On April 25th, 2009 NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will step to the podium and announce that the Detroit Lions are on the clock and will have 10 minutes to announce their choice. (In reality though, the Lions have been on the clock since December, when it was clear that they would have the worst record in the league.) After the first pick is announced they continue down the line for seven rounds and two days of decision making. If you have ever just sat and watched the NFL draft you know it is a long two days, especially for those in the draft room.
Live webcams hosted on team websites show shots of the draft team in their stadium offices sorting through names, combine stats, interview transcripts, and Wonderlic test results. Arround the room are charts divided up by position with names that are removed as players are drafted. Discussions are made about the team's most pressing needs compared to who is still available. As you can see, just from this one window into their world, draft day decisions begin long before the annual rite of spring begins.
Let's start at the very beginning. Scouts visit colleges throughout the fall to look at prospective players. College players then have until January 15th of the draft year to declare them selves eligible for the draft. At that point, a list is put together of every name from every level of college play. Various talking heads on television and radio will compile their mock draft, which, unless they are named Mel Kiper, is usually inaccurate. Meanwhile, each team is putting together their draft board of where they think players rank and deciding what positions on their team are lacking depth or talent.
The next major event is the NFL Scouting Combine in February. During this week over three hundred of who the NFL perceives to be the most notable players are invited to display their skills and mingle with team officials. For all intents and purposes: Show Off. Here they will interview, jump, sprint the 40, display their agility, take the Wonderlic intelligence test, and try to show each team why they are a person of good character. Yes, you can watch this too if you have NFL Network. (Personally, I find it rather addictive).
Individual teams come away with a better sense of Joe Linebacker as a player and a person. In discovering this, they can better estimate how a particular player will blend in with the team in terms of both skill and chemistry. While a player might be highly skilled, it doesn't mean they will "fit in," so to speak. Draftboards (and mock drafts) are revisited and adjusted many times to keep up with a team's needs.
Next in line of draft day decision catalysts is the opening of the free agency period after the Combine at the end of February. Players whose contracts have expired and have played either four seasons (Unrestricted Free Agent) or three seasons (Restricted Free Agent) can move on to other teams. This will affect the depth and talent at certain positions, in turn affecting the draft day priorities.
Each team will develop a game plan in the weeks leading up to the draft. This game plan is loose and will deviate, but that is expected and planned for as well. Several scenarios are laid out that include trading. It may be necessary for a team to jump up in the draft order to get the player they want. Trades for draft spots and players are common occurrences on draft day and every team has this option in their back pocket.
OK. Now it's the big day. There are two schools of thought concerning how to decide which player to draft. Each team will have previously ranked players in their own order, which may or may not be similar to the next team. They will either draft the best available player on their board regardless of position, or draft a player for a position of need. Most teams opt for the best player route, unless they have a dire and pressing need for a certain position. This most benefits a bad team because bad teams hardly ever have just one weakness and need to get as many good players from different positions as possible, desperate as they are. Good teams can afford to let Joe Linebacker go in favor of Bob Wideout, because they have fewer urgent needs and can be more selective.
The men in those little draft rooms we can look at from the comfort of our home watch the goings-on with diligence because they revise their player board every time a pick is made. Holes start to emerge where players' names are missing and more serious discussions begin as choices become more limited and as lesser known players become the only options.
The NFL Draft has become something of a spectator sport as it occupies hours upon hours of precious ESPN programming. What we, the viewer, see is just a sliver of the draft day decision process. We get to enjoy the anticipation and speculation from the comfort of our homes or sports bars in one two-day chunk. What we don't see and probably hardly think about are the countless hours and tremendous energy and focus that team personnel put into making decisions that will affect their teams for years to come.