Remember, the NFL draft is all-important. The TV tells us so.
There is no way to win if you do not move up in the draft to land the sure thing, or move down in the draft to accumulate assets, or take the player that you were so surprised to see available when you picked. You absolutely must take a great player with your first pick.
There is only one thing wrong with the previous two paragraphs: They're lies.
The draft feels important because the NFL has made it feel important, and because the draft is filled with mystery and speculation, and every once in a while your team drafts Randy Moss and all things become possible.
Drafting well is always useful, but "drafting well" is a relative term. No team hits on all of its picks, or even all of its first-round picks. It just doesn't happen. And it's not necessary. And in a salary-cap league, no team that drafted all superstars could afford to pay them all, anyway.
Take New England, the NFL's most dynastic team for two decades. The Patriots have maintained their dominance while picking at the bottom of the draft order, and have frequently swung and missed.
The last time they took a Pro Bowl player in the first round? 2012. They did have a run of successful first-rounders in the 2000s. They also used a first-round pick on Laurence Maroney in 2006 and didn't have a first-rounder in 2009, and their greatest draft "success" was luck.
If the Patriots knew that Tom Brady was going to be a good starting quarterback, they never would have waited until the sixth round to pick him. If they had an inkling he would be great, they were fools to give every other NFL team five chances to take him.