Gblock;518251 wrote:kiper defended himself very well on mike and mike this morning breaking down players that this guy had signed and where he ranked them, not much evidence there...

sjmvsfscs08;518255 wrote:http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5678493

Clausen's agent was and is Gary Wichard. Luchs said when he went to Gary's operation they didn't pay people, so that makes me feel better about it. Clausen comes from an affluent family too, I think. So those signs point to no. Now, it does explain why Mel Kiper was livid about his draft status falling hahaha

EDIT: His father is an "insurance executive," according to an article. I doubt he needed extra cash.

This isn't the first time there have been questions raised about Kiper's relationships with Wichard. PFT wrote an article back in April about Kiper's ranking of Jimmy Clausen as his top prospect at quarterback. Clausen was a Wichard client.

But Clausen wasn't the only Wichard prospect in this draft class. The others were C.J. Spiller, Taylor Mays, Arrelious Benn, and Everson Griffen. All 4 made appearances on Kiper's Top 25 big board at some point leading up to draft day, although C.J. Spiller was the only one that made Kiper's April 14 big board. Kiper had Spiller ranked 8th - He was drafted 9th overall to the Bills, a move that was widely considered a reach by analysts. Interestingly, Kiper did a 2nd round mock draft after the 1st round of the 2010 draft had been completed, and here is where Kiper suggested Wichard's clients should be drafted, in order:

Kiper had Arrelious Benn being drafted 1st in the 2nd round (33rd overall) by the Rams. Benn would eventually be drafted by the Buccaneers at 37.

Kiper had Taylor Mays being drafted 2nd in the 2nd round (34th overall) by the Vikings. Mays would eventually be taken 49th overall by the 49ers.

Kiper had Jimmy Clausen being drafted 4th in the 2nd round (36th overall) by the Chiefs. As noted above, he went 48th to the Panthers.

Kiper had Everson Griffen being drafted 22nd in the 2nd round (54th overall) by the Bengals. He would eventually be drafted 100th overall, in the 4th round by Minnesota.

LJ;519900 wrote:Luchs confirmed on Mike and Mike that it was not Santonio Holmes he was talking about

j_crazy;518217 wrote:exaclty how i felt. i've always heard that kiper uses his "influence" on draft status to inflate guys into earlier rounds. now it would seem that he does it for kickbacks from the players' agents.

LJ;519900 wrote:Luchs confirmed on Mike and Mike that it was not Santonio Holmes he was talking about