By Cris Benson The Fantasy Football Informer

You have all heard of the Butterfly Effect right?  A little tiny Butterfly flaps it wings in Africa and it somehow produces a major catastrophic event such as a hurricane, tornado, or Rex Ryan bursting into tears begging his team to just get along.

Well I have a theory and I call it the ‘STUPIDITY EFFECT’ and it seems to occur every year at this time. 

The stupidity effect is set in motion when sports bloggers, radio idiots, and newspaper otherwise intelligent columnist are provoked by football agents who drive up their clients stock.  The Agents tell the media BS or straight out lies about their clients or their immediate competition.

Well don’t look now but the stupidity effect is in the works already at this seasons NFL Combine and the combine hasn’t even started.

Somehow when I observe some of the mock drafts I notice immediately that WR Justin Blackmon of Oklahoma is dropping in stock and WR Michael Floyd of Notre Dame is rising?

First let’s compare the numbers

Michael Floyd Wide Receiver Norte Dame

Tale of the tape:  Height 6’3” Weight 229lbs

Born 11/27/89

Speed 4.55e

Grade 5.99

Strengths: “Big, physical playmaker with strong hands to be effective short. Has the size and post-up skills to be effective intermediate and tracking. Also possesses the body control, leaping ability and competitiveness to be effective deep. Has a skill set reminiscent of Keyshawn Johnson…”” shows great field awareness and stands out most for his ability to overpower defensive backs and make contested catches. “Source ProFooballWeekly http://www.profootballweekly.com/prospects/player/michael-floyd-3/

Weakness: When it came to weaknesses the most I could find was lacks separation ability?  Oh and the kid can’t find a designated driver.  He has several DUI’s which from what I understand have been fully investigated. (Remember this is Notre Dame where a student died while filming practice in a high wind storm while standing in a hydraulic lift tower.  But that had an internal campus investigation that never produced anything.) 

Justin Blackmon Wide Receiver Oklahoma

Tale of the tape: Height 6’1” Weight 210

Born 1/9/90

Speed 4.55e

Grade 6.65

Strengths: “Has excellent downfield ball skills and consistently wins jump balls in the air. Intense, competitive and confident — plays bigger than his size and makes difficult catches look routine. Very good body control. Tracks the ball extremely well and shows terrific concentration in traffic. Very strong hands to snatch the ball away from defensive backs. Has a wide catching radius and brandishes a powerful stiff-arm. Physical blocker.” Source ProFootballWeekly http://www.profootballweekly.com/prospects/player/justin-blackmon-81/

Weakness: Now this I found very interesting and especially read the ending, “Average initial quickness off the line and lacks top-end speed to separate. Shows some tightness in his hips and is not a creative or elusive runner in the open field. Does not power through contact. Production is inflated from a spread offense that does not require receivers to run a full route tree and has a history of inflating the production of its receivers.” Source ProFootballWeekly http://www.profootballweekly.com/prospects/player/justin-blackmon-81/

It almost appears as if the evaluator did a very deep and thorough assessment of one player and just stated the obvious characteristics of the other.

Now the reason the reason I point out this is because I check to see what the stock value is for the NFL draft every morning just to see if my Bears are scouting a guy flying under the radar and well this is what I found today.

SBNation http://kansascity.sbnation.com/kansas-city-chiefs/2012/2/9/2786710/nfl-mock-draft-2012-justin-blackmon-falls-while-michael-floyd-rises

Someone has to be inflating Floyd’s stock while on the other hand someone is saying that Blackmon is overrated, but whom?  My only guess is Michael Floyd’s agent.

One sports writer who I am unable to identify but is very well respected explained to me that information from agents is “misleading” and “untrustworthy”.  He went on to explain that agents have financially backed some of the media sources on the internet that grew over night making the agent a number one source for scoops. 

While I am sure this is not news to most of us I have to believe that some of the reporting I am beginning to see is evidence of my theory the ‘stupidity effect’ is true.

Just looking at Blackmon’s stats this season he had 121 receptions, 1522 receiving yards, and 18 TD’s compared to Floyd who had 100 receptions, 1147 receiving yards, and 9 TD’s there is no comparison.

Not to mention you can make an even greater argument that Baylor University receiver Kendal Wright who had 108 receptions, 1663 yards receiving, and 14 TD’s is the possible top receiver prospect.  However no one seems to be talking about him.  Why?  He is clearly a talent or maybe he need a new agent?

I blame the ‘stupidity effect’ and now turn now to the NFL Combine where the stupidity is literally in full effect!

The NFL Combine serves one purpose giving agents an opportunity to inflate their clients draft position before they go to market and try to earn a payday.  Also the NFL gets you talk about them during the off season.  Case in point this blog.

Why do I say inflate?  For example do you all remember Stephen Paea of Oregon State breaking the combine bench press record last year?

Video NFL.com  http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-combine/09000d5d81e843bc/Paea-sets-bench-press-record

Paea was drafted by the Chicago Bears with the 53^rd overall pick in the second round and what a waste of a pick that was.  Paea’s numbers last season say it all as he had only 14 tackles and two sacks.  Way to contribute Stephen.

Now as much as I blame former Bears GM Jerry Angelo for picking Paea the ‘stupidity effect’ took its toll on Angelo’s common sense.   

Paea’s stock was inflated by the record breaking bench press and moved him up the draft charts. 

Paea almost did not even make the Bears roster in 2011 and was on the verge of being cut but Angelo never sent him packing.  I have a feeling he will be cut eventually because Bears new GM Phil Emery didn’t draft Paea and doesn’t own that mistake as Angelo did. 

See this is the ‘stupidity effect’ agents feed garbage to media and media elevate a player’s value while the front office of an NFL buys the hype behind a players press.

When it comes to the NFL Combine we all seem to buy the hype rather the numbers from a player’s college career.  I just don’t understand why.  How can you get excited over a forty yard dash? 

The combine is full of measurements and nothing there is close to what a player is seeing on the field which is an actual game.

I personally put more stock in two games the Senior Bowl and the East West Shrine Game where football players actually play football rather than give measurements.

Well go ahead buy into the hype if you will.   I can’t blame you for media day workouts and the NFL Combine because they all come down to one thing and that is the money.  That is the only thing the ‘Stupidity Effect’ is good for anyway.