Jimmy Clausen and the NFL Draft Debacle

So why did Jimmy Clausen fall to the 48th pick overall, after having been rated as high as the 4th best player available in the draft by some?

Simple- leadership.

Clausen is an incredibly talented quarterback, and the statistics he was able to amass cannot be argued. He played in a pro-style offense that is perfectly suited for someone looking to ultimately play on Sundays. However, his teams could not win. His coach was consistently on the hot seat and was ultimately fired. He left the program early in the height of its turmoil to cash a check. And at the end of the day, those intangibles add up to something. This was really made clear to me in a post game interview after their senior day loss to Uconn. Nothing in his responses had anything to do with stepping up and being a leader. He was just another one of those players that day that watched the loss happen, and then, oh well, what are you going to do?

Life is filled with tons of examples where the best talent in the world doesn’t win, and marginal talent does. Usually the tipping point is leadership. That’s why Jimmy will hold a clipboard for a couple of years, and then venture off to see how life really works.