Major League Sports: April 2005 Archives
Remember lunchtime pick-up games on the playground in grade school? When guys would line up, two captains were chosen, and teams got picked from the pool of available bodies (the "talent" came later, for most of us, anyway)? Remember the excitement as the group headed out to the field, before the teams were picked? The adrenaline rush of angst and anticipation while you waited for your name to be called, or the finger pointed at you? For some, it was one of the highlights of the day; for others, a mere formality to be endured, and for still others, a grueling exercise of embarrassment, social ostracism and shattered dreams.
Welcome to the NFL Entry Draft. Things haven't changed all that much, except now there are 32 "captains," several hundred guys waiting to be picked, and hundreds of millions of dollars at stake. Ok, there's a bit more to it than schoolyard games, starting with the countless hours invested by team scouting departments, the massive effort of the annual Scouting Combine, and, of course, the realization that this is the NFL. In recognition of the upcoming 2005 Entry Draft being held this weekend, here's something of a primer, for those of you us who don't quite "get it," but who, nevertheless, may find themselves listening to sports radio, watching the NFL Network, or clicking onto NFL.com on Saturday and/or Sunday - or for those of us who want to be able to understand why our football-fanatic friend is calling, excited out of his (or her) mind, screaming about how the home team "scored HUGE" in the middle of what you thought was the offseason.
In it's simplest terms, the NFL Draft is a device designed to help ensure competitive parity between teams in the NFL. Ok, maybe that wasn't the simplest terms. Try this: just like picking teams on the playground, the Draft is supposed to make sure that all the most talented players don't wind up on the same team year after year. Also just like picking teams on the playground, the system isn't perfect, and doesn't always work out.
Today's Draft is organized into 7 rounds of selections. Each team gets one selection (or "pick") in each round. The order of the picks is determined by the won-lost results of the previous season, with the team having the worst record picking first, and the Super Bowl Champions picking last in each round. That's how it starts, anyway. Teams are allowed to trade picks, including picks obtained in previous trades. For example: Team A trades their first and third round picks (A1 + A3) to team B for team B's first round pick (B1), because team B's pick is sooner in the round; team B later decides that they want to select a player sooner than Team A's pick will allow them to, and trades picks A1 and B3 to team C for their first round pick (C1). Confused yet? In addition, the NFL awards "Compensatory Selections" to teams that the NFL feels needs them for various reasons (most commonly to offset losses of key free agents in the off-season). These "extra picks" can be added at the end of any round from the second through the seventh. For now, it's enough to know that every team begins with 7 picks each year -- one in each round -- based on how well they did last year.
So, who are the reams "picking" from? Theoretically, the list includes every graduating college senior in the United States, as well as any juniors who wish to "declare themselves eligible." Once a player has "declared" for the draft, they are no longer eligible to play for amateur teams (i.e. NCAA College programs), so to "declare" early is a big decision -- if the player isn't drafted, they can't go back to school as a football player (anyone can go back to school as a student, but that's not the point here…). In practice, the pool of talent is every player who has never played for an NFL team and who declares himself eligible (which involves filing papers with the NFL). The number of eligible players is large, but not as unimaginably large as one might think at first glance.
A player selected by a team is deemed "property of" that team, and that team has rights of first refusal on hat player's services. It does not guarantee a contract will be signed, nor that a player will not be cut from a roster later, but should a player not agree to terms with the team that drafted him, he is not allowed to sign with another team either -- the player will "sit out" the entire year. In practice, a first or second-round (and even third round) selection is expected not only to play, but to start at their position the year they are selected, and are rarely cut from a roster once the contract is signed.
The format of the Draft is rather showy. Each team is given 15 minutes to make their selection, beginning with the first pick. Once the selection is made, the Commissioner of the NFL will announce the selection from a podium at the front of a really large room (Madison Square Garden, for example), and the next team to select will be officially "on the clock." If a team doesn't make their selection in the allotted time frame, the next team is allowed to pick in that position, and the original team is given the chance to pick afterwards. For example: If I am scheduled to pick in the 6th position, but do not do so in the allotted time, the team scheduled to pick 7th will be allowed to pick in my spot. I will then pick 7th. In the later rounds, (4th-7th), the time limit is shortened. It is assumed that later picks are less affected by the picks before than are the highly valued picks in the early rounds.
Picks can be traded at any time, up to and including while "on the clock." Teams will often field phone calls from other teams offering trades while "on the clock" if those other teams see their needs being threatened. For example, if there are three highly rated quarterbacks available and the team in position 10 needs a QB, they may sit tight until the first two QB's have been selected. Once there is only the one left, they will scramble to trade up to the next pick so they can get the player they need. They could have traded up to the numbers one, two, or three spots well before draft day to ensure getting their player, but to do so may involve paying a higher price than they have to. If, for example, the teams in the first three spots were expected to pick players from other positions, there would be no need to trade up that high, because the top three QBs would all still be there. On the other hand, waiting can be risky as well, because the team that needs a running back might still surprise everyone and take a quarterback instead for some reason.
Draft strategy can be quite complex. That's why General Managers of NFL franchises get paid so well. And they all pay a staff of scouts and personnel advisors to help them get it right. After all the hours and money invested, it's still a gamble. Figure in the ramifications of the salary cap, offensive and defensive systems, retirements, injuries, and expected free-agent signings, and it just gets more and more complex. Quite frankly, to someone who doesn't have a direct stake in what's going on, figuring out the complexities can be more trouble than it's worth.
Still, thousands will be paying attention on Saturday and Sunday, anxiously awaiting the news of what bright young star has been selected by their team to carry the hopes of the franchise in the future. There will be hours and days and weeks spent reviewing every move of the draft, trying to break down strategy, expectations, strengths and weaknesses of each team. Season tickets will be sold entirely on the strength of expectations lifted by a young man who will be given more money than he ever thought possible to put on a jersey and play a game he's loved his entire life.
The NFL Draft is big business, and it's one of the grander spectacles in professional sport today. It can be exciting, intriguing, or merely boring, depending on who you are and how your team is affected. It results in hundreds of millions of dollars changing hands, and helps decide the fate of every NFL team each year. Fortunes are made, families changed forever, prayers answered, and dreams shattered. And it is the beginning of another exciting year of NFL Football.
Next time: Things ain't as they appear, and a review of this year's draft.