Nobody will care about the consensus big boards or whether the San Francisco 49ers reached for a wide receiver if he’s productive. That’s how the NFL works. Your draft slot is irrelevant if you produce. Every year, at every position, players outperform other prospects who were taken picks and even rounds higher than they were selected.
Fit. That’s what matters. There are transcendent talents who will excel in any situation. But for 90 percent of collegiate players who enter the NFL, how you fit into a scheme or a team’s culture has just as much, if not more, to do with your potential success.