The NFL Draft is an annual event that allows for teams in the National Football League (NFL) to select players coming out of college and add them to the roster of their respective teams. The draft is often considered the most significant event to happen in the NFL offseason. Because of this, the event has been held in a variety of major cities across the United States, with the purpose of allowing football fans the opportunity to support (or criticize) their respective team’s draft decisions. Most of this criticism from fans occurs during the first round of the NFL Draft, as the players who are selected in this round are considered the best players available to be selected. While many of these players show promise, they do not always live up to their draft spot. When this happens, these players are thus labeled as “busts”. This is a poor outcome for the organizations who select these types of players because they miss out on a chance to improve their team, which makes competing with the rest of the NFL much more difficult. Due to how extensive and complicated the pre-draft process has become in recent years, it is difficult to understand why teams still miss out on potential impact players. However, the common themes for drafting ineffectively in the NFL Draft involve the overvaluation of the NFL Scouting Combine and the routine practice of drafting a player only because they fill a team need. To solve this issue and create a more competitive league, teams should instead focus on picking the best player available, accumulating the most possible draft picks, and taking advantage of all the pre-draft resources to make the best selection for their team. 

While the NFL Draft has become a commonplace in today’s NFL, it should be noted that it was born from very humble origins. Back in the early 1930’s, Philadelphia Eagles owner Bert Bell discovered a recurring problem when it came to signing players. Bell summarized this issue by stating, “Players were choosing to play whichever team offered the most money, best chance to win, best place to live or some combination of the above. Low-budget (or poorly performing) teams couldn't attract top talent” (Schalter). This is where he proposed a method for selecting incoming players that would help keep the league competitive and all teams satisfied; a method known today as the NFL Draft. The NFL Commissioner at the time, Joe F. Carr, then helped to implement the draft into an annual event for all organizations to participate in. As this event went on each year, he also helped to modernize and improve it during the course of his time as commissioner (Willis 349). The first drafts that were conducted vary greatly from today’s NFL Drafts. This is mostly due to the fact that their were no pre-draft processes at the time and teams picked players solely based on college performance and coaching recommendations (Schalter). This is where NFL owners slowly started implementing their own pre-draft process into the NFL, and these processes would soon become a commonplace in the modern pre-draft processes. 

The first individual who began revolutionizing the NFL Draft process was New York Giants owner Wellington Mara, who in 1939, started travelling around the country to look for undiscovered talent. Los Angeles Rams owner Dan Reeves improved upon on this idea in 1946 by hiring someone to do this work for him, thus creating the first NFL scout (Schalter). Eventually, more scouts were added to each team across the league, and more advanced data- analysis was implemented that allowed for NFL teams to have an extremely detailed database on all of the players available (Schalter). Then in 1977, teams began creating scouting combines that tested players physical skills and gave medical evaluations to players. This led to the final implementation of the NFL Scouting Combine that was created for all teams in 1982. This national combine was then moved to Indianapolis in 1987, where it is still held to this day (Schalter). With all these new advancements and improvements added to the NFL Draft process, the popularity of the NFL grew immensely and the NFL Combine and the NFL Draft both became major television events, drawing large amounts of viewers from across the country (Schalter). These additions combined with the NFL Draft’s newfound popularity made the entire process much more complicated for today’s NFL. This may be the reason why teams seem to overvalue some parts of the pre-draft process over others, which may lead to them “missing” on prospects in the first round. The NFL Scouting Combine in particular is an addition that seems to provide too much of an influence to NFL scouts. 

Since the implementation of the first NFL Scouting Combines in 1977, new tests and evaluations were added to the process so that teams could better understand the players that were available. Some of these new additions included the 40-yard dash, the broad and vertical jumps, the bench press, positional drills, player-team interviews, and medical evaluations. There are also dozens of other tests conducted, which allows for a vast amount of data to become available on each player (Kuzmitz). However, with all this information at teams’ disposal, it can cause teams to overvalue players simply due to their physical and athletic skills, not their actual football skills. One test in particular that seems to cause the biggest boost in draft stock for players is the 40-yard dash, as this determines how fast a player is, and thus determines if that player can either keep up with or even outrun other NFL players. Luca Celebre investigates this in his video, “The Evolution of the NFL Combine”, and states that players are able to significantly boost their draft stock due to the 40-yard dash, but also points out that only 1 of the 14 players with the fastest 40 times ever recorded at the Combine have actually become an All-Pro player in the National Football League (Celebre). This information clearly shows how overvalued the 40-yard dash is, especially when it has a proven low success rate when it comes to determining player success in the NFL. Furthermore, in a study assessing the relationship between the Combine’s physical tests and player success in the NFL, researcher Daniel Robbins found that most of the tests were not good predictors of this. This caused him to question why the more useful drills were not abolished or replaced with more meaningful tests (Robbins). This begins to show how invaluable the NFL Scouting Combine can be when it comes to selecting players in the NFL Draft, and leads many to the conclusion that NFL teams and talent evaluators should use other methods when it comes to selecting players in the draft. 

