If Mel Kiper Jr. didn’t exist, we’d have to invent him. Just as NFL teams have a face, so does the NFL draft, and that face belongs to Kiper. So does the hair.
Kiper does one thing, and the draft is it. He’s not terribly accurate. But he’s exceptional at lending gravity to all 256 picks. If a team doesn’t take a player he believes it should, it’s their fault and not his, and he’s confident enough to defend his position. Nobody is as adept at being breathless.
The NFL draft receives more attention than any first-round NBA playoff series, and the NBA playoffs are one of our great sporting events.