Former New York Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum released the third edition of his mock first round of the upcoming NFL draft on Tuesday, and one host at 97.1 The Ticket in Detroit couldn’t stand some of Tannenbaum’s selections.
Mike Valenti asked for some of the surprises that Tannenbaum had in the first round and lost it when Tannenbaum had University of Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker coming off the board fifth overall.
“What is this guy on crack? Maybe that’s why Tannenbaum lost his job as a GM,” Valenti said Tuesday on The Valenti Show with Rico. “Hendon Hooker is a system quarterback where Josh Heupel managed to create unnatural matchups by putting receivers out of bounds basically.”
“Automatically I hate this mock draft,” he added.
Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter falls to the home town Lions at 18th overall on Tannenbaum’s board, and Valenti doesn’t believe Carter waits that long to be selected. But in this case, with Carter dealing with charges related to a fatal crash in January that killed Georgia teammate Devin Willock and recruiting staffer Chandler LeCroy, Valenti thinks Detroit gets a steal if Carter is still available.
“I think Tannenbaum’s gotta be drug tested, but I’ll take it,” Valenti said.
To be fair, Tannenbaum did write that he was going “a different route” with this year’s mock.
“I’m sliding into the general manager chair for each team with a first-rounder and making my own picks,” Tannenbaum wrote. “This isn’t what I’m expecting but rather how I’d personally approach each Day 1 selection. And what follows is based off my own evaluations, preferences and philosophies.”
The first round of the NFL draft is on Thursday, April 27.
