Drafts are less about prospects' core features, which are hard to define. My wording here is a work in progress, but it's moreso about the prospects' surface decorations, things that are easily measured - stats/height/40 - and can be robotically correlated to NFL success.
It's just Moneyball.
Each high pick is a gamble based on spreadsheet heuristics. Excluding injuries and off-the-field brouhaha, behind every bust is a prospect whose lacking talent hides behind great heuristics. And behind every diamond in the rough is a prospect whose special talent hides behind bad heuristics.
And we can complain how dumb that is if we want, but that seems arrogant to me. Given the stakes (dollars), if a better way were proven, NFL box offices would already be using it. They aren't infallible, but the idea that you or I would do better is questionable.