VIDEO: NFL beat reporter debates why Connor Cook will be first-round pick
Fox Sports NFL reporter Paul Schrager doesn’t care what Connor Cook’s doubters say.
The Michigan State quarterback is a first-round pick.
On the eve of the NFL Scouting Combine, he joined Fox Sports’ “The Herd” with Colin Cowherd to explain why he had Cook going No. 15 to the Los Angeles Rams.
The doubt, he said, has gone way too far.
“I’ve spoken to a lot of people in the last two weeks and the one rub on Connor Cook was that he wasn’t a captain his senior year. Well guess what? Not everyone is a captain their senior year,” Schrager said. “After you talk to Mark Dantonio and after you talk to these players and ask him whether he was a leader or not, they tell you of course he was a leader, we just voted three other guys.
“Here’s a player that has the body, the skill set, he’s a four-year starter in the B1G and asking teams, he’s a lot more of a sure bet, a finished product than the kid I have right behind him, Paxton Lynch, who’s six-foot-seven out of Memphis.”
Cook’s reputation has been a lightning rod for conversation the past few months. NFL draft expert Todd McShay surprised some by saying that scouts have concerns about Cook’s off-the-field personality, referencing the captaincy issue and the Archie Griffin B1G Championship snub.
Others called him out for passing on the Senior Bowl despite the fact that he was healthy. Teammates, like Darien Harris, came to their quarterback’s side and said that there have been overreactions about Cook’s character.
Schrager agreed with that notion.
“Connor Cook, after he talks to the teams this week and the media gets the chance to actually speak to him in person, they’ll realize, this kid’s pretty cool, he’s pretty confident, he is a leader,” Schrager said. “Don’t make too much about stories you read in August about who was named a captain at Michigan State.”
Here was Schrager’s mini-rant on Cook earlier: