Anybody Mocked to Death on NFL Draft?

In an unusual time without anybody playing games, anything NFL including mock drafts become that much more important for fans needing something to stay connected.

INDIANAPOLIS — Perhaps it’s because there aren’t any sports being played right now, we search for anything with a tangible connection to what we care about.

That’s the NFL draft, where football fans ease the absence of no football in the offseason by getting overly excited about the annual selection process. It’s three days to be enthralled about what’s to come. Optimism usually abounds.

As a result, our continual search for anything remotely real applies to mock drafts, even more so in our coronavirus-confined, stay-at-home, social-distancing state. Media highly regarded for college football talent evaluation and thus are deemed experts try to read the minds of NFL general managers in regards to what happens next.

As much as it might pain some to admit it, reporters extend themselves with their best-educated guesses on a team’s choices. And it’s kind of ironic, considering how poorly some teams draft, their decisions are often bad guesses. How many times have we asked over the years, “How could that team get it so wrong on this player?”

Nobody is perfect and some stray farther from accuracy than others, which should be the golden rule when assessing the value of mock drafts.

But, alas, this isn’t a condemnation of mock drafts. While it sounds like a bit of an epiphany, mocks have their place in our sports society because they provide insight on how players are being valued and ranked as pro prospects the media. It’s easier to gauge who might or might not be chosen, based on where he’s rated and projected to be selected in the draft.

That’s why AllColts.com will post its first NFL mock draft on Friday. Yeah, stop the presses. But the site will offer its best-educated guesses on the Indianapolis Colts’ seven picks, starting with the second round at No. 34 (from Washington) and No. 44 overall.

If nothing else, entering the mock melee means contributing to the multitude of opinions out there. It’s this site’s chance to give Colts fans some more proverbial food for thought.

Another rule to remember is that the farther into the mock a media member goes, the less likely to be on the mark about the guess. Bottom line, media are reminded repeatedly that these NFL guys do this for a living, teams have a staff of scouts with differing opinions to try to reach the most logical conclusions.

In the case of the AllColts.com NFL mock draft, it’s one person who has been reading anything and everything for months. That doesn’t qualify said mock draft provider as an expert, but do enough studying and the selection suggestions can make sense. At the very least, there's some justification.

Then the Colts will do something entirely different, like trade down or fill a position few expected. Again, this is their life. And ours is to keep tabs on what they do and try to be as knowledgable as possible.

In addition to the pair of second-round picks, the Colts have selections at No. 75 in the third round, No. 122 in the fourth round, No. 160 in the fifth round, and Nos. 193 and 197 (from Miami) in the sixth round.

The popular debate for the Colts at No. 34 is whether to draft a quarterback for the future or address a thin wide receiver group. For the record, AllColts.com has continually advocated that the Colts need to go wide receiver first. Part of that is based on need, the other because these second-tier quarterbacks have enough flaws to doubt whether they should be chosen this soon.

No spoiler alerts here, by the way. If you want to know which wide receiver AllColts.com thinks the Colts should select, check back on Friday.