Four weeks from today, the 2019 NFL Draft will be wrapping up.
If it was up to Ravens coach John Harbaugh, none of us would have to wait that long.
Via Ben Volin of the Boston Globe, Harbaugh said if he could change anything about the pre-draft process, he would make it significantly shorter.
“I think the draft should be earlier, sooner,” Harbaugh said. “We don’t need to be so involved where we need three months to watch the players ourselves. Let’s draft these guys, let’s get them to us.
“And let’s be honest, they’re all coming. Nobody’s taking their last semester of school. You want to get in the real world here? Let’s understand that that’s how it works. Because they end up graduating a high percentage of the time we get them, anyway, because we make sure they do. Let’s help them, but let’s not have them worried about running 40 times. Let’s get them working on football so they can contribute their first couple of years.”
(At least we’re no longer pretending that drafted players from schools on the quarter system are still going to class so they can’t attend OTAs.)
Coaches have been complaining about the amount of time they get with players in the offseasons, and if more people saw it Harbaugh’s way, the rookie class would at least be on the same schedule as their veteran teammates. Teams with new head coaches can begin their offseason programs Monday, the rest can start April 15. That means some of the draft picks will be a month behind getting ready for the job, so we can spend another month wondering where they’ll punch the clock.