Hit the Road, Mel

Just a few quick thoughts on Mel Kiper's and everyone else's 2010 NFL Draft grades:

Who cares?

Those are my thoughts. That's it. Have a happy Wednesday.

What, you want grades from me? You're not gonna get them. I hate draft grades. So does Peter King, who has said, "It's like going to law school, passing the bar, and the next day someone says: You're going to be an 'A' lawyer. How in the world does anyone know who the 'A' lawyer is going to be until he or she has been out in the real world for a while?"

If you want, go back to 2007, where Oakland and Cleveland were praised for drafting JaMarcus Russell and Brady Quinn, respectively. Or maybe how in the same draft, the Giants were criticized for not picking up any impact players. Then, ten months later, many of those same players were key to their Super Bowl XLII victory. The truth is, until these guys play in the NFL, we have no way of knowing how good they're actually going to be. We have guesses, sure -- but that's it. It still astounds me that people like Mel Kiper have basically made a career around making educated guesses -- guesses that are sometimes very wrong. Just read this. Or this. It just seems to me that we should wait a while before declaring how well or poorly a team drafted.

For some perspective, consider this: in 2001, the big draft debate was whether the Chargers should take Michael Vick first overall, or if they should trade down. They ended up trading the pick to Atlanta, taking LaDanian Tomlinson with Atlanta's first round pick, and then taking Drew Brees in the second round. At the time, the debate was if it was better to have Vick, or to have Tomlinson AND Brees. Even five years later, the jury was still out (see Peter King's article above). Now, I don't think there's any debate. Dogfighting joke.

But the wild guessing doesn't stop at Mel's post-draft grades. Mel's already published his preliminary 2011 mock draft. In the past year, we've seen Sam Bradford start at the top of draft boards, get injured, supposedly fall out of the first round, and then come back to get drafted first overall. I'm fine with mock drafts starting after the college football season ends, but until then, I don't care. Take a vacation, Mel. I'm begging you. Come back in January. I'll be happy to see you then.

When I tune into ESPN, I want to see actual highlights -- I'd even take NBA highlights. Just give me something other than Mel Kiper talking about who might be drafted in the top five 360 days from now. And just so all of you know: yes, I'm writing this out of sheer spite. When I turn on the TV at the gym, I've recently been forced to choose between Mel Kiper's greasy head on College Gameday or the daytime edition of Deal or No Deal. Please, ESPN -- give me my highlights back. I don't think that's too much to ask.