This comes up every year at this time, and my opinion is the same as it’s always been.

That is, it is stupid and absolutely useless to grade the NFL Draft just after it has ended.

After all, do restaurant critics judge their meal before they have eaten it?

Do travel writers critique a hotel before they have stayed in it?

Do movie critics share their opinion on a film before they have watched it?

The answer in each case, of course, is no.

So, then, why should a football writer grade the draft when none of the players have even practiced yet?

There are no guarantees in pro football with players selected in the draft. There is no such thing as a can’t-miss prospect. They all can miss, from any point of the draft. And they can all make it, from any point of the draft. You just don’t know until they get out onto the field and practice and play for a while. And even then, it might take a year or two or three to really determine the worth of a draft class.

According to popular opinion, it seems like the Chicago Bears did pretty well in the draft. They got their franchise quarterback and a tremendous wide receiver, all in the first 11 picks. But what happens if those two players don’t pan out? Then the general manager will be passing out. He will lose his job. 

Depending on whom you talk to, the Atlanta Falcons either hit it out of the park or they screwed up royally when they drafted Michael Penix at quarterback, right after signing quartrrback Kirk Cousins to an unbelievably expensive contract. which one is their guy?

As for the Browns, it’s really immaterial who they picked over the weekend or during the last two drafts, when they have been hamstrung without a first-round choice because of the trade for quarterback Deshaun Watson. With that, then, the success of this draft and also the ones last year and in 2023 will really be determined, almost completely, on whether it was worth it to the Browns to give up three first-round choices for Watson. If it was worth it, then the last three drafts have been successes. And if it wasn’t, then the drafts were unbelievably bad, historically bad. And we don’t know about that yet,

Now, the results thus far aren’t very good, but we’re going to let this thing play out and see what happens.

Steve King