I really need to work hard to avoid football coverage. With the draft a week away every sports pundit is taking a shot at being the next Nostradamus. The difference here is that these pundits do it every year, try to say it loud enough that it actually happens, and when it doesn’t they chide the teams that don’t follow their lead. Afterwards, often years later, they do a redraft based on player success and that redraft is never like what they predicted. Yet they chide teams again for making the mistakes they made. So, I tune out.
I’m getting pretty good at tuning out. I live in a space with four boys who are largely self-centered and negative. This is worse when it comes to sports, so much so that I cannot watch basketball with them, as I’ve said before. However, when I do tune in to the sport itself and try to enjoy the game without distractions, I’m reminded of what I love about sports. I love the competition. I love the skill. I am less about the swag and celebrations, which is my chief disappointment in the new crop of 7 on 7 leagues. I’m afraid swag is becoming the point of the thing. Obviously you gotta win, but how you win seems to matter as much. Big flashy plays, deep passes, slick RPOs. It is this mindset that makes running backs next to worthless in today’s game. Case and point, a D-lineman can lock down a 4 year 90 million salary while an RB is lucky to break 12 per. All of this is to suggest that the league is moving further from the ground and more to the air. Heck, look at the premium being put on CBs to catch up with the WRs that have been going first round every year.
I don’t want to predict the draft. I’m past that. I do want to see what happens when the clock hits zero, and the teams have to decide how they want to move forward. I’m bout that action, and that action is on it’s way back to the field.