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- Richard Sherman gave a long, passionate criticism of the NFL combine and draft experts.
- Sherman said the combine features "irrelevant" tests like the 40-yard dash which is not indicative of a player's ability on the field.
- Sherman also said the draft experts aren't held accountable for overlooking great players who get drafted in later rounds.
As the NFL combine gets underway this week, Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman won't be following the results and ensuing analysis too closely.
On Tuesday, Sherman fired off a tweet criticizing draft experts and analysts, saying they're not held accountable for their mistakes.
"All these draft analyst [sic] get so much wrong. I wish someone kept track of how idiotic some of their predictions are," Sherman tweeted. "They literally spew of ton of nonsense and get paid for it. Wish they got graded and paid for how often they are right/wrong."
Later on Tuesday, in an interview with Business Insider, Sherman continued his criticism, explaining how draft experts too often look for "measurables" and focus on things that don't matter.
"I think sometimes these analysts look for measurables, look for prototypical things that you see in other players that don't necessarily fit in today's game," Sherman said. "It's an old-school line of thinking."
Sherman noted that 40-yard dash is an "irrelevant" and "outdated" test that still receives a lot of attention at the combine.
"A guy can run 4-flat and not a play a down of football. It doesn't really matter. So what's the point of keeping the times? You've seen guys that run 4.3 get outrun by guys who run 4.6."
Sherman, who was drafted in the fifth round in 2011, pointed to historic examples of players who were overlooked in the draft, like Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers.
"That's why you can get a guy like Tom Brady who can arguably be the greatest quarterback of all time, who goes in the sixth round," Sherman said. "And everybody's like, 'Oh man, I saw that coming out of college, I saw the potential he had! I knew he'd be great!' Like, if everybody knew that, he wouldn't have lasted until the sixth round, and that's obvious.
"That's like Aaron Rodgers. His story is a little different, but in hindsight, people would take him with the No. 1 pick every year, but he went 24 or something like that. He was great in college ... And they took quarterbacks before him that are no longer in our league and didn't win any games or Super Bowls."
Sherman mocked the search for intangibles in players whose on-field production is lacking.
"It's one of those things where you're like, 'Oh this quarterback, he didn't play well in college, he didn't play well in any games, but he should be drafted in the top five. You know, he has the measurables, he has the intangibles, the things you can't [teach].'
"It's like, what does he have if he didn't play well in college? You don't expect him to play well in the league."
Sherman hasn't been shy about criticizing different aspects of the league, from "Thursday Night Football" to injury reports. We can now add the draft process to the list.