When I heard Lions general manager Martin Mayhew was taking a look at a wide receiver from the German Football League, I was reminded again how similar Mayhew is to Joe Dumars.
Like Dumars, Mayhew leaves no stone unturned when it comes to talent. There is no village, city or country he won’t scout. Like Dumars, Mayhew thinks outside the box. More specifically, they thrive on it. Since I know Dumars better, I can say with some certainty that there is nothing he enjoys more than finding that perverbial diamond in the rough.
When Mayhew flew in 23-year-old Christian Bollmann from Germany, it reminded me of when Dumars signed a previously off-the-radar, somewhat older point guard named Horace Jenkins a few years back. Anybody remember that? Sadly, Horace turned out to be less than a diamond, but I saluted Dumars’ efforts to find him and give him a shot.
Same to Mayhew. Turns out Bollmann didn’t quite run the 4.4 that was advertised and wasn’t quite NFL-grade. But it was worth the plane ticket.
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