The NFL Draft

How relevant is the NFL Draft to the coming season of American Football? In my opinion (and in the opinion of my friend and NFL expert The Natural) not very.

Teams who have good drafts and bring in the next big things are often too short for the coming season because of it. Let’s face it, apart from the real superstars, many of these guys will be lucky to see much game time in their first few years at the franchise.

The likes of Andrew Luck and RG3 will surely be thrown in at the deep end, but they are not going to turn losing teams into winning ones.

The market seems to have teams like Indianapolis (as low as 50/1 with a firm) and Washington (also as low as 50/1) far too short for my liking. These two teams should be more like 500/1 in my honest opinion. If the bookmakers gave me a two-way price on these teams I’d be against them with everything I have!

The best way to look at the draft is to look back 2 or 3 years ago and find the teams who have had good picks back then. These are the teams to be with this term. The players are well-coached and know their role at the clubs, and they are worth ten times that of a new-comer in this years draft.

Teams like Detroit (25/1 widely available) and Kansas (bit of 66/1 available) are the teams I’ll be eyeing up with their draft prospects from the last few years ready to make the difference now.

Skipper’s Betting Thoughts

Don’t buy into the hype of this year’s draft prospects. At the end of the day, how many “can’t miss” prospects have we seen come and go? Look to the steady-Eddie teams with players who are now ready to make the step up to the big league and make a difference for their franchises.