IR lessons from Mel Kiper, Jr.

I love the NFL Draft. LOVE IT. I look forward to it. I prepare for it - and not just for my beloved Cleveland Browns. I watch as much of it as I can (read: as much as Mrs. B will allow). I even read reviews of it to see how my team-by-team grades compare to the experts’.

Somewhere during the fifth round of the draft this past Saturday I had an epiphany. The reason I love the draft is that it is just like investor relations!

Just like for public companies, the numbers don’t tell the whole story for the players. Sure the tangible assets (height, weight, 40-speed) are important. But the intangibles (leadership, toughness, work ethic, production) are just as important, if not more so, when trying to determine a player’s future performance. Case in point - JaMarcus Russell and Drew Brees.  On paper, the former looks like a can’t miss Fortune 500 company while the latter looks like he’s a few bad quarters - pun intended - away from being delisted.  As a result, the former was the first player selected in 2007 while the latter slipped into the second round in 2001 (and now plays for his second team).

Oddly enough, you don’t play the game on paper just as you don’t invest based solely on historical results. In this example, the intangible assets of Drew Brees have made him a Super Bowl Champion while the seemingly lack of intangibles of JaMarcus Russell have already forced him out of the starting line up.

See where I’m going with this? (Don’t feel bad - neither did Mrs. B.)

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