Hyping the NFL Draft

Peter King:

I've long been of the belief that we kill too many trees writing about the draft. It's a fun exercise, but let's be honest: Of the 255 players picked last April, how many made a major impact? I'd say 10 to 15 (Odell Thurman, Darrent Williams, Cadillac Williams, Logan Mankins, Jammal Brown, Heath Miller, Lofa Tatupu, Leroy Hill, Shawne Merriman, Luis Castillo), and, if you want to get cute about it, maybe some combo platter of the young Cowboys (Demarcus Ware, Chris Canty, Marion Barber, Rob Petitti). Some more will turn into great players, but the thing I've always disliked about the draft is making definitive judgments about the kind of NFL players these 22-year-old guys will become.

Speak it! So much attention goes to the NFL draft, mainly because there's nothing actually interesting to write about other than the Favre soap opera, when draft day is the last time you will ever hear the vast majority of the names called. Most draftees won't even make it out of camp. Most of those that do actually make the roster will be backups, at least for a while. Chances are a guy nobody paid much attention to in the pre-draft hype will end up being the jewel of the draft and one or more of the guys being obsessed over will flame out quickly.