NFL Draft Preview

The NFL draft begins a three-day run in Nashville, Tennessee, on Thursday night. You can’t miss it even if you try.

The draft – the first round is Thursday night at 8 p.m. ET – will cause your Twitter feed to explode. Facebook pages will blow up with fan reactions. And the draft can be seen on ABC, ESPN, ESPN Deportes and NFL Network. There’s also radio coverage. That’s wall-to-wall commentary on the young hulks who may or may not succeed in the NFL and the teams that gamble on them.

The Arizona Cardinals hold the first overall choice and are seen as likely to select Kyler Murray, the quarterback from the University of Oklahoma. Murray won the Heisman Trophy winner. But they might not.

For one, they used a No. 1 pick on a quarterback (Josh Rosen) last year. Unless there is a trade market for Rosen (or that top pick), a very bad team will have invested heavily in one position in successive years. Second, while Murray was extremely productive for the Sooners, he’s of a slight build (5-foot-10, about 205 pounds), which raises the question of durability not only for one season but a career.

Rosen could wind up elsewhere. The New York Giants need a successor to Eli Manning and the Washington Redskins need, well, just about anyone who can play. Among the other QBs to watch are Ohio State’s Dwayne Haskins, Missouri’s Drew Lock and Duke’s Daniel Jones.

Rounds two and three of the drafts are Friday, beginning at 7 p.m. Rounds four through seven are set for Saturday at noon.

After all of the scouting of the prospects, the meetings, the conjecture and the mock drafts, the real thing is upon us. It’s a bit like Christmas in April. And when rookie minicamps begin in May? Happy New Year!

 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman