Maybe they’ve should’ve drafted a wide receiver at no.1? Detroit Lions head coach Rod Marinelli spoke with local scribes yesterday and proceeded to throw a minor shit-fit over questions concerning the benching of no. 17 overall pick OT / Boston College product Gosder Cherilus (above). From the Detroit Free Press’ Carlos Monarrez :
“I don’t think there’s a right of entitlement,” Marinelli said. “I don’t care what draft status is. Do you understand what that means, draft status? I look at a team. Some of you guys sit up in the bleachers all day eating popcorn looking down. I’m in the middle of the arena, in a team meeting, and if I’m 0-5 or 5-0, I look at those men with the same consistent message. The guy who’s playing well is gonna play. That respects our game. Do you understand what respect of this game means?”
Marinelli said he wants to change the culture of entitlement by creating competition that disregards a player’s draft status.
“And the way you hurt high draft picks in the past here: ‘Hey, it’s yours. C’mon, yours. You can mess up all you want. You can gain weight. You can do anything you want and you’re going to still play,’ ” Marinelli said. “That insults this game now. That insults it.”
Marinelli said he did not understand why such a fuss was made over Cherilus’ demotion, which was made public Thursday.
“All of a sudden this guy is put down and a big deal is made of that,” Marinelli said. “I don’t see it as a big deal. I see a way of helping this guy getting back on and being good. I’m not about giving somebody something.”