Let’s talk about the 2017 NFL Draft

By Jackson Schulte
schultej@grinnell.edu

The 2017 NFL draft concluded last weekend and only time will tell which draftees will be busts, surprise hall of famers or never make it past training camp. This year’s draft was full of surprises, the most notable being its deviation from traditional draft classes.

The Chicago Bearss are due to find out whether their front office is genius or ridiculous, as they traded away other promising picks to draft Mitch Trubisky, a quarterback with only one year of college experience at the second overall spot. Likewise, the Cleveland Browns added Notre Dame quarterback DeShone Kizer to their roster and Cleveland fans can only pray they have finally found a savior.

Holistically, many view this year’s draft as the draft of the future. The NFL is evolving towards a playing style similar to college football. Players are getting faster and, in some positions, smaller. For example, the Cincinnati Bengals used the draft to pick up speedy wide receivers and running backs that could revolutionize the way they play offense.

Like most other years, there were picks who got attention, not for what they have done as athletes, but for what they have done off the field. Joe Mixon, a former Oklahoma running back who was caught on tape physically abusing a woman, was picked up by the Cincinnati Bengals. Minnesota Vikings draftee Dalvin Cook has been accused of physical abuse against a woman, animal abuse and vandalism.

Nonetheless, Mixon and Cook will likely sign contracts worth millions of dollars this offseason, while Colin Kaepernick, the official social justice warrior of the NFL, might have a hard time finding work after last year’s national anthem protests.

In a very lighthearted fashion, a few Grinnell students have weighed in on this year’s NFL draft.