Yes, all of the draft experts have done their research. They’ve evaluated players on their football talent as well as their off the field actions. They’ve ranked them in order of ability, size, and strength. But, what aspects of a player does a mock draft miss?
Marvin Austin has a ton of talent, but will he fit well in an NFL locker room?
First of all, the draft analysts receive information from their NFL sources and there is no telling whether or not that information is 100% accurate. Often times a team will release information that is vague or even misleading in order to keep their draft selections top secret. I have multiple family members that coach in the NFL and they won’t even tell me who they’re drafting. You think they’re going to tell an analyst from ESPN?
When evaluating players, the first thing that you are looking for is obviously talent, which is covered very well by a mock draft. But then you need to check out the other stuff—the information that draft analysts don’t have access to.
Coaches and scouts meet with players one on one at the Combine and during visits to their team facility. During those meetings they’re typically not evaluating talent (in most cases they’ve already watched an overload of footage on these draftees), they’re getting to know them as people. I’ll go out on a limb here and say that if you’re good enough to get invited to visit a team’s facility, then you have enough basic ability and talent to play for that team. The question is, do you fit with that team? Does that team want you?
In evaluating a player’s personality, coaches ask them simple questions like, “Do you have a history of getting into fights?” You can tell a lot by how a guy answers that question. If he says, “Not on the field, but just street fights here and there when I was younger,” that could be a red flag. A better answer would be “No, Coach, I try to focus on football. I don’t get involved in the drama.”
In addition, coaches often give a player a playbook to study for a few days before they meet with him at their facility, in order to see how much effort he will put forth in learning the material. This also shows how he will react to being taught and how he will adapt to new instruction.
Another thing a coaching staff will consider when selecting players is how a prospective draft pick will fit in with their existing veterans. This is especially important with players from the same positional group that are already signed to long-term contracts. There are subtleties to a team’s dynamic that can only really be known if you’re on the inside of that team. A mock draft expert is not going to have that information when weighing the options.
Stephanie Turner
I don’t think that people realize how often coaches have to manage the personal issues of their players. Whether that’s an issue like a DUI, or issues with their relationships with women. Many a player has been cut from a team because his personal life was too much of a liability. And I’m not talking about the guys you see on the news. There’s a lot that goes on that the media never finds out about. That’s why you really want to try to get a sense of who the person is that you’re drafting, before you draft him.
It’s very easy to overlook a player’s personality flaws from a desk at ESPN, when you won’t have to be the guy dealing with that player on a daily basis for the next five years.
Stephanie Turner has been closely tied to the NFL her entire life. She was raised around football, traveling from team to team with her father, an NFL Coach. Stephanie offers a true insiders' perspective to all things football. She is an actress and writer in Los Angeles and is the creator of footballbrat.com.
Follow Turner on Twitter: @footballbrat
