I’m on the record as preferring Christian McCaffrey with the Broncos’ first round pick I believe that there is a solid football reason for this preference: explained as early as February 1 here by SterlingMalloryArcher, and receiving my endorsement here as the rare type of player that can pose a three-headed attack: in the running, receiving, and returning games. (You mean Cerberus?)
However, there is another aspect favoring Christian McCaffrey is that I cannot deny. That’s the sentimental factor of his father Ed being one of the most popular Broncos in recent memory, and the desire for Christian to carry on the McCaffrey legacy in Denver. To put it bluntly, that’s nepotism, rarely a justifiable reason.
However, I don’t think I’m alone in this flaw. The consensus on this site feels like it matches my own regarding McCaffrey. It’s probably even more rampant among the Broncos fanbase in general. And as a cursory search of many staff rosters demonstrate, nepotism is a fact of life within the NFL.
While I think the football reasons for rating McCaffrey high are still justified, I think it would serve all of us well if we go through a three-question exercise to challenge ourselves against bias, and ensure that we would treat Christian McCaffrey the same way if he was named Christian Smith–or even Christian Sime.
- Name as many incoming 2017 rookies as you can that you would rate higher that McCaffrey from a pure football talent level.
- Name as many incoming 2017 rookies as you can, aside from the ones listed above, that you think would improve the Broncos as a whole more than McCaffrey.
- Name the teams that, for whatever reason you have, you do not want to see draft McCaffrey.