The History of Way-too-early Rankings
Almost everyone loves any way-too-early rankings of any kind. The fans love it because they get to see how the so-called experts think their favorite team will do in this coming season. The writers themselves enjoy these as well. It gets the author’s name out there and provides increased traffic to whatever outlet publishes his or her content. I, however, hate these types of stories with a burning passion. Nobody, and I mean, not a single person, knows how one team’s season will go.
A perfect example of this is mock drafts. Some writers will publish more than five of these during each draft cycle. These will vary from one to another with minor adjustments as things happen during the scouting process. Say a highly touted prospect suffer a career-threatening injury and was predicted to be a first-round selection. My guess is that an author would probably move that athlete down if not completely off of that person’s draft board. This is one of the many things that can throw a bomb at someone’s prediction.
That is not what this story is about. Though I could and probably will write one about that issue later in the future. This article will solely focus on how I believe way-too-early anything should become extinct.
NFL Way-too-early Rankings
The NFL Super Bowl that was played this last Sunday featuring the Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals was one of the most entertaining championship games in recent history. The Rams ended up winning the contest by a score of 23-20. Rather than give Los Angeles the chance to celebrate the culmination of a great season, many outlets decided it was time to shift their focus towards the future. ESPN published their way-too-early power rankings story at 10:00 PM EST Sunday night. This was just moments after the game had concluded. Either the author of this article is a savant of some sort or this person must have written this piece early. My money is on the latter.
Regardless of whenever the writer wrote these rankings, there is no guarantee this individual will be correct. There are several things that can and will happen before the regular season even begins. There is of course the draft but also coaches changing teams, players retiring, athletes switching teams, whether that be via free agency or trade among countless other moves. Say Aaron Rodgers decides he does not want to play for the Packers this coming season. That is a real possibility just based on how the last offseason went.
Let us examine the same story from a year ago for more clarification on the validity of these rankings. This ESPN article was pretty close on the Rams outlook for this season. Los Angeles was slotted number five in this list. Winning a Super Bowl when ranked there is no stunner to anyone. It did not mention the signings of either Odell Beckham Jr. or Von Miller, but I will give that a pass. What I cannot overlook is the Bengals being ranked 27th on the same list. The author must not have seen the emergence of quarterback Joe Burrow who led Cincinnati to an AFC Championship.
Why Way-too-early Rankings Need to Stop
These were just two examples of the many similar lists that the NFL had published about it in the past. There are too many variables that can affect predictions this early on. As bad as this may reflect on the writer or the outlet that person writes for, it will not stop any time soon. Media is a dog-eat-dog world where whoever gets the most clicks makes the biggest impact, but more importantly, the most money. I hate to admit this, but I do not see these types of lists going away.
Closing Thoughts
This article was published on the Belly Up Sports website and specifically its NFL page. Belly Up Sports also has a Twitter page where you can interact with the network. I also have written for this outlet before so see my most recent story if you would like. If you would like to talk to me directly, feel free to chat with me on my Twitter as well. Try to keep it clean and proper. If you are incapable of doing so, ignore that completely and battle it out with me. Just a few warnings for those who dare challenge me. I am highly competitive and hate to admit when I am wrong. So be This article was published on the Belly Up Sports website and specifically its NFL page. prepared for a war of words.
