The NFL Draft begins Saturday afternoon at the famous Radio City Musical Hall in New York City, and I have a confession: This is the first year in my 21 years involved with the National Football League that I am really into it.
Part of this interest is due to the fact that I have been doing talk shows for Sirius/XM NFL Radio for the better part of a year and have been further exposed to the best game on the planet. This underscores the fact that the more you know about a subject, the more interested you become and I am now a full-fledged draft addict.
Saturday afternoon will produce more instant millionaires than the state lottery, and the NFL draft is also a crap shoot when evaluating the talent and how they'll turn out.
The Detroit Lions have been on the clock since mid-October of 2008 since they were the worst team in the NFL, and now have the enviable task of giving an untried player about $35 million of guaranteed money. Based on the Lions’ futility in recent seasons, their fans have seen enough and they are looking for a new beginning. They no longer have Matt Millen to kick around anymore, so the new regime better get it right.
Will they select Georgia quarterback, Mathew Stafford, who has 16 games experience in college, and give him the ball right away? Or is the safer pick Aaron Curry, the Wake Forest linebacker? Football people tell me that you build a team around the offensive and defensive lines, so is Baylor's tackle Jason Smith the right pick? How about Boston College's B.J. Raji, a defensive tackle?
No matter how you look at it, Kansas City, St.Louis, Seattle and Cleveland wait their turn to make their selections and stand ready to open their checkbooks and pay another college player pro money to play football. Meanwhile, teams like New England, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis and the NY Giants wait for later in the draft to pick a player that will help them, and based upon their recent successes, they'll get it right.
The Patriots, for example, have four picks in the first 58 in the draft. Who wants to bet that at least three will make impacts right away? The future of not only the Detroit Lions is at stake this weekend, and their fans wait and hope.
Which would rather see in April - the NFL Draft or one of the many baseball teams that have no chance for the playoffs play another meaningless game? Give me the draft. It has more question marks.
If you would like to comment on this blog, please email Howard David at howarddavidh3@yahoo.com.
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