AP: 25 years later, Kiper still talking

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25 years later, Kiper still talking

Love him or hate him, the original NFL draft guru more relevant than ever

HOWARD FENDRICH

The Associated Press

April 24, 2009

BALTIMORE -- For a guy who makes a living critiquing others - created a cottage industry out of it, even - Mel Kiper Jr. sounds a little thin-skinned when it comes to how others perceived him way back when.

Back before he became a first-name-suffices celebrity. Before the NFL draft felt like a made-for-TV event.

"When I started," Kiper recalled, words tumbling forth as he rocked in his chair during a recent interview, "I had everybody telling me, 'You're crazy. You're wasting your time. It will amount to nothing.' I was, like, the point man for the draft to get ripped - and about seven, eight years ago, I noticed that all those massive critics shut up."

This weekend marks the 25th anniversary of Kiper's 1984 debut on U.S. all-sports cable channel ESPN's NFL draft coverage, and while his no-time-to-breathe delivery, polarizing declarations, and puffy hair (his wife, Kim, cuts it) haven't changed all that much through the years, his relevance and popularity sure have.

The relevance and popularity of the draft itself have increased, too. The 1984 telecast drew a 0.6 rating; ESPN has averaged better than a 4.0 rating for its past five Day 1 draft shows. In 1984, there were 10 hours of live coverage; this weekend, there will be more than 16.

"It's unbelievable to even fathom that it's become this big. And Mel's the 'Founding Father' of it all," said Kiper's ESPN colleague and on-air foil, Todd McShay, one of the new breed of "draft gurus" who owe their jobs to the original. "If you're in the NFL in any way, shape or form, you have to love what Mel has done in terms of publicity for the NFL draft. Almost single-handedly, he added two to three months to the attention the NFL gets."

Football fans certainly pay attention to Kiper. They probably couldn't avoid him if they wanted to on ESPN's various TV channels, ESPN Radio and ESPN.com.

"The draft is the second-biggest day - or two days - in the calendar year, next to the Super Bowl. And Mel had something to do with that," said Ernie Accorsi, a former NFL general manager who is Kiper's mentor and friend. "He also was a beneficiary."

ESPN's knack for cross- and self-promotion never was more apparent than a little past noon on March 12, when the following scrolled across the bottom of the ESPNEWS screen, tucked in among other sentence-length items of the "breaking" variety: Mel Kiper Jr. picks Georgia QB Matthew Stafford as No. 1 pick in NFL mock draft.

How much do the people picking in the real draft take Kiper's kibitzing into account? How about the players he's ranking? Or their parents? Or agents?

The quick answers to all of those questions: None, some, or a whole lot, depending on whom you ask.

"I always say to people, 'I'm not picking.' My opinions, to NFL teams, don't matter. Teams don't care what I say," said Kiper, who has three years left on his current ESPN deal. "If I were an owner, and I knew my team was worrying about what Mel Kiper said, I wouldn't be happy."

Still, front-office jobs often hinge on the draft, a pressure that leads to a desire to cover every angle. The last thing anyone wants is to be asked by the boss why so-and-so player from such-and-such small college never was mentioned in the team's draft war room.

Which is why some of the thousands of draft preview books sold annually by Mel Kiper Enterprises, Inc. - literally a Mom-and-Pop operation, its only full-time employees are Mel and Kim Kiper - are bought by people who work for NFL teams.

"Nobody wants to miss anybody or anything," Washington Redskins executive vice-president for football operations Vinny Cerrato said.

*****

Hits & misses

A sample of the work of Mel Kiper Jr., who began analyzing college football players and NFL drafts in the 1970s, and made his ESPN draft-day debut in 1984:

Hit Kiper rated Purdue QB Jeff George as the 84th-best player in the 1990 draft. George was chosen No. 1 overall by Indianapolis; he went 46-78 as a starter plus 1-2 in the playoffs, in 12 seasons with five teams. As on-screen graphics were being prepared, someone asked Kiper why George wasn't on the list of top prospects. "He said, 'Well, I can't put up a top-40 list and not have the No. 1 guy.' I said, 'Well, put him 40th. If you have to put him somewhere, put him 40th,' " Kiper remembers.

Miss Kiper had QBs Dan McGwire and Brett Favre rated evenly heading into the 1991 draft. McGwire was chosen No. 16 overall by Seattle; Favre was taken in the second round, 33rd overall, by Atlanta. McGwire made five NFL starts; Favre retired with one Super Bowl championship and league records for career touchdown passes (464), completions (5,720), yards passing (65,127) and regular-season victories (169).

...and he still has all of his hair.