The 2010 NFL Draft: The Show and the Winners and Losers

The NFL Draft has just taken place for 2010 and, as always, has yielded some interesting results. The ‘Draft’ is the annual event where all 32 NFL teams have the opportunity to select newly eligible college football players. Some of the basics of the rules require that all players have finished high school for two and a half years or more and that they must have at least 3 years of college experience.

As for how the actual draft works, the order NFL teams can pick is essentially the reverse of the order they finished the previous season. Thus, the worst-performing teams get the first chance to select players from the draft, and the best-performing teams pick last. There are some exceptions, for example Super Bowl contenders finish right at the bottom of the list and get the last pick. New NFL teams get the first pick. The rules are not that simple, but they give the basic idea.

The event itself is quite big and this year it was bigger than ever. For the first time, the event was in prime time and was spread over 3 days, making it almost a mini-series. It used to take place during the day over a weekend, but with the ever-growing interest in the sport and the drama of the Draft, it was decided to make the most of it by giving it a late-night primetime slot and extending it to 3 days.

So who are the presumed winners and losers of the 2010 NFL Draft? Well, of course, only time will tell which of the new guys work and which don’t. There will undoubtedly be some that do not live up to expectations and others that massively exceed what is expected of them. However, some highlights seem to be that outfielder Dez Bryant from Oklahoma State was acquired by the Dallas Cowboys, Notre Dame center Jimmy Clausen left for the Carolina Panthers in just the second round of the draft, and the New York Giants took Jason Pierre. -Paul, the South Florida defensive end.

The Oakland Raiders also did quite well with their first-round pick Rolando McClain, as well as Lamarr Houston, who appears to be an up-and-coming defensive tackle. The Seattle Seahawks also had a good draft, managing to secure powerful running back LenDale White from Tennessee and fairly fast running back Leon Washington from the Jets. Let’s see how these undoubted talents perform during the upcoming season and beyond.