Fans of the teams that quickly have congregated at the back of the pack are taking solace in the possibility of nailing down the first overall pick in the draft — and thus securing the rights to the next can’t-miss quarterback prospect, Andrew Luck.
For now, it’s too early for anyone to even entertain the prospect of intentionally losing. Come November, maybe an owner or two whose team is out of the playoff hunt will decide to position his team to contend for the playoffs every year of the next decade, or beyond.
Making Luck more attractive is the rookie wage scale, which allows the team that “earns” that first pick to get him for a lot less than what teams have had to pay in recent years for the first overall pick.
So look for plenty of eventual suspicion and speculation that teams like the Dolphins or Colts or Seahawks are sucking for Luck. And if there’s enough suspicion and speculation, the only answer will be to implement a draft lottery.
As explained in today’s PFT Live, I’m prepared to predict that we’ll see a draft lottery in 2013.
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