As April fastly approaches I grow more and more eager for this year’s NFL draft set to be held on April 26-28. Recently the NFL held the combine, which is  an event held so that the top college prospects may showcase their skills to NFL coaches, scouts, owners and etc.
As a true fan of the game I try to keep up with players that impress me or players that I will just be biased towards such as almost any player from the University of Miami. Now, anyone that knows me can tell you that I am a “die-hard” Miami fan win or lose. So it’s only logical that I would look to see them go to a good team. And if that particular player from Miami just so happens to land in the lap of my NFL team the Steelers (as again you can ask anyone that I am a “die-hard” Steeler fan) then I like to think I won twice.
Anyway, like any true football fan I have been counting down for the draft and I still catch myself watching over the combine to see who stood out to me. And let me go ahead and say that NO, this will not be all about the much-heralded quarterback prospect Andrew Luck. But, a “collegiate” player of his caliber will have to be named in this conversation.
Now, I will say that, yes, Luck looks very promising and, yes, he was one of the very best college quarterbacks. And most believe him to be the best prospect for the NFL in 10 years and some say the best ever. Though I do like Luck and think he can be a solid quarterback in the NFL I just don’t think you can decide he is the best without taking a snap in the NFL with the big boys.
Case and point, Ryan Leaf. Or I can throw a name out like Tony Mandrich proclaimed as the best lineman prospect of all time. Brian “Boz” Bosworth, Akili Smith or most recently JaMarcus Russell.
You can’t look at a player and assume he will be great in the NFL just because he was great in college. And some players that you think might not make it will prove you other wise. Possibly the biggest steal in NFL history would have to be sixth-round pick Tom Brady.
Or players that were never drafted like  NFL Hall Of Famers Lou Groza, Marion Motley, Dick “Night Train” Lane, John Randle and Warren Moon. Each player went undrafted and is currently enshrined in Canton.
Ok, so you say that was a different time and era, ok then. How about current or recent players in the NFL, like Kurt Warner, Adam Vinatieri (4x Super Bowl champion), Wes Welker, Antonio Gates, Arian Foster, London Fletcher and James Harrison?
What I’m trying to say is you never know for sure. In this league you can be a bust, or you can be a diamond in the rough. But it’s never a sure-fire pick for teams in the draft. Or with any other player for that matter. The same logic applies for all sports. Maybe someday I will understand why a team from any sport will fork out millions upon millions on a kid who has made a name for himself in college. These kids are making all of these millions plus their signing bonus before they even take a snap in the sport they have been ever so blessed to perform.
In 2010 the NFL and the NFLPA agreed on a rookie cap where each team could not have a rookie exceed a particular amount in his rookie deal. I though it was a fraction of what they should have done but I’m just a sports writer and not a professional athlete so I won’t argue.
Though I see no reason to pay a player millions for showing me nothing in the NFL I will have to give them credit. A lot of the times they are the best players from college. But let’s not jump the gun and give them the team.
So again as I wait for draft day I will be at home or in my office to analyze my own data that I look at or I will pull up film from the NFL and see what they think.
But what I will do is keep my own opinion on who I think is an NFL capable player and who I think will fall short and be a bust. All I can do is hope that some of my Miami Hurricanes can make it to the NFL. And hopefully play for  the Steelers.
Because I am a true fan and I don’t need a bunch  number-crunching, high-paid network employees to tell me that this person will succeed or this person will fail. I will let fate decide that factor and until then I will just have watch the draft  then check them out in the pros.