After a draft day slide that sent him tumbling in to the second-round, former West Virginia quarterback Geno Smith fired his agent and was openly disappointed with his fall from the top. Smith declined an on-camera interview at the conclusion of round one and even decided that he would leave New York and not attend round two at Radio City Music Hall, before eventually changing his mind.
Now, Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports is gathering information from Smith’s pre-draft visits that explain why Smith may have slid on draft day. He appeared to be disengaged and uninterested during visits with teams and that certainly rubbed them the wrong way.
Suddenly, Nolan Nawrocki’s damning scouting report of Geno Smith for lacking leadership skills doesn’t seem so over the top.
“All these other players who were in there were talking to the coaches, trying to get to know people and he was over there by himself,” one source said, via the Yahoo! Sports report. “That’s not what you want out of your quarterback.”
Another executive added, “He doesn’t have much presence, not much of a leader. I don’t think he’s a bad person, but that’s not enough to be a quarterback in this league.”
Cole added that Smith was constantly on his phone texting friends and browsing Twitter during his meetings and he didn’t appear to be open to learning. Smith had a bad attitude and came across as a player that had already thought he knew it all and that he had made it.
If he carries on with that poor attitude, it could be a long struggle in New York — especially with that media.
Of course, if Smith can go out on the field and play to the level that his talent suggests he could, all of the pre-draft and post-draft criticism will mean nothing.