Quote:The premise behind your question is flawed.

 

Orson Mobley went to FSU and was a decent blocking TE.

 

But even if you exclude him from consideration, that might be a knock against O'Leary.

We can bust out examples until the cows come home. Here's the biggest piece of evidence against school-based bias in the NFL: Penn State running backs.

 

Between 1990 and 2003, every Penn State running back drafted, particularly in the first round (with the exception of Larry Johnson, who narrowly avoided the label) was a complete and utter failure in the pros. Yet, despite that track record, NFL teams kept going back to the well and burning high picks on guys like Blair Thomas, Ki-Jana Carter, Curtis Enis, Johnson, and a second-rounder (Tony something?) whose name I've since forgotten. If there was a bias against certain positions from certain schools, Johnson would have been lucky to have been drafted at all, but instead he was a first-round pick.

 

If there is any greater proof that NFL teams don't regard simply playing a certain position at a certain school to make you suddenly unworthy of a pick above a certain round, I have yet to find it.

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