We watched the NFL draft, we saw who got picked and ultimately signed. So now what should we watch for? There are many things that can happen after your team picks the player they think will be the best fit. Let’s take a look at some of the things to look out for.
2019 NFL Draft Is Over, What’s Next?
Is He a Good Fit?
Obviously, if you are a player picked in the NFL draft, you have skill. However, can you fit onto the team you were picked by? Each team has their own coaching style, its own rules, and its own overall feel. Not every player can mold to every team. Some players need a strong almost militaristic coach to keep an eye on them. Others don’t respond well to tough coaching and need a lighter hand. These are problems that are identified as practice commences and everyone learns to know each other. However, that is a bad time to find out the player you just used your highest pick on isn’t going to work on the team.
What Happens When it Doesn’t Go As Planned?
In the NFL draft, quarterback Dwayne Haskins was ranked as one of the highest prospects. There was a very good feeling that not only would he go very quickly. But the New York Giants were the ones that seemed to be the landing spot for him. It surprised many when their time on the clock came and instead they choose Daniel Jones. At first, his facial expression seemed to say, “okay, that’s the way it is.” But it soon lit a fire under him and he is now more motivated than ever since he is now on the rival Washington Redskins.
When you are looking forward to doing something for a year or more, and when the opportunity finally comes and it doesn’t work out, it’s disappointing. You put your heart into it and then you put it out there for all to see. And then, no one looks, no one picks it up and no one seems to care what you did. It can do one of two things; make you not really want to put the effort into your work anymore, or it can make you look for another team to join and show the ones who passed you up what they have missed out on. That seems to be the path Haskins is taking and the 2019 season should provide us with some interesting viewing as this saga unfolds.
Egos vs Talent
If the latter half of the 2018 season, as well as the offseason, taught us anything, it is that egos in the NFL can be a destructive force in any locker room. The saga of Antonio Brown is a blot on the Pittsburgh Steelers that their fans are quite done with. But it does showcase what happens when many talented men end up on the same team. Sometimes egos get out of control but of course, some of it can be jealousy. That of the new younger talent coming in and possibly stealing the spotlight away from the veterans.
In this type of environment, the best players are the veterans who help the less experienced get used to the rigors of the NFL. Anyone talented enough to get picked in the NFL draft obviously has the skill, but there is a reason there’s the saying “this is NFL football”. It is tough, it is more difficult and not every talented draft pick can make the transition.
Last Word
Now that the NFL draft is here and gone, it is another milestone towards the all-important kickoff of a new season. For fans, this is a horribly long wait, for players and coaches it is a tight schedule. There are many things that need working out, many plays to create and learn and new players to welcome and integrate into the team. 18 Sundays left, here we go.
