Anyone who has spent a little time in this corner of the Internet knows that I’ve developed over time some strong feelings about the draft.
As explained in Playmakers (you know, the book I used to try to get you to buy for $18.69 before trying to get you to buy Father of Mine for only $4.99), I don’t like the draft. Specifically, I don’t like that the incoming players don’t get to choose where they begin their NFL careers.
It’s anti-competitive. It’s anti-American. And it’s definitely the exact opposite of the process of choosing a college football team, where the players make the selection.
So when speaking today to presumed No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young (thanks to the folks at Courtyard by Marriott), who initially chose USC before changing his mind and choosing Alabama, I asked him whether he’d like to be making the choice this time around, too.
“It definitely is a very different experience from recruiting,” Young said, with a laugh that I’ll describe as knowing. “The power dynamics definitely shift. But I think there’s some simplicity in that, in letting God kind of guide that decision. It’s out of my hands. I don’t know who’s going to pick me. You never get to understand that. And it’s cool to try to be in control and you get to experience that when you’re choosing college. But I think there’s beauty in sitting back and focusing on what I can control and the major, big-picture stuff, that being out of my hands. Wherever I end up, I feel like it’ll be where God wants me to be, so I’m grateful for that.”
It’s always interesting to see how players come to terms with the fact that they suddenly have no power over their own lives. So they have to submit to the way things are, to concede all the power to someone else. And, to the extent that the coping mechanism consists of attributing the final selection to divine will, to hope that God doesn’t have a sick, twisted sense of humor.
Another chapter in Playmakers focuses on the fact that not early enough top prospects push back against the imbalance of power that has been baked into the process with mantras like “it’s an honor and a privilege.” Maybe that will change as more players have millions in NIL money in the bank. Until then, almost every incoming player who grew up dreaming of being part of the ultimate reality show’s Harry Potter sorting-hat ceremony will simply accept their fate as happily as they can.