(ESPN.com/Adam Schefter) As the NFL draft approaches this week, Hall of Fame defensive lineman Warren Sapp is struggling to understand why Texas A&M defensive end Myles Garrett is poised to be the No. 1 pick.
"I don't see it from this kid," Sapp said Sunday about Garrett. "I see the splash plays; everybody gets those. Where's the game he took over? Where? Any defensive lineman who's the No. 1 pick, you turn up and you say, 'There it is!' This kid, no, I don't. I'm a pretty plain and frank guy, and I watch the tape and he disappears. I watch the tape, and he absolutely disappears."
"I see a lazy kid that makes four plays a game," Sapp said. "This is the No. 1 guy? No, no, no. This ain't even close."
You never know what side of Warren Sapp you’re going to get when he’s behind a microphone. Sometimes he’s hilarious, sometimes he’s poignant, and sometimes he’s downright scathing. For stud NFL Draft Prospect, mark that down as the latter.
The always entertaining Hall of Famer had some choice words for the Texas A&M defensive phenom, who has largely flown under the radar when it comes to derision among Draft insiders.
Sapp told ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter that Garrett is the product of stopwatches and clipboards, and has a reputation that lives in numbers and figures and not X's and O's.
Sapp believes defensive coordinators rave over the DE's skillsets because they simply 'think' he's going to be a star, and that they can 'make' him into a star, and that the reality of his standing now is completely built on projection and not substance.
You have to wonder what the motive was behind the potshot, whether Sapp is trying to tease headlines for another TV gig, or is carrying some sort of jealousy for the 21-year-old, but it certainly was an unexpected wrinkle in Garrett's supposed bulletproof outlook, and one that you can't just ignore when it's coming from one of the greatest defensive players in NFL history.