This month the NFL will hold its annual draft. The draft is when each NFL team will select the collegiate players it wants for the next season. The draft has become a multi day, multi-million dollar extravaganza. It is no longer just about selecting players, the NFL draft is reality television at its highest.
But this hasn’t always been the case. The draft began as a closed door meeting between the owners in 1936 to insure that each team had a fair chance to sign players out of college. The first draft consisted of 90 players.1 It didn’t take long for the draft process to become more complex and involved. In 1946 the Redskins hired the first scouts and in 1982 the NFL Scouting Combine was created, think beauty pageant for football players.1 The draft was changed forever when ESPN began to televise the proceedings in 1980 and put Mel Kiper, an independent talent evaluator, on television in 1984.1 Since that time, the draft process has only gained in popularity. In 2014 32 million people watched the first round of the NFL draft.2 Why is the draft so popular, after all it’s just a bunch of guys reading the names of players?
First, the NFL is the most popular professional sport in America. It has become a year round sport even though it has the shortest season of all the major sports leagues. ESPN should be given a lot of credit for seeing the value of televising the draft. At the time ESPN was a young network on a new TV platform, cable, they needed programming and were willing to show just about anything that was sports related. Now 36 years later ESPN and the NFL network have made the time from the Scouting Combine through the Draft must see TV. People can’t get enough football.
Second, even though on the outside the Draft process is fairly mundane and boring when you take a closer look it is very exciting. Just consider the 1994 draft in which the 7th pick of the first round was traded three times.3
How about the 1998 draft when there was a serious debate about who was the better QB: Ryan Leaf or Peyton Manning. Just this week the Tennessee Titans traded the number one overall pick to Los Angeles Rams. From pre-draft trades to draft day trades to the unexpected picks the NFL Draft is very exciting.
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Finally, it gives fans something to talk about. The NFL draft is tailor made for the Internet era. Social media makes it possible for fans to express their outrage or joy directly to the men responsible for drafting players. It also allows fans an inside look into the process and makes every fan with an ESPN Insider account think he’s an expert in player personnel. The Draft is the perfect storm of fan participation, social media shenanigans, and million dollar decision making. It is now more compelling than ever.
Even with all of our technology the draft is still just a crap shoot. Again, let’s look at the 1998 draft. Indianapolis and San Diego had the first two picks, and at the time there was a real debate about who was the better QB: Peyton Manning or Ryan Leaf. The rest as they say is history. Manning is a first ballot Hall of Famer and Leaf can’t seem to stay out of trouble, but in 1998 some people felt Leaf was the better pro prospect. The history of the Draft is full of big hits and even bigger misses.
When you combine all these things together you get for an oddly fascinating and entertaining event. The NFL Draft is this week and I encourage you to watch a little bit of it and try not to get hooked.
Refrences
Evolution of the NFL Draft. (n.d.). Retrieved April 17, 2016, from http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1077925-history-of-the-nfl-draft-how-has-the-process-evolved-over-time
1994 NFL Draft Pick Transactions. (n.d.). Retrieved April 17, 2016, from http://www.prosportstransactions.com/football/DraftTrades/Years/1994.htm
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