Michael Oher, the Baltimore Ravens offensive lineman about who The Blind Side was based, spoke out Tuesday against players being tagged with a “character issues” label by draft analysts. Oher was upset with ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay and specifically called him out in a series of tweets, Pro Football Talk pointed out.
“Ok im so tired of the Character issues they are puttiing on ppl! What is Character issues?!? Somebody tell me? Todd Mcshay said I had Character and he never met me! What if someone was to talk about his son that way! I never got in trouble with the Law…yes sir no sir guy But this Todd Mcshay guy acts if he knows ppl on a personal level get real!”
Oher eventually turned his attention to McShay on twitter and said to him “tell me what are character issues because I dont know… you said I had them and you never met me?!” and “you need to meet ppl first and then judge them not go off what you hear!!”
Oher received no response because McShay is inactive on twitter, but he did get Percy Harvin to concur. Since he didn’t hear back from McShay, I’ll give him some responses.
First off, I don’t believe McShay or most other reputable draft analysts just make stuff up. A lot of the information they present on television comes from scouts and teams with whom they talk. Take for instance their mock drafts. Those are different from their top players list because one is based on personal rankings while the other is based on outside information. When guys like McShay or Kiper say a player has character issues, they’re mainly relaying the feelings of teams judging these players, not necessarily personal opinion
Secondly, character issues is a wide-ranging term that encompasses a lot of meanings. If a player has been arrested, he gets the character issues label. If the player misses team meetings or has an issue with tardiness, that falls under the “character issues” umbrella. Having academic problems or arguing with coaches or teammates can result in a character issues label. Is it fair for players to be grouped the same way regardless of their flaws? Definitely not, but many teams have high standards when it comes to players’ behavior. Some of it is because they want good citizens on their team and some of it is because players who get into too much trouble can end up suspended or worse yet, stabbed.
I’m not really sure what Oher did to earn the “character issues” label, but it doesn’t seem to fit him. I truly think the answer is for the two most omnipresent draft analysts on TV — McShay and Mel Kiper Jr. — to be more specific with their criticisms. Rather than using the all-encompassing tag when they’re labeling players, they should explain the problems. Ryan Mallett is falling because teams think he used drugs in college. Or Janoris Jenkins is falling because he’s been arrested three times. If McShay would just explain the issue for each player I think it would be much more fair to the player and to the public to decide how significant the problems are. Otherwise, like Oher said, using the broad-sweeping label of “character issues” does seem unfair.
