The 24-hour news cycle is an insatiable beast. Thus, springtime brings about one of the most pointless exercises in sports journalism: the post-NFL draft grading process.
It’s understandable why we in sports journalism continue to churn out the immediate reviews. The NFL’s desire to rule every month on the calendar creates a fanbase that thrives on instant gratification. Prompt reviews of the draft do work when analyzing how needs were filled. But passing judgment on players who have yet to play a single NFL down is playing a dangerous game. With journalistic and technological advances (i.e. social media), the game has countless players.