From April 30th to May 2nd, the lives of 256 gifted individuals will change forever. For these lucky young men, their childhood dreams will be realized and an opportunity to compete at the highest level that their sport offers will be at their fingertips. The NFL draft is one of the biggest events in football, and for good reason. For fans, it provides hope that your team will get a player that may help them make a run at a championship. For players, they get a chance to make a career out of the game they love. The NFL draft is always unpredictable and never fails to provide surprises to its audience and participants. By far the most hyped event of its kind, the NFL draft was viewed by 45.7 million people in 2014 and will most likely be seen by even more this year. For the viewers, the draft is entertainment, but for the members of the NFL organizations, it is a way of life. NFL owners, GMs, coaches, and scouts spend countless hours observing, scrutinizing, meeting, and evaluating prospects. In many cases, their livelihoods depend on their success on this night.

The ultimate goal in any professional sport is to win championships, and the draft offers any team a better chance to do just that. If you are a coach and your team doesn’t win, you get fired. That is just how the NFL works. For the players participating in the draft, even more is at stake. The draft can both help a player skyrocket to superstardom and crush their dreams. If your name isn’t called on draft night, your chances of achieving your lifelong goal of playing in the NFL diminish. While many players that go undrafted still make it to the NFL and have success, that number is far lower than those that get picked in one of the seven rounds of the draft. In order to reach the NFL, college players have to devote their entire lives to the sport. They spend hours upon hours working to be the best they can be. For some this pays off monumentally, but for others, even their best is not enough. While a first-round draft pick garners respect and praise, an undrafted free agent is the lowest man on the NFL totem pole. Projected first overall picks from big name schools, like Jameis Winston of Florida State, don’t have to worry about where they will end up. Less fortunate players, like John Crockett of North Dakota State, have a much more difficult journey ahead of them. The NFL draft provides some with amazing opportunities, but it also creates immense adversity for many others.

There is no other event in sports like the NFL draft and that is what makes it so entertaining. Something about the hype, the hope, and the unpredictability of the NFL draft makes it a spectacle like no other. This three-day weekend is not only one of the most important events in the sport, it is one of the most important events in many peoples’ lives. Anyone involved in football, whether it be a fan, coach, player, or GM, is affected by the draft in some way. This is why it is so highly anticipated. This is why millions of people tune in each year to hear who gets their name called first.