‘Rain Man’ one sage savant

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/06/2009 (5951 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s 10 minutes into an ‘interview’ with Winnipeg Blue Bomber director of player personnel John Murphy — we’ve asked one question, he’s still talking — when an analogy about the man hits home as being absolutely perfect.

Murphy was hired back in January away from Calgary and a fellow Stampeder staffer, while alluding to Murphy’s gift of the gab, described his encyclopedic knowledge of football players as ‘Rain Man-esque.’ Name a player anywhere, college or pro, and Murphy could spit out a scouting report like some sort of gridiron savant.

So it’s not long after Murphy has consummated his 10th trade since his arrival — that’s 10 trades in less than five months — when we decided to sit down and chat about his penchant for swapping personnel and the art of the deal. And, to be honest, there were times during a 40-minute discussion where all we could think of was Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man:

‘Of course, I’m an excellent driver… lights out at 11, definitely lights out at 11… 15 minutes to Judge Wapner…’

"That’s not wrong," said Murphy with a chuckle when asked about the Rain-Man analogy. "My mom said that I’ve always been doing this. When I was a kid and we were picking sides for a game in the playground I was always the one making up the teams. I just like this stuff. My dad’s the total opposite; Air Force engineer in math and science while my mom’s this little school teacher. Neither of them are like me at all, personality-wise.

"They’re like, ‘Where the hell did you come from?’ "

For the record, Murphy was raised in Merrick on Long Island, New York. And his rise to prominence and his wheeling and dealing for the Bombers is, frankly, a helluva tale. He had no connections in the game, didn’t play college or pro. But he got his foot in the door strictly by perseverance and dogged determination. A huge football fan growing up, he was more inspired by what general managers and personnel guys were doing — the who and why, where and what behind a draft pick or trade — than the numbers piled up by a receiver or quarterback.

It began when he was a 15-year-old taking the bus from Long Island to Manhattan to take in the annual NFL Draft. And while other fans were scrambling to get autographs, Murphy — with the help of the NFL’s director of security — would allow him to scoop up the bios and info teams had left behind on their draft table or dumped into the trash.

And from there he began going to games in the New York area then write up his own scouting reports and email them to everybody and anybody — including Mike Kelly, who was in the personnel department with the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Redskins.

"And now that we’re working together there would be times this winter when I’d spend five hours on the phone with him. He IS like Rain Man," explains Kelly, before breaking into an impersonation. "Of course… I get all my underwear at K-Mart."

Murphy, who turns 37 in August, was the GM of the Louisiana Bayou Thunder of the IFL when he was 23 and worked for six indoor teams before being hired as scout by the Montreal Alouettes in 2005. He has also written a football draft column for Yahoo! Sports, is the current director of player development for the East-West Shrine Game and owns a company called ‘Next Level Scouting.’

So, back to the trading…

Murphy figures the most accurate description of his fixation on wheeling and dealing would be this: ‘Open for business.’ And he insists all these trades are exactly that; simply the byproduct of networking constantly with the Bomber coaching staff and other GMs/personnel types across the CFL.

If you want to chat, he’ll listen. Actually, you listen, he’ll chat.

"I’m not just trading for the sake of trading," said Murphy. "When I have ya, I love ya. Ask the players. I think we give as much or at least the same TLC as anybody else in this league.

"We’re not trading guys because we think they’re done, we’re trading them to change the faces and the pieces of our puzzle and how we put the best 46 players out there every week. The loyalty has to come to the team, to the roster we’re building and where we’re trying to get to. Hopefully these guys are all going to be here when we’re successful. But, if they’re not, then they’ll play a role in helping us getting there."

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

Wheeler dealer

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers hired John Murphy on Jan. 27, 2009. Since then, he’s helped consummate 10 trades. Here’s the evidence:

Feb. 16: Acquired defensive back James Johnson from Saskatchewan for a conditional pick in the 2011 CFL Draft.

Feb. 16: Traded defensive end Kai Ellis to Edmonton for linebacker Siddeeq Shabazz.

Feb. 17: Winnipeg sends defensive back Jason Nugent and future considerations to Edmonton for receiver Brock Ralph.

Feb. 19: Acquired defensive end Riall Johnson from Toronto for linebacker Zeke Moreno and a conditional pick in the 2009 CFL Draft.

April 2: Shipped offensive lineman Dan Goodspeed, fifth-round picks in 2009 and in 2011 or 2012 and conditional picks in either 2010 or 2011 to Saskatchewan for receiver Adarius Bowman, offensive lineman Jean Francois Morin-Roberge, and defensive back Brady Browne, the rights to QB Brian Johnson, a sixth-round pick in 2010 and the fifth-round pick in 2012.

May 14: Acquired offensive lineman Kelly Bates from B.C. for future considerations.

May 15: Traded defensive back Kelly Malveaux to Edmonton for defensive end Fred Perry.

May 15: Acquired defensive back Lenny Walls and linebacker Neil Ternovatsky in two separate deals from Calgary for future considerations.

June 13: Bombers land punter Mike Renaud from Calgary for a sixth-round pick in 2010.

June 15: Cornerback Willie Amos traded to Edmonton for import offensive lineman Thaddeus Coleman.