You can absolutely miss on draft picks and all you have to do is point to teams like Detroit who have been bad for the last 30 years. My point is this team drafts really well so if you give them a better quality pick, they're going to do a lot better with it. If there's no chance of making the playoffs, I'm all for tanking. If there is a chance, obviously I'm not.
Let's say we went 9-7 last year. We don't have Parsons. I don't mind losing games at all for the betterment of next year. I know it doesn't make sense to some people but that's how I feel.
There is no way of rationalizing where players will get picked months in advance
unless the exceptions are considered generational talents
and a particular franchise is completely locked into the number one position. Players move up-and-down the board during every single draft. Franchises trade picks every single draft. Any fan can say "Oh! I know we will get (fill in the blank) in the draft because they lost (filling in the blank) games!" but that is a false assumption.
The consensus opinion was not players like Aaron Rodgers and CeeDee Lamb falling solidly outside the top ten overall selections, heck, drop outside the top five, months in advance. How many thought BYU's Zach Wilson was a number two overall pick in the last draft back at the end of the 2019 season? This very forum had very few posts foretelling Travis Frederick getting picked late in the first round, following an 8-8 season.
Every fan wants their team's front office to select the best player possible. However, there are no guarantees what player will get picked by their team at any given selection. The same goes for practically all other teams. This is true if a fan wants their team to win and if a fan wants their team to lose. Why choose the negative desire if it has zero impact on what the team does next draft?
Some fans want their team to tank. They "know" it gives their front office a greater opportunity of landing a "can't miss player." They feel good watch their team tank to accomplish that singular goal.
Fast forward to the draft. Some fans yell-and-scream with delight if their front office picks a projected can't miss player. The exact same fans holler-and-curse it their team drafts a player they do not think is a can't miss player.
Why must tanking promote such convoluted aspirations? It is like some believe they ARE both the general manager of their favorite team AND the general manager of every other team. Simply hoping your favorite team to win and being possibly disappointed when they lose is pretty much black-and-white.