NFL Draft Overkill

The NFL Draft kicks off tomorrow night, shifting to prime time and three days of live NFL draft coverage. I have not written much concerning the NFL Draft because, quite frankly, I am not all that interested in it, comparatively speaking. We have the start of Major League Baseball, the NHL and NBA playoffs in full gear, and yet people are obsessed over a bunch of players that have yet to play a game of professional football. It has to be the most overrated and over-covered aspect in all of professional sports. Everyone and their mother has a mock draft, Todd McShay and Mel Kiper Jr. are on TV more than Law ‘N Order reruns, and every Joe Schmo out there has their own opinion even though none of them matter except for the people who actually make the picks, and you will never get accurate information from them.

Don’t get me wrong; I understand that it is fun to read up on the different prospects, to argue about the potential future stars of your favorite NFL team, to explore different trade scenarios, and in the general sense to simply talk about football again. I read up on the draft, have my favorite mock draft experts, and of course have an opinion on what teams should or should not do. But the over-obsession with all things NFL Draft just completely blows my mind.

Hours and hours are spent speculating on the potential of 21 and 22 year old kids and what NFL teams will or will not do, when in actuality nobody has any idea. The best NFL general managers are wrong half the time, the most surefire prospects sometimes become busts, and there are several guys that are not even drafted every year that go on to be successful NFL players, sometimes even stars (Willie Parker anyone?). The only one who is always right is Mel Kiper, who talks so often and out of both sides of his mouth that he covers every possible outcome that may or may not happen, and he will be happy to remind you of the circumstance he said that ended up being right afterward.

At least the NFL Draft is usually the big story of the off-season, especially here in Pittsburgh where the Steelers are rarely active in the free agent market. That has certainly NOT been the case this year. Between Ben, Santonio, the return of Larry Foote and Antwaan Randle El, and the resigning of Jeff Reed and Casey Hampton, there has been plenty to talk about besides the NFL Draft. Yet, that does not stop half of the newspaper features, sports talk shows and radio callers to continue to harp on the NFL Draft and what the Steelers should or should not do.

Well…

Since the draft begins tomorrow night, I guess I have held out long enough. I will have my breakdown of what I think the Steelers should do, as well as my complete 1st Round mock draft, on the Blog for your enjoyment tomorrow morning. I hope you will enjoy reading it more than I have enjoyed the crazy amount of coverage that the draft gets everywhere else.