...for lots of years.

I too was really enthusiastic back then on following the NFL draft.

Looking back, I annually bought The Sporting News draft guide... Sports Illustrated's week-before issue, figuring it had the "freshest" news... and especially Pro Football Weekly's draft guide so as to get all of Joel Buchsbaum's content. Neophyte war room fans such as myself put such credence in the reports of the mysterious Buchsbaum.

And all of those, as I recall -- again, this was 12 seasons ago -- lauded Jason Smith for his athletic ability. Yes, he did play in more or less a run-and-shoot at Baylor... but still, to be given comparisons with Ryan Clady was IMO pretty impressive for Smith. I remember thinking as a Rams fan, "Yeah, I can really go for this guy."

Some years later, I waved the white flag and quit buying NFL draft guides. Might've been 2015, the year after we drafted Greg Robinson No. 2 overall.