Well the three-day extravaganza known as the NFL Draft has finally come to the close, everyone that covered the event can feel free to shower and shave once again, just as soon as they release their draft grades for each team. Coming from a family where both parents are teachers this has always been somewhat confusing, teachers do not give students grades before they answer the first question of the test.
An NFL draftee can only be judged by how well he fits a team’s need before they ever wear the team’s uniform because it is impossible to tell how well he will fit into a team system until they actually play a game. So like everything else when it comes to the NFL Draft, draft grades are based on projections and opinions.
Not everyone can come out their rookie year and contribute, ask the Pittsburgh Steelers about Troy Polamalu about his rookie year. Give the players two to three years to adjust into the lifestyle they just got themselves into before making a judgment, it is hard.
Many do not have the mental makeup to handle the fame, riches, and pressure it takes to be an NFL player.
A sure thing can turn into a bust, and a sixth round pick can turn into an all world quarterback, we have seen it a million times, not everyone has what it takes to play in the NFL. So to have a knee-jerk reaction on how a player will pan out is insane.
It is amusing however to see a team draft a sixth-round pick and get texts and phone calls from friends saying “great pick,” or another good one is when a player is selected in the first or second round and it is not who someone wanted receiving the “I’m done with this team they need to learn how to draft,” text.
This years’ Browns pick that certainly got the most “I’m done texts” is when the team drafted T.J. Ward in the second round. A quick show of hands how many have seen Ward play multiple times, and would be willing to put down their mortgage down as a bet that he is a bust?
Ward was projected as a third or fourth round pick mainly because of injury concerns, but before judging Ward watch him play, the kid can hit and is good against the run, which the Browns need. So please do not just rehash what the draft experts think about a guy, and insult everyone else’s intelligence.
It makes someone want to scream; listen you are not an NFL Scout and certainly not a GM so let them do their job and you do yours. Remember everyone was happy in 2007 when the Browns were the talk of the NFL trading up to get Brady Quinn after he had fallen and now had what everyone thought was two top five picks, Quinn is in Denver now.
William Green
Another example is in 2002 when the Browns selected William Green and filled what most thought was the biggest need on the team an every down running back, so it was viewed as a good pick. Well it only took Green three years to find himself without a job (thanks mainly to a WWE like dispute with his fiancé at the time) and if the Browns had a mulligan they would probably take a look at Ed Reed who was drafted eight slots lower.
Even organizations are not entirely sure what they have, although they will try and sell fans a bill of goods.
Ask any team how they feel about a prospect be it a first-rounder or sixth-rounder and they will tell you nothing negative about the player; umm coach, he was drafted in the fifth round there has to be something wrong with him.
So to everyone who loved or hated your teams draft temper your expectations players need to grow into their roles, imagine if at your job you were judged on how well you would perform before you even got to the building. But at the end of the day it is all just an opinion after all.