Teams overvaluing the NFL Combine is not the only contributor to draft failure, in fact, teams picking a player too early in the draft also contributes to this problem. It has become a common practice in the NFL for some teams to reach for a player who fills a positional need instead of simply picking from the best players available at the time of their pick (Wyche). While picking a player who has a good chance of fixing a team weakness seems like a probable course of action, it actually is one of the main reasons why teams pick poorly. One position in particular which tends to be connected to this problem is quarterback. Although it has become widely accepted across the league that quarterback is the most important position on a football team, teams who are looking for a quarterback tend to pick these players too early, and may find themselves trying to solve this problem for years to come (Williamson). Brian Williamson discusses this problem in his article “Lessons of the 2011 NFL Draft Show Teams Not to Reach for a Quarterback”, stating, “When a team drafts a quarterback who becomes a first-round bust, it puts the franchise behind for years. Not only does the quarterback hole remain but the teams that took the wrong quarterback also missed an opportunity to get better elsewhere” (Williamson). While finding a great quarterback to lead your team should definitely be a team priority, teams should make sure they are picking the right player for their team, and not just picking a prospect and hoping for the best. Players such as Jake Locker, Brady Quinn, Tim Couch, and Johnny Manziel are only a few of the many quarterbacks who have found themselves out of the league after being drafted in the first round. Not to mention, many of the teams who drafted those players are still recovering from those picks. It is clear that this is not a sensible course of action for teams to take, and in order for teams to have better success drafting players and improving their teams, this draft strategy should be discarded by all teams in the upcoming drafts. 

Reaching for players due to a team need has shown to be a wrongful course of action, but a draft strategy that has been used by the successful organizations across the league is the idea of sticking to your draft board and selecting the best player available. To emphasize this point, the opposing viewpoint of drafting players solely based on a need was labeled by Steve Wyche in his article as representing “the minority view in the NFL”. As an example, he cited the Atlanta Falcons team from a few years ago as an organization who used this philosophy and continued to be unsuccessful in league play (Wyche). Many teams are quick to jump on the player who fills a team weakness, but this tactic has a proven track record of leading to potential NFL “busts”. In an interview for Fansided.com, Marc Ryan, a radio host with tons of NFL experience and insider information, was asked about whether drafting based on need was better or worse than picking the best player available. He responded, “The smartest NFL General Managers opt for best available player over need in at least the draft’s first three rounds. This leads to an overall higher level of talent for the roster” (Collins). Although picking the so-called best player available does not guarantee that player will be a major contributor for that team, it definitely increases the chances of that happening. In fact, the more successful NFL franchises (particularly the ones who pick at the end of the first round), tend to follow this very philosophy (Collins). If teams who are always finding themselves in the playoffs every year follow this philosophy, then that it probably a pretty good indicator that it is a solid strategy to follow on draft day. Additionally, Ryan states that team needs can change very quickly in the NFL, as you may have a star player at the left tackle position already on your team, but a significant injury can change all of that, and passing up on a potential All-Pro offensive lineman may become a regrettable draft day decision (Collins). Furthermore, while making a weakness a strength can make your team better, making a strength an even greater strength can make other teams fear you. The struggling teams should definitely take notice of this strategy, because it may very well help boost themselves into a contending team that the rest of the league will have to recognize.

Using the best player available approach is not the only method to improve drafting, as accumulating as many draft picks as possible has also been determined as a way to ace the NFL draft. Firstly, by accumulating draft picks, teams are increasing the number of picks they have for the draft, which thus creates a higher probability of drafting star players. The ways to collect draft picks is through trading players already on a team or by trading back in the draft (Barnwell). One person who perfectly represents this philosophy is New England Patriots coach and general manager Bill Belichick, who is considered one of the best coaches and general managers in NFL history due to his consistent winning atmosphere. Bill Barnwell lauds the work of Belichick in his article on Grantland.com, which he wrote in praise of Belichick. Barnwell states, “Belichick basically makes two sorts of trades: He trades you a pick now for a pick that’s guaranteed to be better later…. Failing that, the Patriots trade down and deal one pick for several selections” (Barnwell). By collecting a vast amount of draft selections each season, Belichick is able to maneuver around the draft board to best improve his team, even sometimes trading up spots in the draft if he so desires (Barnwell). This draft method used by Belichick has shown to bring multiple benefits, mainly being that it allows for NFL general managers to better control their fate during the draft. Furthermore, Belichick has a proven track record of leading his team far into the playoffs nearly every year, winning five Super Bowls throughout his illustrious career. By using this draft method it exemplifies its usefulness in team building. Due to this, struggling organizations should adopt this method to have better success in drafting players. This will simultaneously make their respective teams more competitive and more abundant in talent.  

