Najee Harris - "Todd McShay can kiss my ass."
In the realm of critical draft analysis, Todd McShay's evaluation of Najee Harris seems pretty innocuous and tame (i.e. NOT overly critical):
"Harris has excellent size and decent top-end speed. He was a much more decisive runner as a senior, showing oily hips for a big back and playing light on his feet. He gets in and out of breaks quickly, has excellent ball security and he’s a slippery runner between the tackles but he has acceleration limitations. Harris showed tremendous improvement as a pass-catcher in 2020 with a big catch radius and an ability to adjust to balls thrown outside his frame. He also shows good aggressiveness in pass pro."
Yet draft prospect Najee Harris (of UM recruitment fame) took exception:
“How is he gonna say ‘He showed better production?’ I did not play my freshman or sophomore seasons, rarely, ever. I didn’t have an opportunity to show I could catch. It’s not ’cause I can’t, it’s ’cause I wasn’t in the game to show people I could catch. So let’s just stop looking at the stat sheet and watch the game.”
and apparently during the same Adam Schefter podcast said: "Todd McShay can kiss my ass."
Seems a bit thin-skinned and has difficulty with even VERY mild criticism. Shocked for someone who played under known super-critic Saban.
I don't mind McShay but I think Najee is probably right here. If you barely play then saying he's improved at something makes no sense. Why not just say he's a good to very good pass-catcher? Why does the perceived progress need to be added in? It's about word numbers I think.
It's not like the guy had no catches. He had 27 catches in 2019 and 43 in 2020. Not a huge difference in volume and certainly enough of a sample size to draw conclusions on improvement.
Sure, didn't play much Freshman and Sophomore years but played plenty in 2019.
He's complaining about nothing.
https://www.espn.com/college-football/player/stats/_/id/4241457/najee-harris
Also, while Najee is in line for a big payday, it's got to be irritating to hear that from a guy who doesn't play and who only makes a living because you and your colleagues exist. I realize this extends to all sports commentary but we're at a point where Najee makes this guy's job possible while Najee hasn't been able to legally make anything off himself for the last 4 years. Maybe a bit sensitive but I see where he's coming from.
I don’t find that irritating at all. It’s just background noise and his net worth will be higher than any analyst in just a couple months.
Except for Tony Romo, of course!
Najee’s far more important than McShay, but let’s not pretend that the media bullshit doesn’t drive revenue back into the system that pays Najee too. The league commands huge money for access and gets tons of publicity out of it. The NFL makes money from shit like the combine Ailey because people listen to the Todd McShay’s of the world talk. A (very small) portion for that trickles down into the mega millions players make. Najee’s welcome to play a media free sport like American lacrosse if he’d prefer that experience.
April 12th, 2021 at 12:01 PM ^
He would have been in so much a better a position to be a high draft choice if he had come to Michigan. /s
You stay classy.
If Najee is that thin skinned he's got a rough career in his future.
Whatever anyone thinks of McShay, he's a talking head like hundreds of others. Their job isn't to be right or insightful or informative. Just to be interesting to get eyes or clicks.
Agreed, and McShay wasn't even that critical.
Said he "showed improvement", not that "Harris sucks at catching the ball".
Kind of hilarious that people are arguing about his pass catching and the McShay synopsis clearly states "decent speed" and "acceleration limitations."
I had been wondering about this too Todd.
Head to Pittsburgh. They are gentle on their players. Small market, etc.
I'm not so sure it's being thin skinned as much as looking for motivational material in a "me vs. the world" way-- much like Michael Jordan used to do. I'm OK with that. But I would much rather seen McShay get his ass kicked rather than have Harris get his kissed.
Sports Journalism is really bad nowadays. There is like 2 sites I go to for sports and this is one. Todd Mcshays employer is not one of them.
I don't think he's being thin-skinned at all. McShay is a talking head. Najee has every right to disagree with him.
The NFL will not be put off by the profanity.
Disagree, sure.
No reason to lose civility or be disrespectful though.
Yeah he comes across as confident in his abilities, not sure what about "kiss my ass" indicates any sort of insecurity...
I missed that he was specifically asked about the McShay evaluation. The way the OP was written I assumed he randomly tweeted about it or something. And as we all know it's poor internet etiquette to click links before commenting these days.
So I agree now. I'd probably have said something similar.
lol, yeah, context counts for a lot.
Najee has also always come across as a really smart, savvy guy in the times I've seen his name pop up for something other than trucking a DB. Poking lightly at a talking head like McShay is a low-stakes way of getting his name in the news cycle. Whether that's exactly how he intended it or not, he seems wise enough not to say anything that would actually damage his reputation/draft stock.
Well I'm outraged you're outraged that he's outraged
April 10th, 2021 at 11:20 AM ^
Your comment is outrageous
well, McShay is no Jim Rome.... Just ask Jim 'don't call me Chris' Everett.
Eh. McShay’s comment makes little sense but he has to write a ton of evals of players and maybe used poor word choice. Harris is about to be a professional athlete. Many athletes have chips on their shoulders. Nothing wrong with what he said. He’ll mature as he gets older and won’t take this stuff as personally.
The winners in this beef: Todd McShay (publicity), ESPN (clicks and eyeballs), and Najee Harris (marketability and notoreity)
The losers in this beef: No one
The pawns: Us and everyone else who paid attention
I like it. Kid has confidence.
Maybe he should have earned a larger share of the opportunities on the field in his Freshman and Sophomore years then. Was he not given a chance to compete for the spot given to those above him in the depth chart? If so....?
Right? It's not like there were multiple future NFL running backs ahead of him on the depth chart.
Obviuously, so why not just accept the situation for what it is, ignore the veeeeery slight criticism instead of looking for slights?
lol, he was asked about it and responded... I could be wrong but none of what he said sounds like someone that's in his feelings to me.
You're obviously not familiar with the Nick Saban school of player development.
But I am. So maybe the criticism, if it could be called that, was warranted. If he really cared about production those years and didnt want to compete with that kind of talent, maybe he could have gone elsewhere.
Ordinarily this is where I'd say, "yes, he could've come to Michigan," but then we both know what would've happened to him.
I like this Najee better than the Davenport one. So do hampers.
I'd be upset too if my success in life hinged on the interpretation of folks like Milquetoast McShay. Harris handled it poorly, but I think the classy thing to do is cut the guy some slack.
Read the comment from McShay.
Said he showed improvement in catching the ball.
Pretty sure that is cutting the guy some slack vs. saying something way more negative.
Much ado about nothing.
Yeah, I don't think NFL teams go to the McShays & Kipers of the world for draft evaluations.
I would have liked it if Najee had played for us.
All I know is I want him on my fantasy team next year
I guess he couldn't argue with the 'acceleration limitation' comment?
Salty. I kind of like it.
Remember when McShay was at Michigan's "Signing of the Stars" event breaking down all our recruits? How things have changed since then.
Slow news day ?
Eh, McShay is a tool.
Oily hips.
That's what she said.
If minor stuff like this is what sets Najee off then he’s in for a world of hurt when he has a bad game in the league and the media hounds him over it. Especially if he ends up in a big market like NY or LA.
Good for him. Fuck the new so called media. All lies and opinion to sway the uneducated like is now about 85% of our population.
See, sometimes you go ahead and redeem yourself with comments like this!
I'm guessing you got your degree from Trump University?
