2020-11-26 05:23

Location: Deventer Chronicler website
Date: 20th November 2020
Time: 16:23

Person: Bart Kampman
Title: Beat Writer Deventer Devils

What really happened at the Draft – exclusive interview with Jerad Jones, former GM of the Deventer Devils

We managed to get an exclusive interview with the now former GM of the Deventer Devils, Jerad Jones. This interview was taken at the airport just before he boarded the plane back to the States. We never really publish interviews word for word however we felt it offered an intriguing insight at what happened during the draft so we will publish it here in its entirety.

BK: Bart Kampan
JJ: Jerad Jones

BK: Hey Jerad, thanks for taking the time to give us an exclusive interview.

JJ: Yeah, yeah, let’s get on with it, I’ve got 5 minutes before I need to board.

BK: OK, how long before you were appointed GM did you have contact with Ronald (ed: Vennnegoor).

JJ: Uhm, that was already back in September, he flew to the States to meet me. Then I was quite impressed and didn’t realise what a narcassistic idiot he was.

BK: Already in September, that is lot sooner than I had thought. So why did you decide to take the job?

JJ: Well, uhm…the opportunity and the challenge the Devils provided. The money was not bad either to be honest, even compared to US standards! But his story was intriguing and compelling. It did sound like Deventer is ready for an American Football team. And the chance to be able to shape a whole team from the ground up, well, that is just a chance you’re not gonna get back in the States you know.

BK: Had you heard of Vennegoor’s reputation as a hands-on manager who wants to be involved at every aspect of the businesses he runs?

JJ: Of course, I’d done my homework. However in our meetings he always guaranteed that I would have final say on all football decisions. I thought he was intelligent enough to realise that we both had our areas of expertise. To be frank, he knows jack sh!t about football other than what the average fan would know as well. I thought it was understood it was in the best interest of the team that he would leave football to me and business to himself.

BK: So how long had you been prepping for the draft.

JJ: Ahh, well, I must have watched a couple of hundred hours of tape. This market is completely new to me so I had to start from scratch. Especially with being a new team, you gotta nail that first draft! Then we did some fact finding on the ground here with my team (ed: of scouts) so all in all at least six weeks of work. Gone down the f^&%king (ed: redacted) drain mind you!

BK: So can I ask who your first round pick was?

JJ: Yes, actually I want to tell you this so everyone can see how bad the pick was the Devils eventually got. It was LB Danielius Vanagas. I have developed a scouting system that assigns values to traits, whether mental or physical between 1 and 50, with 50 being the best you can get. According to that system, Danielus is a physical freak. He scored max score (50) on speed and near perfect on strength (47). His football intelligence got ranked at 46 which really showed up on tape as he often was able to get to the QB by making the right decisions and with a 40 on team work he would have been a very good presence on the line as well as in the locker room. A real unique prospect to build a defense around.

BK: So that leads me to the question: what happened with the first round pick?! As we are all aware the Devils picked QB Albert Jacobs. A prospect with some potential talent for sure but considered by most as as middle of the second round pick at best.

JJ: You better ask this question to that Ronald! I had filled in the first round card with Vanagas’name and handed it over to Ronald. He then left our draft war room and must have changed the name himself on the way to the commissioner! In all my 30 years of experience in football, I’ve never ever heard of something like this happening before.

BK: Quite unheard of indeed. Did Ronald give you an explanation?

JJ: When the commissioner read out the pick I assumed something had gone wrong. When I looked at Ronald however I immediately knew something was up. The coward had not told me anything about his change. He muttered something about how I didn’t understand the marketing side of running a team and that the Devils needed a face of the franchise. I…I…don’t know what to say anymore about this. That guy Vennegoor is a … uhm… piece of work. Good luck with him, I’m sure you will have a lot of fun covering that idiot. Look, I gotta to board my plane now. I have nothing more to say about this.

Tags: Inside Deventer Devils