While picking the best player available and accumulating draft picks have proven success rates in the NFL Draft, simply taking advantage of all the pre-draft methods can also bring better success from drafting. As previously stated, there are numerous pre-draft methods available to learn about all incoming draft prospects, ranging from game film to the NFL Scouting Combine. Considering the amount of methods available, it is important not to value one over the other as each method shows different skills and attributes that each player brings to the table. In an interview with Kevin Clark, Howie Roseman, the current Philadelphia Eagles general manager, talked about the newfound availability of draft examinations in today’s NFL. He explains, “the internet has altered everything: social media’s ability to spread scouting notes on any player at any level and game film’s availability on YouTube has made it nearly impossible for good players to remain under the radar” (Clark). Moreover, Peter Schrager, a former NFL player and now a Senior NFL Writer, expanded on the importance of data collection. Explaining the improvements to the pre-draft process due to available game footage, Schrager states, “Technology is so incredible now that teams can see seemingly every snap a player’s taken…. For teams, it saves a lot of time and frustration” (“NFL Experts Q&A”). Due to how technology has evolved in recent years, it is very easy for NFL scouting departments to collect vast amounts of data on each and every player in the draft, especially with the plethora of pre-draft methods and events available to every team. While this abundance of data can be overwhelming, it is actually a blessing in disguise for the organizations. This is because it allows for teams to learn as much as possible about each player to aid in their decisions about who they may want to target in the draft. By taking advantage of these resources, NFL teams will have a higher chance of picking an impactful player who best fits their team. Thus, an organization’s overall drafting methods will be more effective while also making the entire team more competitive. This is vital in order to help the struggling teams come closer to competing for a Super Bowl title.

With more efficient drafting by teams across the National Football League, the entirety of the NFL will become much more competitive. In a more competitive NFL, the probability of the same teams making the playoffs each year will certainly decrease as more teams will be able to match up against each other more effectively. With this increased variability in which teams will make the playoffs and overall increased competitiveness, the already popular NFL could see its fanbase and influence expand even more across the United States. With an increased widespread interest in the NFL across the United States, more Americans will become enamored in the NFL and its teams. This will give the NFL the opportunity to have a greater influence on American society, and may also cause the city in which an NFL team plays for to see increased popularity and revenue. This would be the result of more people coming to watch their favorite teams play, which coincidently will cause the city’s local attractions and businesses to garner more attention from local and foreign fans. The city of Indianapolis saw this happen to their economy, as they experienced an economic boom after they added an NFL team, an NBA team, and a stadium from which to host the Indy 500 to their city (Masciotra). As other cities take notice of this increased welfare from cities who possess NFL teams, they will certainly want one for themselves. This will allow for the NFL to expand across the country, and maybe even across the world, as more people will recognize the benefits that having an NFL team brings to a city and its economy. Improved drafting across the NFL will not only improve the fortunes of NFL teams, but it can also eventually result in turning the NFL into an organization that can improve and influence local economies across the United States.           

The NFL Draft debatably brings the greatest opportunity for teams to improve every year, but it can just as likely keep teams at the bottom of the standings for years if their drafting methods are incompetent. Teams do this by reaching for players who may fill a positional need and additionally by selecting players solely based on NFL Combine performance. These drafting ideals and methods have a proven track record of increasing the probability that the selected player will be a “bust” or simply may never reach their pre-draft expectations. In order for NFL teams to improve their draft process, they should instead select players who are rated as the best prospects prior to the draft (even if it does not address a need), do not overvalue player results at the NFL Combine, and also take advantage of all the pre-draft methods at their disposal to gain as much most insight on each player as possible. If teams who have struggled picking players in recent years adopt these new drafting ideals over their current ones, there is a higher probability that they will draft more effectively, and may potentially emerge as a dominant NFL team. As more teams are able to improve their rosters through better drafting, it will not only make the entire NFL more competitive. This will not only create more interest in the NFL, but also allows for the NFL to expand and have more influence on the United States, as more cities will want to create their own NFL team after realizing the benefits of having a successful team brings to a local economy. 
