NFL Draft 2007. headaches and all

While many football fans spent Saturday and Sunday in front of their televisions watching the NFL draft, I spent both days working on a project for a mass communications class. It’s a good thing, too; the draft reviews on ESPN gave me a big enough headache.

I’ve never understood why the NFL draft takes as long as it does. The first round seemingly takes a whole day. Fifteen minutes for a pick just seems ludicrous. One would think after an entire off-season of scouting, pro days at college campuses, the NFL combine and hundreds of private workouts that teams don’t really need all 15 minutes to make what appear to be obvious picks. Nonetheless, the Carolina Panthers managed to use all 15 minutes before picking University of Miami linebacker Jon Beason at No. 25. Beason fills Carolina’s void at linebacker.

Getting past the complaints of how long the draft takes, perhaps the most frustrating part of the draft is watching the team you cheer for make what appear to be the dumbest decisions possible. The Detroit Lions managed to take Calvin Johnson, who was easily the best player available, but adds yet another wide receiver to the Lions’ roster. While Johnson is sure to make an impact, it is my opinion it would have been in Detroit’s best interests to trade down and get an offensive lineman or a quarterback to fill its true needs.

The team I follow closest, the Miami Dolphins, overlooked its biggest need in the first round, a quarterback, to take a player as a favor to his father. Don’t get me wrong, Ted Ginn Jr., Ohio State’s kick return specialist/playmaker is a great player, but the Dolphins needed a quarterback. Notre Dame hot shot Brady Quinn was available at Miami’s slot, but head coach Cam Cameron overlooked him because of his relationship with Ted Ginn Sr. Miami went on to pick up a quarterback in the second round, but passing up a player who was a candidate for the Heisman Trophy is inexcusable.

At the end of the day, as angry as the draft made me, I found myself constantly checking updates. As I said before, I couldn’t watch on television because of school work, but the decisions by the Miami Dolphins constantly crossed my mind. No matter how confusing and depressing the annual April event makes me and the thousands of people like me, we still tune in to laugh, cry and fume. Anyone have some Advil?