One of the fun things about Black Monday in the NFL is the way everyone tries to blame everyone else for all of a franchise’s failures. Head coaches blame general managers and general managers blame head coaches. Offensive assistants blame the defense, defensive assistants blame the offense. These stories come out every year.
But this year we have a doozy: According to Mike Garafolo of NFL Network, ex-49ers coach Chip Kelly and others in the building wanted to draft Dak Prescott, while ex-49ers General Manager Trent Baalke, who had final say in the team’s draft room, refused.
Of course, it needs to be pointed out that these stories tend to get exaggerated over time. Baalke’s side of the story may very well be different: Maybe he’ll say he liked Prescott, too, and would have chosen him later in the draft if the Cowboys hadn’t. And Maybe Baalke would say Kelly never really pushed for Prescott. And it’s important to remember that if Tony Romo had stayed healthy all season and Prescott had stayed on the bench instead of having one of the all-time great rookie seasons, Kelly and the people close to him wouldn’t be leaking the fact that they all loved Prescott.
Still, it’s quite a story, one that could have dramatically changed the fortunes of two franchises: If the 49ers take Prescott, maybe Baalke and Kelly don’t get fired. And maybe the Cowboys are spending Black Monday leaking stories about who’s to blame for what went wrong, rather than getting ready for the playoffs.