In hindsight, the footage is laughable.
In the wake of the Seahawks’ Super Bowl victory, fans have dug up many clips of experts bashing Seattle’s recent draft choices.
They play like a gag reel.
On ESPN, there was Trent Dilfer bemoaning the “travesty” of passing on Andy Dalton in the 2011 draft. That’s when Seattle picked K.J. Wright, Byron Maxwell and Richard Sherman, who Mel Kiper called “an average fifth round pick” in the same discussion.
Then there’s Bleacher Report’s “F” grade of Seattle’s 2012 draft class, which included Russell Wilson, Bobby Wagner, Bruce Irvin and Jermaine Kearse.
Go ahead, get riled up over these howlers. Just remember that they are part of football’s silly season, which continues with the NFL Scouting Combine this weekend.
Before the combine, there was NCAA signing day. Later are college spring games and the NFL Draft.
So unquenchable is the country’s appetite for football, it has become a year-round topic. The analysis, mock grades and projections are like fast food for the football glutton. They should be taken with more grains of salt than a large order of fries.
Nobody truly knows which players will blossom and which will flame out. Statistics, physical measurements and highlights don’t take work ethic, maturity and luck into account.
If NCAA titles were won on signing day, Texas, USC and Florida would have dominated this college football season. At least that’s what the recruiting grades said when the 2013 senior class signed letters of intent. Those teams finished a combined 22-17.
The Seahawks showed that undervalued players can thrive when put in the right environment.
The internet, sports TV channels and radio preside over a 24-hour water-cooler conversation. They have a bottomless news hole. The conjecture that comes with football drafts and combines is great filler.
So join the conversation if you like. Speculate, analyze, opine.
Just try not to spit out your drink laughing when you look back two years from now.
