Ray Farmer's Presser Makes Psychological Sense

Today’s Ray Farmer press conference at the NFL Combine frustrated some of the media tasked with covering the Cleveland Browns. Farmer was apologetic for his decisions, talked about having a plan in place for all positions, said some of what he says is a smokescreen and generally answered questions vaguely.

Here were some of the complaints that were heard from Cleveland Media following the presser:

Why won’t he answer questions about Brian Hoyer?
Why does he think he needs to play games with the media?
Why won’t he tell us what he thinks about Hoyer?
Why didn’t he give us more information about who they want to try to acquire?
Why does he always act so arrogant?

(A quick reminder: My full time job is as a mental health professional, been counseling for 13 years.)

So looking at those concerns there are a few answers that become quite clear from a psychological perspective:

Because it is pointless to tell the media anything of substance. It hurts negotiations and can hurt team’s relationship with players and agents.
Because the media plays games with NFL types all the time (See: Jason La Canforna’s piece) and he can.
See point one, also realize that he said in the interview that they basically have a ranking of QBs that they like. Hoyer could be 1st on that list or he could be 10th. The Browns also may have information whether Hoyer is interested in re-signing which could impact it.
- We have heard from Hoyer that he wants to talk to the Browns, but remember that it only benefits Hoyer to say as much so he looks like a team player.
See point one but also understand that there are many things that could change between now and Free Agency and the NFL Draft. Remember that they are trying to learn from last year’s mistakes so a player currently high on their list could drop and vice versa. Also if he says “Yes, we hope to sign/meet with Josh McCown and the player signs elsewhere it becomes another “See Browns can’t get their guys.”
He acts so arrogant for a couple of reason, one of which there will be a stand alone paragraph below. First, the media has shown a general arrogance, especially in relation to teams that have a certain narrative. Second, he realizes the media’s goals and his goals are not the same. Third, we would all hope that the Browns GM is confident in what he is doing. Finally, maybe the media should ask better questions. “Tell me about…” is not a question.

So we end with a little deeper psychological look at Farmer. From his first press conference and those who know Farmer well, it seemed clear that he was a straight shooter. Head Coach Mike Pettine is the same. It works for Pettine as his role as the Head Coach is about players on the field. It isn’t a good idea for the GM of a team. As we described above, being that way can alienate players and agents which isn’t a good decision for the guy who needs to negotiate with those people.

So Farmer, learning on the job as a young guy, has to try to fight his nature. Farmer seems to be robotic, with what seems to be pre-planned answers to a lot of the questions. That is a guy who has done his homework. “We want to build competition at all positions” is not just a catch phrase but it is also a protective statement. He is protecting himself from himself. His nature is to be blunt, similar to Pettine, but his job calls for more of a politician.

In counseling we talk often about the needed use of avoidance and escape techniques. Avoidance, like teams like the Saints and Patriots, would be to not be interviewed. It is a good technique when you know yourself and don’t want to mess with things. Escape techniques are what we are seeing from Farmer. He knows it is not beneficial for him to share too much so he has pre-planned responses to certain questions.

That is what healthy people do. If they know they could make decisions that are not best for them, they plan to either avoid or escape that situation so as to continue what is good for them. In Farmer’s case, as the GM of the Cleveland Browns, that means escaping questions that could lead him to answer in a way that does not benefit him or the team.

Ray Farmer’s Presser Makes Psychological Sense

By Jared Mueller | Feb 19, 2015

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