Did McCarron Exaggerate His Draft Status?

Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron has been making the rounds lately, talking about this Thursday's NFL Draft and where he thinks he'll go.

For whatever reason, he says he'll be a low first-rounder.

"They felt like I could go anywhere from 16-32," McCarron said. "I believe that, too. At the same time, I don't have my hopes set on anything. Whatever happens, happens. It's a blessing for me to even be in this situation."

Dude, as baseball players say before their arbitration hearings, you're gonna wake up rich or richer. Just shut up and wait for it. There are much more creative ways of passing the time.

Why does he continue to open himself up as fair game to every dart thrower out there?

Obviously, some NFL executives -- clearly caught on their lunch breaks with nothing better to do -- say McCarron's exaggerating his draft status.

Most NFL experts  are saying there's really only one team who may be interested in taking McCarron in the first round as opposed to 'half of the NFL' as McCarron says.

But as the former Tide chucker pointed out, what NFL team is going to show their hand when it comes to who will be drafted in the first round?

We still don't know who will be the first player picked Thursday night and likely won't know until it's announced. 

"It's not like the GMs are calling these guys and telling them, 'Hey, we're going to draft this guy at this number, so go ahead and put that out there,'" McCarron said. "One thing I've learned about this whole process, it's nothing but a big secret. 

Do tell. So why does he put it out there that someone's saying he'll be a low first-rounder. Was McCarron paying for the drinks or something?

Maybe he should've taken War Room 101 at Alabama. Teams keep their own counsel for trade reasons and because of their own draft priorities and contingencies. They're not trying to throw surprise parties for the sake of it. What the so-called experts may call a 'reach' is what team execs call the best player left on their board to fill a certain need.

Like McCarron, everyone gets to see how it all plays out for real in a couple of days.