For those people among you who are relatively new to the glory that is the National Football League, or for those of you who just haven’t yet been brought to speed with the ins and outs of the NFL Draft, here is a rough guide to one of the greatest weekends of the NFL season.
The Draft began in 1936, and is hosted in New York in April at the Radio City Music Hall. The first evening sees the first round, with the next day seeing rounds two and three, and the final day seeing rounds four through seven take place. In the first round, teams have ten minutes to make a pick, then they have seven in the second and five in the remaining rounds. It is a massive event in the USA, with many people having ‘Draft parties’ as they would Super Bowl parties.
The Draft is essential for the parity which marks out the NFL as something different from other major sports leagues. The first pick in the draft is given to the team with the worst record in the NFL, the second pick to the team with the second worst record and so on. Picks 1-20 see the non-playoff teams ranked in this way, with those who are eliminated in the wildcard round picking 21-24, with those with the worst record at 21, and with the worst at 24, then 25-28 see those eliminated in the divisional round, 29-30 are eliminated in the Conference Championship games, then the Super Bowl loser picks at 31, and the final pick of each round is taken up by the League Champion.
If teams have equal records, the order of the first round is decided by which team has the toughest schedule, with the easiest schedule picking highest. In the subsequent rounds, those teams with equal records rotate, so the team with the easiest schedule picks last of the group with the equal records, and the team with the second easiest schedule picks earliest. From round three onwards, picks are awarded at the end of each round to teams who have lost the highest rated players in free agency. Picks can switch between teams in trades, either solely involving picks or also involving players, and picks in future drafts may also be traded.
With the draft order decided, the teams get ideas about which players they will have a chance to take. Generally, the players who go at the top of the draft are the most valuable to a franchise- a pass rushing defensive end (in a 4-3 system) or outside linebacker (in a 3-4 system), a left tackle to protect the quarterback’s blindside or a quarterback. Players who are considered to be a once in a generation talent at another position are also considered at the very top of the draft. In recent years, the position most often picked at number one is a quarterback.
Teams will be looking at draft prospects for the entire year before the draft, and they have a number of scouts who spend all day watching tape of college players. The players who stick out are not always the most productive in college, but there are a number of things scouts look for. Players usually have to be of a certain size to succeed in the NFL, and if a player is considered to be too small they must be incredibly productive to even make it into the first round of the draft. Players usually need to play against quality opposition, in a strong conference, as they will have been more tested than those who play in weaker conferences. Of course, players usually need a good technique, but coaches will usually look past this if they have been especially productive or they have prototypical size for their position. For certain players, such as quarterbacks, the system which their college runs is important, as those who have played in a system hugely different from that which predominates in the NFL will need more time to learn.
On draft day, teams will generally have a ‘board’, which contains the names of eligible players, placing players into the order in which the teams rate them. Most teams’ boards will be similar, but there will be key differences, and some teams stick rigidly to their board, whereas others draft according to need. A team which sticks to its board will draft the best player on its board when it comes to pick, and a team who drafts according to need will usually draft the best player on the board at a position where they see a big need. This will often lead to some picks judged to be wrong ones by draft experts.
Draft day sees a lot of surprises, as some players touted to go very high in the draft fall, and some who were touted to go much lower than they did surprise everyone. In 2010, for example, the second rated quarterback, Jimmy Clausen, was projected by a number of experts to be drafted inside the top ten, and he fell into the middle of the second round. Also, Tyson Alualu, a defensive tackle projected to go in the second round, went at number ten overall to Jacksonville. Often, the players who fall do so because NFL scouts pick up flaws not seen by other experts, and often players are taken unexpectedly high because some scouts see certain things which others miss, or because that team is unable to find a good enough deal to trade their pick for a lower one, so they have to ‘reach’ for a player who is not the greatest value at that point in the draft.
The main aim of the NFL Draft for all teams is to get the best player they can at the lowest point in the draft. This is mainly because the players picked highest command the most money. Sam Bradford, the 2010 number one overall pick, was given a six year deal worth $78 million. The final pick of the first round, Patrick Robinson, a cornerback, was given a five year contract with the New Orleans Saints worth $12 million. Equally valid is that trading picks will often give the team trading down in the draft more picks or a veteran player who can assist the team more than anyone who was available with the pick the team traded out of.
When all is said and done on draft weekend, teams will start to sign players. In previous years, this has happened a few months after the draft, as hugh picks tend to wait for each other to sign so they can judge how high their contract should be. Usually, the contract of the first pick is the most lucrative, followed by that of the second pick, and so on and so on. Some players have been known to hold out if they are not satisfied with contracts or the team which drafted them. A player can hold out for an entire year and reenter the draft in the next year, but that rarely happens. The latest holdout in recent years was Michael Crabtree in 2009, who held out until October with the San Francisco 49ers. However, with the CBA deal not being signed for 2011, no rookies can be signed until it is, and the salaries they receive may be limited by the negotiations, as many believe they have gone out of control.
Assessing a draft is difficult. After the draft, experts will usually give each team a grade based on their perception of the players they selected. The usual rule for a true assessment is that it cannot be done until three years after the draft. This tends to give players a chance to fit into their positions and learn their trade. Teams such as Pittsburgh, New England and Green Bay have traditionally received good draft grades for year after year, and it is little coincidence that those teams have had sustained success in the NFL. Equally, teams such as Detroit and Cincinnati are known for drafting badly, and again it is no shock that neither team is a year-in-year-out power in the NFL.
The NFL Draft is one of the greatest times in the NFL calendar, as some teams find the players that will win them Super Bowls in their future, and others get players which will be forever known as the worst decisions that team has ever made. This year sees a very weak quarterback class, but some very talented cornerbacks and pass rushers, but noone truly knows which players will turn out to be brilliant. JaMarcus Russell was the number one overall pick in 2007, and Tom Brady was drafted 199th overall in 2000.
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