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With the 2018 NFL Draft in three days, the news and information gathered will be fast and furious over the next several days and then play out completely differently.
That doesn’t mean we do not consume the information, it just means the information that is out there will unlikely be what happens on Thursday.
Take for instance Peter King’s newest 2018 NFL Mock Draft, where he has the Arizona Cardinals ponying up for a player they love:
5. ARIZONA (FROM DENVER)—BAKER MAYFIELD, QB, OKLAHOMA
Call this hunch the Won’t Get Fooled Again Pick. I’ve always thought a segment of the Cardinals had regrets over the 2017 draft when, with a 37-year-old quarterback (Carson Palmer) possibly in his last year, they were leap-frogged by teams that took Pat Mahomes and Deshaun Watson one and three picks ahead of them. Plus, the Cardinals don’t like Baker Mayfield. They love him. That’s a good thing, because John Elway likes him a lot too. Interesting strange-bedfellows scene at the Broncos’ cafeteria during Mayfield’s on-campus visit. Elway sat alone at one table with Mayfield, conversing. Walking through the salad bar at the time: Case Keenum.
This has been a constant theme for many, that the Cardinals cannot afford to miss, again, on the quarterback class by allowing it to come to them.
However, the cost is going to be big.
For instance, the Cardinals would likely have to give up their 2018 first and second round pick, and likely their compensatory third, as well as their first in 2019 and maybe a second or third.
That brings us to the question. How much do you love a player?
If Mayfield is good, it won’t matter. However, if Mayfield is worse than say... Josh Allen, Josh Rosen who would have been cheaper to trade up for, or even worse, doesn’t have a career as good as Lamar Jackson who went after the Cardinals 15th pick, it will be at a high price for Steve Keim.
That’s the gamble.
If you love someone, you make that play, and know you are betting your career on it.