Draft Day

I don’t watch the draft.  I think it’s some of the worst TV programming ever.  The fact that the NFL can convince people to watch 15 minutes of action crammed into 4 hours or more of a television program is a genuine testament to the league’s ability to draw viewers or a testament to American’s willingness to watch ANYTHING on television (also see American Idol, Wife Swap, Desperate Housewives, and Will and Grace).

 

I think I said a few months back that picking a Heisman winner in the draft rarely, if ever, makes you a Superbowl team—even after a few years in the league a team rarely grows up around the trophy-boy into a bona-fide champion.  Several factors go into that phenomenon—Heisman winners usually go in the top 3 slots, good organizations win Superbowls, good organizations rarely pick in the top 3; the primadonna athlete syndrome; 1 player rarely makes a football team great (even Super Joe had Super Jerry).  So with that said, way back in January I suggested in conversations that the Texans should either pick someone else or trade the pick for a handful of other guys.  They chose to pick someone else.  I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad personnel decision, but it very likely was a bad financial decision—they’re paying #1 money to a #3 or #4 guy AND they’re not getting the Saints, Titans, or Jets first round pick next year (bad organizations like to trade next year’s first pick for this year’s first pick because they think they won’t be picking at the top of the first round next year—they’re usually wrong).

So, I guess after all is said and done, I give the Texans ½ credit for their handling of their #1 pick.  I’m sure it’s the guy they wanted (they had the whole damn field of draftees to choose from) and hopefully it’ll work out for them.  However, they could have gotten more. 

Bottom line is that if you’re going to be a SuperBowl contender you have to draft like a SuperBowl contender.  If you want to be the Saints and the Jets, you draft like the Saints and the Jets.  This year the Texans were half Saints, half SuperBowl contender.