The NFL draft has come and gone and, after reams of analysis and blather about who might go where and what teams know how to handle the draft, get ready for an endless stream of babble about who ended up where and who handled it well.


Fact is, nobody seems to know too much going into the selection process, and people seem to know even less once it has been completed.


That being said, here's ours:


You had to love the fact this was clearly the year of the fat guy.


Never mind the blond surfer quarterback who has been living a trail of hot chicks on the USC campus for four years and now will make a smooth transition to being a big time bustout in the pros. Those types were relegated to fourth round status in 2013.


There were three left tackles taken in the first four picks. Offensive linemen for God's sake.


It was like seeing Craig Stadler being fitted for a green jacket at Augusta, watching giant slug after giant slug run to the podium for the Roger Goodell man hug that must make being a first round pick a little uneasy.


Taking an offensive lineman in the first round, especially when holding one of the top five picks, is like raving over the steamed broccoli on a plate of perfectly grilled In rare kobe beef. It's just not sexy.


In certain years, that move has prven to be catostrophic. Just asked Bill Parcells how he feels now about playing it safe with the selection of Jake Long at number one overall when he could have taken a slight chance on Matt Ryan, who sat there to be gobbled up two picks later by the Falcons.


Long is now in St. Louis after showing signs of being a shot fighter in year five, and Ryan has led his team to the playoffs every year since.


We followed very closely the picks of the Miami Dolphins, who have GM Jeff Ireland's contract sitting on the edge of the shredder as he clearly has little more than this year to prove he has a handle on filling a roster that is playoff ready.


It is difficult to tell if Ireland's moves were the desperate groping of a madman, or evidence of an emerging genius.


You would expect the former, but, stranger things have happened. Just look to Minnesota and Rick Spielman, once reviled for his failures with the aforementioned Fins and now heralded as the second coming for what appears to be a series of good moves with the Vikings.


The thing you keep hearing as an excuse for the draftnicks is that evaluating talent on this level is an inexact science.


That would seem like baloney when you consider the draft is conducted by highly paid professionals who supposedly have an acute eye for spotting young talent and equating their abilities out to make it on the next level.

Why, then, do we constantly see these bozoic blunders that cripple a franchise for years to come, especially at positions where skill levels would seem very obvious, like quarterback and wide receiver?


Truth is, it will be difficult to tell who the winners and losers are for some time when it comes to the 2013 draft.


You would have to think it will not be a particularly memorable one just based on the lack of skill position players taken at the very top and throughout the first round.


But, there will be plenty of people who will tell you and write about who held an edge and who fell on their face.


Just don't buy it too quickly.


It's something that, as the movie title goes, "happens every spring."
















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