Seahawks CB Richard Sherman: The NFL draft is a ‘sham’

“You can go from now until the end of time — guys have somehow maneuvered their way into the first round, maneuvered their way into the spotlight. As long as (draft analysts) talk about him all day, all night, all day, all night — it’s kind of like, ‘Oh, that’s why he went in the first round,’ Then when they’re doing nothing in the league, nobody notices. They just don’t say much about them. You know, it’s like, ‘Oh, we didn’t get that one wrong, he just needs time to develop.’ Then, three years later it’s still, ‘Time to develop.’

“And then you got guys who come in prepared, ready, who didn’t have hype. They might’ve come from Southwest Idaho State, they might’ve come from Northwestern, they might’ve come from Stanford, they might’ve come from anywhere.”

He makes some solid points though. A lot of these 'highly touted' players get taken early because they get hyped, and talked about over and over by the Network analysts, and Draft gurus.

I mean we've taken players from Hofstra, Bloomsburg, Tiffin, Walsh, a guy that played for the Regina Rams in a Canadian league and they end up becoming starters and pretty high caliber players.

I think that's why I give props to our organization for looking under every single rock when evaluating Draft prospects, and they don't really hold it against you where you came from, or who your competition was. The cream will find it's way to rise to the top.