We asked the question on Tuesday, and a pair of unnamed league sources (via Albert Breer of NFL Network) answered it on Wednesday.
Is former Baylor receiver Josh Gordon being overhyped?
Breer says that an unnamed executive and an unnamed scout used the same word to describe Gordon: “Overhyped.” They also said he would have gone somewhere between round five and round seven in the April draft, if he’d been part of the process then.
Of course, part of the process now is the same as part of the process then. Teams that want to see someone burn a higher pick than they should will talk a guy up. Teams that want to see the guy still there at the round where they may try to get him will say things like, “He’s overhyped.”
The wild-card for many teams is the owner. If he becomes smitten with a player, he may apply pressure to the front office to make a move prematurely.
And so no one ever tells the whole truth about the draft. Actually, there’s an even greater incentive to misdirect competitors in the supplemental draft, since it removes a pick from the process for the following April, pushing the pool of available players another step closer to the awaiting arms of the other 31 teams.