The NFL Draft: Equal Parts Hype, Hope, and Help

As the latest NFL Draft dust is settling and seems to be moving closer to becoming a Prime Time event, I find it interesting to look a little deeper and see what draws such close scrutiny and volatile response from both the fans and the media.

Hype is probably the easiest of the three H's to define.  Everyone, from those in the Team Front Office to the fans' back office water coolers has the ability to predict and define what happens before during and (soon) after the latest draft.

Every player, selection, trade, rumor and action is met with the intensity of the planning of the D-Day invasion and like D-Day, probably few other events in sports leaves as many bodies strewn all over the floor at the end.

The future of each team is defined by who they take in the first three or four rounds.  Any mistakes and your team is automatically eliminated from competing in next year's season.

The Mel Kipers of this world have made a very good living off of this Hype and I don't see it changing any time soon.

Hope follows closely behind and indeed shares much of Hype's agonies and ecstasies.  It never ceases to amaze me to see how much Hope is put into each team's selections.  While the teams on the top are "just reloading", those in the gutter are "One (or 2 or 3 or x or y) picks away" from the giant Lombardi paperweight.

But at the beginning of each season, we are all 0-0, and have the same chance to win the cut glass at the end (well, maybe that last statement is an example of "Too much Hope" for a few teams in the NFL). 

But Hope does spring eternal in the Spring as well as through the last full-priced ticket pre-season scrimmage.

Help is what, ultimately, is the end game in the Draft.  Assessing  where your team's weaknesses are, which players can meet those needs and/or complement your current roster's strengths, whether it is next year or three years down the road will define where your team falls on the Help curve. 

This takes true skill, focus, planning, sticking to the plan and hard work to pay off in the end.  Usually traits we fans feel we and OUR team has in abundance, compared to the rest of the League.

After all, Hope and Hype only last as long as the beginning of the next season but real Help will be measured in the W-L column (and the longevity of the Head Coach and Director of Player Personnel) long after Hype and Hope have been put away ..... til next year's draft.

Just one NFL fan's opinion.