We are still over two weeks away from the NFL draft and I for one am sick of reading mock drafts! We have had an extra month to deal with the draft speculation this year, due to the powers that be (and a double booking of the venue) deciding to move the draft back from April to May. On paper this seemed like a smart move as it meant that as a fan, we had something every month rather than having to stagnate in the long and arduous off season. As a new writer this is even more noticeable as we have very little to talk about beyond the occasional arrest, horrifying injury like that of Vikings OL Josh Samuda and low level player acquisition at present (Josh Samuda Sports Injury Alert Profile).
You may say then that the Draft being another few weeks away is a great thing! No it is not, I have read more mock drafts than I care to count and one thing is evident in all of them. None of them will be right. With the likes of Todd McShay and Mel Kiper, two of the highest regarded experts not allowing trades in their drafts it are almost pointless to count them as accurate beyond the first pick and even within this draft the first pick isn’t as solid as in previous years. There are NFL network drafts, the two experts mentioned above drafts, Fan drafts, and an array of commentator drafts. I see a new draft almost hourly at this point. I have even seen articles discussing who your team should not draft now and do not get me started on draft prospects a year away.
The whole Draft concept is a relatively new one to me, this side of the Atlantic; Colleges do not have a monopoly on sports stars going pro. In the likes of Soccer and on this Isle GAA, players move up through the ranks of youth teams as children, usually outside the education system and if they are lucky they are signed to youth squads for a larger team and then the seniors and with it a big pay day (GAA is an armature sport with the 5th largest stadium in Europe if you are wondering, so no paid players).
So the off season is quite different this side of the world: for one it is far shorter and usually full of international tournaments, such as the world cup or six nations for rugby. Discussion on sports news media go around transfer speculation or rumours rather than the next up and coming prospect, in fact the lack of youth development is becoming an issue in the likes of Ireland, England and France.
I am not saying that the Draft system is a bad one, it keeps the financial strains of buying players down for the less well off teams and if the colleges are to be believed, gives players an education (this is debatable considering the recent developments in student athletes and education).
I just think we need to all calm down with the Mock Draft business; I have stopped reading the articles beyond the headline or pick for my team, grown bored with the speculation. One of my fellow writers referred to this time as the “TWEENER TIME,” meaning the time for speculation when nothing is solid and everything can happen.
Speculation is all well and good but when there are so many variables it becomes frustrating, I like dealing in facts, analysing and discussing what we know; this unknown has gone on for far too long. The NFL marketing machine loves this; they highlight it with announcements of player visits and discussions about potential landing spots on their network. It is easy to get caught up in the din of speculating on your favourite sports team, but we just need to take a step back.
I for one can not wait till it is all said and done and we can start the discussion on who each team has and what they have to offer, not one single person knows how draft weekend will go. Each GM will come out saying we missed out on a player we wanted or we were surprised that he fell to us with that pick. So I for one will be taking a step back from the speculation, until Rodger Goodell steps up onto the podium and announces what has actually taken place.
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