Even though I work for the NFL, I want say that this is my unbiased opinion of how the NFL Pro Bowl Draft went down last night. I think it went pretty well.

If you watched the Pro Bowl Draft last night, you either or a football junkie, was curious or had nothing else better to do. And for the most part, the draft did exactly what I expected it to do: entertain me. Even though the first day was just to draft players that weren’t part of the skill positions, the second day provided a lot of excitement. Would it have been better to make it one day with all the players? Possibly. But in a way, separating the draft to those two days might be better. I don’t know.

But for a first time trial, I think it went well. After all, the country loves football so it’s worth making this a kind of a big deal in itself without going too over the top. At least that’s not what I think it felt like.

But here’s the thing that made it a success to me: it was fun. The Pro Bowl has gotten some complaints over the year for not being interesting and that the players don’t give their all. I understand that. That’s why this change was made. And the emphasis, to me, is that the event is supposed to be fun. It’s not an event for the players but more of an event for the fans. And with this new format, it’s taking the element of fantasy football, something the fans love, and making it a real thing. And when the draft approached, I treated it just as that.

So with that in mind, the draft was pretty fun. We got to see a more relaxed set of players  have fun, trashtalking like you would playing pick up ball at the park and overall, it was a great time to see how Deion Sanders and Jerry Rice, along with their captains, built their team.

What’s great about this is that we now can get a chance to see if Robert Mathis can sack Andrew Luck. What about Patrick Peterson defending Larry Fitzgerald? Drew Brees and Philip Rivers are on the same team again.

For an event that’s supposed to be all about fun, it was just that. Could it be better? Maybe. But for a first time event like this, it delivered what I expected. Just enjoy it. And if you don’t want to watch, you don’t have to.