This makes Pro Football Talk‘s latest piece on the extreme level of backlash against McShay quite interesting. Speaking with a veteran NFL scout, PFT reports that McShay is a target of criticism around the league. Check out the statement from the scout below:

“Most people at my level feel [McShay] is a joke. 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.

“McShay does not have any good connections. 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. […] McShay is a pretty face who comes across like he knows what he is talking about. He does have good presence, but knows nothing.

“The best guy in the amateur scouting/draftnik business in Mike Mayock. Mike does more film work then any of those other guys put together. He is the only one who has access to the NFL dub center where all the college tapes go before they get distributed to the teams. He watches hours and hours of tape. You might not always agree with his evaluations but he works hard at it and you have to respect that.”

Whether or not McShay is right or dead-wrong with his opinion of Tebow (or any other player for that matter) remains to be seen. However, his history of incorrectly projecting quarterbacks does raise a few eyebrows. Considering McShay has been so adamant that Tebow will fail and has recently railed against Notre Dame QB Jimmy Clausen, this year’s draft could be a career-defining (or -ending) moment for the analyst.