I’d love to sit here and say that the addition of a player like Robert Griffin III is going to shoot the Cleveland Browns, Washington Redskins, or whichever team ends up drafting him into serious contention.  Unfortunately, I definitely wouldn’t recommend going out and throw my futures bets on the NFL on a team to win the Super Bowl, simply because of the addition of one specific player.  Even though (in my opinion) I do think that Griffin III is going to be a serious game changer in the NFL, he’s going to have to go through a bit of a learning curve.  It’s not only Robert Griffin III who is going to go through this curve of course, but this is one of the key reasons why I think that the NFL Draft will not affect the futures betting for most NFL teams out there.  You’ll notice there, that while I did say most…it’s a very infrequent thing for this to happen.
Today, we are going to take a look at a few reasons for why you sports bettors shouldn’t get too crazy putting your bets on a team just because they sign one specific player from the NFL Draft.  I’m going to break down one or two specific positions, but also take a look at why contenders are contenders regardless typically.
Wide Receivers
In my opinion, I think that Justin Blackmon is going to be an incredible talent in the NFL.  The guy has a leaping ability that is just incredible, and I think he’s going to cause defensive backs fits in the NFL, but I’m not sure it’ll be this year.  Regardless of if it is this year or not though, whichever team picks him at the top of the draft, will obviously need a bit more than just a wide out to fix whatever issues they had last season.  Assume that he goes to the Carolina Panthers, unfortunately, they really need to find a way to stop the run or they won’t be getting anywhere near the NFC Championship game.
Quarterback
Adjusting from playing quarterback in college to playing in the NFL is the hardest thing for any football player to do.  The defenses are faster, stronger, smarter, and just all around better.  This unfortunately means that as great as a quarterback could be, that doesn’t mean that you should expect him to turn a team around within one season.  Cam Newton had an excellent rookie year last year, but he unfortunately didn’t even get his team close to the playoffs.
Teams Late in Draft
Think about all of the teams who are going to be picking late in the NFL Draft.  You’ll find that there is MAYBE one or two at most who really need an upgrade at a major skill position.  Outside of that, they are picking players to upgrade at a position, or even just picking for the future.  These are the types of teams that are going to be serious contenders, and the ones who will be getting the betting action regardless of the situation.
