Mock drafts can be fun and informative. They are easy, smart tools for creating discussions about players, connecting fits with teams, and can help readers familiarize themselves with a player’s perceived value.
But it may be time to shut down the 2020 mock draft season.
Mock drafts have been churned out for months now and trying to keep them fresh can be a daunting task, but we have officially reached the point in the offseason where they’re getting out of hand.
In CBS Sports HQ’s Mock Draft 4.0, a double-digit panel of analysts put on an interactive draft, and in their attempts to stay relevant and edgy, they made a series of trades involving NFL players that made Miss Cleo look like Stephen Hawking.
The mock draft opens with the Cincinnati Bengals trading with the Miami Dolphins for the No. 1 overall pick and selecting Joe Burrow (QB, LSU). Ok, that’s plausible, as is Washington staying at pick No. 2 and taking Chase Young (OSU, EDGE), but then things quickly fall off the rails.
The Lions decide to trade out of pick No. 3 … with the Arizona Cardinals?
The Cardinals are not a team commonly mocked as a trade partner with the Lions but anything is possible, right? The Lions should consider every trade possibility in order to secure the future of the franchise by landing a player who can help this team for the foreseeable future. So, what did they get in return?
Chandler Jones, straight up.
Yes, the same Chandler Jones who is now 30-years-old, dealing with a thumb injury that required offseason surgery, is carrying a $20 million cap hit over the next two seasons and was traded by the New England Patriots four years ago for pick No. 61 overall.
Sigh.
Why didn’t the Cardinals trade corner Patrick Peterson to the Lions you ask? Well, they did trade him — to the Vikings for pick No. 25 overall. But that wasn’t the Vikings only player involved trade; they also acquired wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. from the Browns for pick No. 22 overall.
When is the last time we saw three players traded during the first round of any draft? How about three players traded in the first 100-picks of a draft? In fact, only three players total have been traded for a top-100 pick during an NFL draft in the last seven drafts — and none in the first round.
I’m all for being creative and finding new ways to keep things fresh for readers but what are we doing here?
The NFL Draft is just over a week away, and there is still plenty of information to be gathered on players and teams, but we in the media need to be better with the type of information we distribute instead of just trying to jump the shark.