2010 NFL Draft Thoughts

Tim Tebow

It’s pretty obvious that the most surprising pick in this year’s NFL draft was Tim Tebow going 25th overall to the Denver Broncos. It seems that not many people like this pick because they do not see Tebow as a starting quarterback in the NFL. In my opinion, to understand this pick you have to understand that the Broncos already has Kyle Orton, last years starting QB, and newly acquired Brady Quinn. After the Tebow selection, Mel Kiper Jr. went on a rant saying that he doesn’t see Tebow as a good starter now nor in the long run, but maybe Denver didn’t pick Tebow to be a starting QB. Last year Denver was not shy about running the wildcat offense through their running back, Knowshon Moreno. What if the Broncos picked the former Gator to run the wildcat? In college he was a QB known for his threat 
to break out for a run, that is exactly what the wildcat gives Tebow the option of doing, the threat of throwing a deep pass or running through the use of deception. It seems like everyone is critical of this pick, but they are looking at it from the wrong angle.

The Phone Call Shot

From watching the draft this year, I have come up with two big problems that do not put the draft in a good light for me. The first is when the cameras show the player about to be drafted. Roger Goodell has not yet announced the pick, but the camera is on the player, who is always talking on the phone with the team on the clock. The player then begins to show emotion as it is clear that he is about to be drafted. When the commissioner finally announces the pick, there is no thrill in the pick as the premature showing of the player ruins the anticipation not just for the player, but more importantly for the fans, after all, the all drafts are televised for the fans’ sake. Since I talked about Tebow before, I’ll use him as an example here. Before the pick was announced, the camera showed Tebow, who wasn’t at the draft, talking on the phone. Suddenly you see a huge smile on his face and they even begin to pass out Broncos hats around the room. The pick hasn’t even been announced yet!! When Goodell finally gets around to saying who Denver selected, all the excitement is gone. The whole point is that when the commissioner says “With the 25th pick, the Denver Broncos select...” everyone is supposed to hold their breath, but when Tebow is shown beforehand, there is no thrill. There is a very simple solution to this, stop showing the players before they are drafted. Bring the enthusiasm back into the draft by not knowing who is picked until it is announced by the commissioner.

Guest Pick Announcers

The second problem is when anyone other then the commissioner announces the pick of a team. This is the first time I have seen this in any sport. The first one came when a boy from the “Make-A-Wish” Foundation announced the Steelers’ 1st round pick, how could I have a problem with this? This was the only incident of this kind that I accepted. However, the other times just made the draft look pathetic. When the Saints made the last pick in the 1st round, Saints QB and 2010 Super Bowl MVP Drew Brees walked up with Goodell to the podium. Before announcing the pick, he took some time to mention that he would be the cover athlete on Madden 11. In the later rounds, 2010 Hall of Fame inductees went up to announce their former team’s pick. Where should I start? Let’s start with the Brees pitch of the video game and how absolutely pathetic that was for him to squeeze that in. I wonder if the NFL knew that that was going to happen, if so, that shows a huge sign of desperation for the NFL. Let’s move on to the tackiness of the whole idea. It is the commissioner’s job to announce the picks. Does the NFL need the attention that badly that they are bringing in current and former NFL players to announce picks? To me, I can’t reiterate enough how tacky and pathetic I found it. The draft seemed to improve itself by moving to prime time this year, but they took some major steps back with the mistakes that I mentioned.

Shoutouts to: Garrett Graham, O’Brian Schofield, Jaevery McFadden, and Chris Maragos, former Wisconsin players who will do wonders for any teams that draft them.