The 49ers are desperate — desperate! — for a starting quarterback. So when it comes to Matthew Stafford, perhaps the closest thing to can’t miss QB in this year’s draft, why does it seem like they’re doing everything they can to come up with an excuse to not take him?
From SPORTS ILLUSTRATED comes a look inside the combine, and San Francisco’s team psychologist’s meeting with Stafford. The word out of 49er camp is that he was too reticent to talk about his parents’ divorce. But can you really blame a 21-year-old kid for not wanting to discuss his personal issues with someone he’s known for a matter of minutes?
Stafford revealed to Peter King that during an interview at the NFL combine, the 49ers team psychologist pressed him on the subject of the divorce of Stafford’s parents when the quarterback was in high school. Stafford says he assured the shrink he’d adjusted well, only to be told he “sounded if he might have unfinished business.”
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Niners head coach Mike Singletary all but dismissed the possibility of drafting Stafford in a radio interview with KNBR in San Francisco. “If you’re going to look at drafting a guy in the first round,” he told host Ralph Barbieri, “and you’re going to pay him millions of dollars, and asking him about a divorce about his parents, if that’s going to be an issue, then you know what? Maybe he doesn’t belong here.”
Really? Stafford’s got a rocket of an arm, a great mind for managing the game, and has a good shot at being the best Bay Area QB since Steve Young. And you’re going to dismiss him out of hand because he didn’t have a good cry with someone he never met over a painful recent memory?
Psych evals are valuable for NFL teams, no one denies this. But the most they should be able to do is weed out the Travis Henrys of the world. Stafford’s not going to turn to a life of crime because of unfinished business with his parents’ divorce, and it’s not going to make him a worse quarterback.
Five years from now, when the 49ers are still terrible and asking why, I hope they’ll remember this.
4:20 pm on April 12th, 2009
Personally I think Stafford might be a little overrated. Sanchez is much better, which the teams are coming to realize.This matter however, I have to agree with Singletary. I think its more a matter of being able to handle the Bay Area. Ever since Garcia left and we've been left with absolute dog poop for quarterbacks the Bay has been all over the team. We need a QB who can handle the pressure and meet the expectations. Its not a matter of the divorce but being an open leader who can be the charismatic leader of a franchise and the face of the great 49ers.
5:30 pm on April 12th, 2009
I realize they are two different situations, but I remember when the Chargers were getting ready to draft Ryan Leaf, it came out a couple years later that a sports psychologist advised the team that under no circumstances should they take Leaf. Of course, that was ignored and we all know how that turned out.
I'm not saying Stafford is anything like Leaf, but sometimes maybe these psychologists know what they're talking about.
5:31 pm on April 12th, 2009
P.O.B.
You posted at 4:20…I wonder?
1:11 am on April 13th, 2009
They have to be kidding? Anyone in their "right mind" would have answered the same way.
1:21 pm on April 13th, 2009
I'm left wondering if Joe Montana had to go through the same sh*t when Walsh and Policy were running the 49ers?
Doubtful. Very, very doubtful. Perhaps that's why they haven't had a quarterback worth a damn since Steve Young left…
5:26 pm on April 13th, 2009
Stafford indicated that he had adjusted well, only to have the psychologist interject that there might be some unfinished business. I think Singletary might have misinterpreted the quote and assumed that it would be an issue for Stafford.
The 49ers have been a mess for years now. They probably should have just kept Garcia.