The popularity of the league's marquee offseason event was never in question, but the drama that unfolded Thursday during the opening night dominated the sports world. Even with the predictable start — franchise-caliber quarterbacks Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III were the first two off the board — the draft really started to sizzle when the next five picks were traded.
And by keeping the first round in its own unique time slot, the NFL has essentially ensured there would be plenty of quality names available when the second round began Friday night, which adds to the intrigue as each team resets its board during the midday lull.
That made things a little more interesting in 2011, when afternoon trade talks heated up due to the number of worthy quarterbacks on the board. That wasn't the case this week, but with high-caliber players available like Alabama's Courtney Upshaw and North Alabama's Janoris Jenkins, among others, there was enough intrigue for fan bases to salivate over their team's possibilities.
The event really slowed down Saturday when a vast majority of the players were unknowns, even to the most ardent football diehards. But that serves as a good digestive phase after so much action during the first two nights.
The NFL does it right with the draft, which shouldn't be a surprise. After months of buildup — really, it's one of the league's most dominant storylines for nearly three months — the primetime showcase always lives up to the hype. It did again in 2012.
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