The NFL Draft symbolizes what the league is these days: a full-fledged hype-machine.
People cannot get enough information these days as it seems each rookie’s favorite cereal is revealed prior to the combine. It’s been circulating that the Denver Broncos pass up anyone who enjoys Lucky Charms. For this reason, Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly feels the draft is the worst thing about the league.
It is the hype and all of the media-hysteria that bothers Kelly.
"What's the worst thing about the league? I said the draft," Kelly said. "I mean, the hype that goes into the draft is insane. Totally insane. The biggest thing for me is that everybody thinks whoever you drafted or whoever you signed is now gonna be a savior,” according to MMQB.SI.com.
"I think a lot of times the hype turns into really, really hard times for the individual who got picked, because there's so many expectations of everyone building them up to be Superman because they had three months to write about them and talk about them. Then when they get picked, they're a very, very good prospect, but there's a learning curve when you go from any job out of college into a company. If you take a job at Wells Fargo when you get out of college, your first day of the job they don't say, ‘He's our first-round draft pick, he's the savior to the company!'"
So, Chip, please tell us what you really think.
Kelly is entering his second-season as Eagles head coach, where his rookie year was easily categorized as a raging success. They finished with a 10-6 record as NFC East Champions.
Kelly’s up-tempo offense has already begun the “mimicking stage” as other teams will pick apart and try to emulate it. Eagles QB Nick Foles is one of the major reasons why, as he showed up out of nowhere to post the league’s top TD-INT ratio in 2013 (27-2), according to Pro Football Reference.
While Kelly’s analysis about the draft is known, it will not stop him from trying to employ some of his rookies into action this season. First round pick LB Marcus Smith out of Louisville will especially be looked upon to boost a porous Philadelphia defense from last season, which ranked 29th in the league in yards against.