And it begins. Every NFL fan’s least favorite time of the year. Post-free agency. For you non-football fans, free agency is when players sign with different teams. No games, no anticipation or excitement about what new players your favorite team will sign and no sign of training camp. There is only one thing that is present in the NFL’s dry season to satisfy fans: the draft.

Sure, finding out who your team selected is fun, but is it really that exciting? Although the draft can seem exciting, the lack of league activity, lack of free agent signings, and failure to bring excitement to the draft makes the draft intolerable.

   Leading up to the draft, diehard NFL fans, including myself, flock to ESPN to look at mock drafts and player analysis articles to try to figure out what player would strengthen our team the most, what future bust of a quarterback the Browns are going to take, and what future league superstar quarterback the Browns are going to pass on in order to get an extra seventh round pick – Carson Wentz anyone? The draft seems awesome, until you sit through three hours of draft day analysis before your team picks in the first round.

   Why do fans desperately flock to the draft for their dose of NFL entertainment? Well there are many reasons, but for one, it’s the middle of the free agency drought. Every big name player has already signed with a team, the league activity is low, considering there are little to no trades occurring. So when the draft comes along, although in reality it’s like watching a Browns Colts preseason game but much worse, it seems like the Super Bowl.

   I’ll give the NFL credit. They do an outstanding job of making the first overall pick exciting. After the first pick, it’s a waiting game for the Bears selection. Hours and hours of the same player analysis that we have heard since the beginning of the player’s first year of college, and the opinions of whatever commentator thinks what picks were bad. I would rather watch a full Browns game than have to watch the draft.

   Looking past all the painstaking bores of the draft, it really should be an exciting event. The next wave of NFL stars are entering the league, each with the potential to break records, revitalize downtrodden franchises, and win championships. In a way, the NFL doesn’t have much to work with, with the draft landing in the middle of the league year. Knowing that the draft is the only outlet for excitement, the NFL needs to add some sort of awesome commodity to the draft that would be appreciated by NFL fans everywhere. Anywho, I’m excited to watch the first ten picks of the draft, consider throwing my TV out the window, then go to bed and contemplate why I wasted my time watching the draft. Please come soon football. I need you.