Football is just so different than other sports. You can throw every analytic out there but whiff on pick after pick. Think about how many players over the years we got lost in the weeds over some BS statistic and we didn't trust what we saw. What metrics were used to pass on Tom Brady 198 times?

 

The Seahawks who are more analytic obsessed than anyone, they are pretty much the gold standard, haven't even enjoyed that much success on first round picks--- James Carpenter, Bruce Irvin, Russell Okung, Ifedi? meh. 

 

You ever read the book Blink by Malcolm Gladwell? A lot of that book deals with snap judgments and first impressions. One example in the book was this statue at the Getty Museum in LA. All of their testing and research told them this was a real statue, the best of its kind, they paid a ton of money for it too. Then they unveiled the statue to room full of experts and instantly they all knew it was a fake, not based on tests, but based on the eye test, based on a lifetime of looking at this stuff. 

 

Baseball and Basketball are largely just numbers games, at least in the regular season. Football is a different animal, so much of it comes down to who wants it more? Does your superstar quarterback sacrifice his body for the touchdown or the fumble, does he cower? Does that 4th round QB you took turn into a superstar behind careful management and coaching or does your first round pick end in flames after he's sacked 100 times in 2 years? There's just so much that goes into it that is not quantifiable and winning and losing comes down to inches. 

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