John Clayton Believes Lynn Bowden will go Undrafted

One legendary NFL reporter isn’t too high on Lynn Bowden’s NFL draft stock.

John Clayton was a longtime fixture at ESPN, covering the NFL for the four-letter network for more than 20 years. His ‘This is SportsCenter’ commercial is one of the best to ever grace the airwaves.

It sounds like Clayton has spent too much time in his mom’s basement since he was let go by ESPN in 2017.

Still a radio contributor in Seattle, Clayton joined ESPN-680’s ‘The V Show’ this week to break down the upcoming draft. As the appearance neared its conclusion, Bob Valvano asked Clayton to project where where Kentucky’s Lynn Bowden will be picked and what position he will play at the next level.

“I think right now with so many question marks with no workouts or anything like that, I would have to think that they’re thinking wide receiver or maybe at quarterback,” Clayton said. “But I would have to think he’s going to be more of an undrafted guy than anything else because that’s where you kind of go with that. Again, this draft is so weird because once you got to past the combine, everything was pretty well shut down about two, couple weeks after the combine.”

Huh? Undrafted. You serious, Clark?

The quote is clearly condemnation on paper. It sounds much different when you hear how Clayton said it.

Clayton’s response begs the question, was that the first time he’s ever heard Lynn Bowden’s name?

Living in pseudo-retirement in Seattle, I’d be willing to bet his Saturdays aren’t spent watching SEC football. Even though he provides plenty of knowledge on what’s happening at the top of the NFL draft, I’m sure his knowledge of the mid-level guys is vague at best. Before appearing on a Louisville sports show, he probably did his homework on Louisville players but forgot to research Kentucky prospects. It happens.

Will Clayton be forgiven for this mistake or condemned for making such an erroneous statement about the Big Blue Nation’s beloved Bowden?