Monday, March 28, 2011

Lockout steals excitement from NFL Draft


It’s difficult to get excited about the NFL Draft when you don’t know when the season is going to start.  I can’t get pumped up to think about who is going to get drafted with the Number 1 overall pick when training camp is not scheduled.  It is really anticlimactic for a young guy to make his dream a reality and not be able to talk to his new coaches and formally practice with his new teammates.

In some ways, it’s also premature.  The current impasse between the players and the teams about labor issues prohibits free agency and trading.  If not for the lockout, teams would be filling some of their gaps with veteran players and strategizing draft picks.  No one knows what the landscape of a team will be when the labor issues are resolved.  If the season doesn’t start until half way through the regular season, surely a rookie will not play.

For these reasons, I’m not excited to watch the upcoming draft.  Who cares if Cam Newton or Blaine Gabbert is drafted first if we don’t get to see them play this fall?  Why bother watching them put on a hat when we may not even see them at training camp?  For the players, shaking Goodell’s hand and then starting their careers striking against him isn’t exactly a path to primetime.

Good thing for college football.  They may have a crazy way to determine their champion, but at least we know they are going to play this fall.

Ciao!
 Heels & Helmets®

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