Sayre Bedinger

Friday May 15th, 2015

Every year, I think to myself how could the draft possibly have already been here and gone? while simultaneously feeling like man, I can’t believe it’s going to be a whole year until we get to go through the draft experience again!

I’ve been covering the draft for NFL Mocks since 2011, and I remember that draft well. After all, it was the year the NFL was in a ‘lockout’ period and I was particularly interested in the draft at that point in time because the Denver Broncos — my team — were one of the worst teams in the league and had narrowly missed out on getting the number one pick.

The Broncos ended up making some big splashes that offseason, hiring John Elway as the man to make all football decisions, hiring John Fox as the head coach, and drafting Von Miller to change the face of the franchise.

Some guy named J.J. Watt was part of that draft as well.

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve loved the NFL Draft. Just ask my wife, who missed out on high school prom (twice) because some fools scheduled it on the same weekend as the NFL Draft.

This is more than just a profession or a hobby — it’s a passion, and it’s something I’m proud to be able to do.

That said, back to my original point of how is it possible another draft has come and gone?

This year’s draft, while lacking superstar power like that of Andrew Luck (spoiled, aren’t we?) was chock full of depth as a whole, and I was really excited about the class overall. There are obviously teams that you feel are winners and losers every year, but as each pick scrolled along the tracker on ESPN or NFL Network, whichever coverage you prefer, there wasn’t really a team in the league that I felt like, man, this team is having a bad draft.

Maybe that seems like a copout for some real evaluation and analysis, but for me, it’s the truth. It’s how I evaluate. I know when and how to be critical, but I’m not going to sit behind a computer screen and say a team made a horrible pick when that guy could turn out to be a Pro Bowl player.

Sometimes, as Rolando McClain (sorry dude) has proven to us, the surest thing in the draft can turn out to be the most disappointing. The draft is full of hypotheticals, which is why people read this site — you just don’t know, and we as NFL fans love the unknown. We love to wonder what if this? or what if that?

I like to find the positive in every player selected. I like to think as though I’m GM of the team that drafted him, and figure out how he fits, why he fits, and what type of implications this has on other players. How does this pick affect future free agency? How does it affect players around them now?

For that reason, I made it very clear in my post-draft evaluations that I didn’t think there was a bad pick made. You can’t say that until four, five years down the road. Teams don’t know what they’re going to get. They might get more production out of a fifth round pick than a first round pick.

The draft is such a crapshoot, so why would I waste my time trying to find the damning faults every player has, rather than being able to find out what he does best, what he has to work with, and how he can succeed at the next level?

Every guy has a shot. Just look at Tony Romo and Arian Foster, who were both written off in their respective draft classes.

As we begin a new chapter at NFL Mocks, I hope you enjoy what you see. I hope you connect with our (second to none) team of writers. I hope you see the passion that we have for the game, for the draft, and for keeping the integrity of sports journalism while also having a great time interacting with you.

Our plan, since I’ve been around, has always been to provide you with the best NFL Draft content on the web. That will never change, but NFL Mocks has so much more to offer with the ‘hypothetical’ scenarios we all love about the NFL, what could or might happen. We want to bring you the best possible football coverage all in one place.

– Sayre