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Terry Foster: Jake Rudock Is Not The Next Tom Brady

By Terry Foster
@TerryFoster971

Jake Rudock is not the next Tom Brady and Connor Cook somewhat got what he deserved.

Yeah, this will be one of those days where I piss off Spartans and Wolverines. But my job is to give you my opinion, not what you want to hear.

The biggest story of the NFL draft, outside of gas masks and cropped shirts, is the fall of Connor Cook, a guy that could have gone as high as the first round. Instead he dropped to the Oakland Raiders with the 100th pick of the draft.

What the media is reporting today is similar to what I heard about Cook two years ago. He is not a very nice guy. Teammates were not in love with him and that hurt him. I don't believe he dropped because of a bum shoulder. I don't believe he dropped because of the media.

Arrogance and being standoffish hurt Cook. The snatching of the Big Ten MVP trophy from Ohio State great Archie Griffin was a peek into what Cook is away from the spotlight.
He slipped and showed his true colors. Teams did not want the next Jay Cutler walking in their dressing room as a starting quarterback.

The NFL cannot introduce Cook as a leader of a team. But a team can introduce Cook as a guy who will fight as a backup to become a starter. After two years grinding and showing he is not a bad guy, he can take over a team.

He will start in this league someday and will be a solid quarterback. He needs to show that he grew up and he needs great coaching.

However, I am stunned he dropped to the fourth. I thought he'd be a second-round selection.

I believe Cook has learned his lesson and has already begun the process of treating people the right way. The turn simply came too late for draft day.

Spartans coach Mark Dantonio was disappointed in the fall but believes this could be a character builder for Cook.

"There's no question you're going to be tested as a quarterback at Michigan State on the field and off the field," Dantonio said. "And I've told our quarterbacks, you're going to get a tremendous amount of praise and a tremendous amount of criticism because of the position that you play. It's going to be highly scrutinized. You know, we look forward to it as an opportunity to grow and become better for it. But I think that it was inaccurate and it was disappointing what he had to go through."

One more thing that hurt Cook was consistency. In many of his games he was a mediocre to bad quarterback during the first half of games. He missed easy throws and was bailed out by defensive backs that dropped easy interceptions.

He was a completely different quarterback in the second half of games. He made some of the best throws I'd ever seen. He can get away with that in college. He simply cannot get away with it in the NFL.

HARBAUGH BOOSTS RUDOCK

Meanwhile the Lions took a flyer on Rudock in the sixth round, the same round that the New England Patriots took former Michigan quarterback Tom Brady.

Brady played behind eighth year veteran Drew Bledsoe and Rudock comes to a team with an eight year QB in Matthew Stafford.

I was not surprised to hear some folks say this could be the reincarnation of Brady with the Lions.

There are two main differences. Brady played at a high level at Michigan, Rudock did not. Brady was groomed with the Patriots who has pedigree and has won several Super Bowls since. The Lions hosted a Super Bowl and show no signs of going to one soon.

"I don't think there is any comparison between me and him," Rudock said. "He is, without a doubt, one of the greatest of all time, so I'm just fortunate to be in the same sentence, let alone anything farther than that."

Others have laughed at the Lions taking Rudock. Here is why I am not laughing.

He showed signs of progress under Wolverines coach Jim Harbaugh. He lacks a true NFL arm but Rudock showed great improvement. I stood with many people who thought he should have lost his job early. But I was not calling for his head midway through the season.

You saw progress and potential.

Harbaugh got the ball rolling. Now the Lions are going to try to coach him up to see if he can turn into a nice backup.

(Foster can be reached at Terry.Foster@cbsradio.com)

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