Every year on the last weekend in April the most profitable sports industry holds their draft, the National Football League. It’s a three-day event which the order is organized based on the success of each team from the previous season, if you were awful you get the first pick and if you won the super bowl you get the last unless you cheated then you get nothing. NFL scouts are in charge of scouting colleges players to see who is the best and which players fits the teams scheme. The draft is a trickle-down effect and each team has their “big board” so when a player that is number one on that board gets picked fifth overall and that team has the thirteenth pick, they cross that player off their board.
May 8, 2014; New York, NY, USA; A general view of a helmet, NFL shield, stage, and podium before the start of the 2014 NFL Draft at Radio City Music Hall. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports
Each team is awarded seven picks in the draft, one for every round, it is up to them on what they want to do with those picks. Teams are allowed to trade picks to get higher up on the draft board, teams can trade back to get more picks in the draft, teams can trade players to get a certain pick, it’s all been done in the past. So what makes the 1st overall pick in the draft better than the 115th pick in the fourth round: size, speed, athletic ability, college performance, maybe that player just wasn’t a fit for that team’s system. What happens when that fourth round draft pick is outperforming the top pick in his draft class?
Chart of the every team in the league who has been the best at drafting in the late rounds.
It happens every single year, there is nothing you can do about it, some teams predict it, others get lucky. The late round “steal”, considered to be a player selected in the late 3rd round to early fourth round range or later. This player flew under every team’s radar and he’s now playing with a chip on his shoulder because he watched all those other players at his position get picked ahead of him.
Everyone is sitting at the game or watching it at home and they’re all thinking the same thing about the guy who just torched their team for a sixty-yard touchdown with :37 seconds left in the game to take the lead, “He was drafted in what round? where even is that college?”. Although that is not always the case with late-round picks its common, they just play the game with a different attitude than everyone else because they got their opportunity and they want to show the world that they deserved the recognition from the beginning.
I know who you already have in mind: Donald Driver, Kam Chancellor, and Geno Atkins, right? That’s just a wakeup call to show you how insane this league really is, those three guy were or still are superstars on their teams and they 4th, 5th, and 7th round picks. Torry Holt was the first wide receiver taken in the 1999 draft, the same draft as Donald Driver, they both had fantastic careers with a ridiculous amount of receiving yards and touchdowns. So why wasn’t Driver the second receiver taken in that draft, Holt was the only guy who had more impressive numbers… Ohhhh maybe because Holt went to North Carolina State, a power five school in the ACC, and Driver went to Alcorn State, a D1-AA school, that makes sense, draft all the players that went to big school and then focus on smaller school, domination effect. 
The steal of all steals, he’s won a few super bowls, MVP’s, you name he’s won it. With the 199th pick (6th round) in the 2000 NFL draft, the New England Patriots selected, Quarterback Tom Brady, University of Michigan. Well that just totally blows up my last theory of the domination effect, everyone knows how big of a school Michigan is, so how’s a guy like that get drafted so late and become the face of the league. He’s 6’4 which is an ideal size for an NFL quarterback, he had an excellent college career at Michigan, he did only play two years though. 
I mean the teams that drafted quarterbacks ahead of him probably don’t even know those guy’s names anymore. Sometimes it’s just luck that he falls in your lap when you’re on the clock, sometimes it’s chance and it was meant to be, and then sometimes it’s whatever Bill Belichick keeps doing.
The draft is just another way to keep the league even more entertaining, teams look back and wish they would’ve taken that guy with their pick, but there is nothing you can do about, actually maybe you could try and trade some picks and players. It’s all a numbers game, in the end it’s all about who is holding the trophy.
Sources
http://www.complex.com/sports/2016/04/best-late-round-draft-picks-nfl/tom-brady-2000-6th-round-1999
http://www.nfl.com/draft/history/fulldraft?season=1999
http://www.nfl.com/draft/history/fulldraft?season=2000&round=round1#round1
As a die hard NFL fan, this is pretty interesting. The draft shows that just because someone is picked in the first round, it doesn’t mean they will be good. Also, just because someone is picked in a later round, it doesn’t mean they don’t have the potential to be great. This past draft made me so angry. I am a Rams fan, and we gave up so many picks for the first overall pick, where we drafted Jared Goff. What frustrates me so much is that he doesn’t even play; he hasn’t even seen the field yet. This article posted below lists the top 15 low round picks in NFL history.
http://www.complex.com/sports/2016/04/best-late-round-draft-picks-nfl/derrick-mason-1997-4th-round-98
Your post was very funny. I want you to know I actually laughed a little while reading this, which I never thought would happen commenting on blogs at 1:47 am the night before its due. Anyways, you’re accurate in saying there’s no algorithm for predicting picks and there will probably never be anytime soon. I wonder what round beyond the fourth round has produced the most star players? I looked but couldn’t find the statistic.