All time in my 43 years of evaluating this stuff, I have John Elway had the highest grade ever for me.

Andrew Luck was second, Peyton Manning, was third, and Trevor Lawrence will be fourth ahead of Jim Kelly, who is now fifth.

The NFL draft is an American institution, but it's also a sound.

And for the past 40 years, that sound, the unmistakable voice of this institution, has been

Mel Kuiper Jr.

Mel's big board and mock drafts have become a rite of spring, a yearly ritual signaling

that your team will soon be on the clock.

Today, we meet the man who turned his personal passion into a national obsession, and we

journey inside his mind and his gut. I'm Pablo Torre. It's Friday,

April 16th. This is ESPN Day.

Mel Kuiper Jr., the godfather of the NFL draft, the president of Mel Kuiper Enterprises.

Thank you so much for joining me, man.

Pablo, an honor to be with you. I love your work. And I'll tell you, we're so close to the

draft now. I can almost hear that first pick being announced and we can get rolling with

what should be one of the most exciting drafts we've had.

Mel Kiper Jr. is an NFL draft analyst for ESPN, and he co-hosts the first draft podcast.

I can feel the electricity coursing through your veins, Mel, already, and I want to get into your

latest mock draft that you dropped this week a little bit later, but first, I just need to get my own

Mel Kuyper Scouting Report straight here.

How many NFL drafts are we at at this point?

How many have you evaluated and analyzed?

What number are we up to?

...