Everyone has a mock draft. And everyone has draft grades. Both are meaningless. Draft grades are even more meaningless. (If it’s even possible to have less meaning than meaningless.)
It’s the annual last shot of the Roman candle from the draft-expert industry. Those who think they know where players will be drafted then tell us all who did a good job and a bad job in the draft, without acknowledging the reality that we don’t know, and we won’t know, how any of these players adjust to the next level.
That’s why the 2014 PFT draft grades are the same as the 2013 PFT draft grades. Which were the same as the 2012 PFT draft grades. And they’ll be the same as the 2015 PFT draft grades.
Incomplete.
More and more members of the media seem to be catching on to the idea that it’s ludicrous to try to grade draft classes before the players have ever even participated in an NFL practice. The idiocy was exemplified two years ago, when many of the draft experts killed the Seahawks for a draft that yielded Bruce Irvin in round one, Bobby Wagner in round two, and franchise-quarterback Russell Wilson in round three.
To his credit, ESPN’s Mel Kiper later upgraded Seattle from a C-minus to an A, after it became obvious that John Schneider and company knew what they were doing. But that development should have been a message to Kiper and McShay and everyone else who tries to dish out draft grades that it’s as much of a crapshoot as the draft itself.
Many of you will say, “They’re just doing their job.” But it’s their job because there’s still a demand for it. Which happens because the audience still wants draft grades, no matter how much less meaningful than meaningless they are.
So maybe the audience needs to ask itself why the audience still cares about draft grades. While the offseason is the time for manufacturing semi-plausible hope among every NFL fan base, it’s now obvious that nothing of any value flows from draft grades issued immediately after a draft ends.