The NFL Draft used to be one of those things where my interest was always insatiable. From January to April, no matter how many mock drafts I read, I always wanted more, wanting to know about everyone’s opinion on every player.
Each draft carried the promise of fixing every losing team while adding the final piece to the championship puzzle to the playoff-caliber franchises. Every player has the potential to change a team’s fortunes and carries the ability to reach his untapped ability if he was drafted to the right team.
That’s the overwhelming appeal of the draft to most fans. Hope springs eternal for every franchise in April.
Unfortunately, with the increased attention and importance centered on the draft, it has become the place where a misplaced first-round pick can affect a team for years to come.
And now doubt is cast with each pick once every player is dissected with all of his negative attributes.
Each year first-round picks see increased contracts and teams are always pressured to make a selection that will pay huge dividends for the franchise from every standpoint: marketing, public relations, team leadership, and of course, his impact on the field. That’s why each first-round selection has to be viewed with an inordinate amount of scrutiny, lest the team waste $32 million – the approximate amount the Oakland Raiders’ No. 1-overall pick JaMarcus Russell signed for in guaranteed money in the 2007 draft.
Russell, though, waited out until September, after the Raiders began the season, to receive that kind of pay day. His contract earned him substantially more than the previous year’s No. 1 pick Mario Williams, who signed for $26.5 million in guaranteed money over his six-year, $54 million deal.
As athletes and their agents continue to demand more money, the wrong pick can cripple a team from a financial standpoint and that’s why scouts, coaches and managers will look for any excuse to go with the safer option. No one wants to spend that kind of money in the first round if the player isn’t going to earn it.
Which is too bad for Jonathan Stewart because for those of us that have watched him throughout his Oregon career know he’s the real deal. If he manages to slip into the second round like some “media experts” predict him to do, the hypocrisy of the draft will be realized by Oregon fans.
Stewart may be one of the most physically talented players in the country and would pay immediate dividends to a team in need of a running back. He ran a 4.4 40-yard dash on his injured toe and then elected to have surgery to repair the damage to ensure that he’d be healthy in time for training camps.
But that surgery sent a red flag through the minds of many NFL personnel. They’re not willing to invest so much in something that’s potentially damaged goods.
While I have to believe that NFL teams will look beyond Stewart’s surgery and make him a first-round selection, the conservative approach many teams take may cost Stewart a lot of money, though he ultimately did the right thing by proving he can perform while hampered with a lingering injury.
Unfortunately, teams are required to invest too much in someone that typically can’t live up to the dollars attached to them. But whoever picks Stewart next Saturday is going to look smart by the time Stewart starts blowing up defenders – though many of us knew it an easy decision all along.
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