2013 NFL DRAFT

Stev_o

Honestly I wouldn't blame him, though honestly I don't understand the need for a NFL draft prospect to have a agent. Anyone want to chime in on the benefits?

Red Crow

Stev_o wrote: »

Honestly I wouldn't blame him, though honestly I don't understand the need for a NFL draft prospect to have a agent. Anyone want to chime in on the benefits?

Managing the press, public relations, media exposure, talking to teams/scouts, handling all the side of football that isn't natural to a young kid who's about to become a millionaire. Also an experienced agent would have a decent level of experience built up and would probably be able to give the guy a lot of advice rather than being chucked out like a piece of meat.

Stev_o

Eli Manning wrote: »

Managing the press, public relations, media exposure, talking to teams/scouts, handling all the side of football that isn't natural to a young kid who's about to become a millionaire. Also an experienced agent would have a decent level of experience built up and would probably be able to give the guy a lot of advice rather than being chucked out like a piece of meat.

Surprised scouts would actually listen to agents!

Red Crow

Stev_o wrote: »

Surprised scouts would actually listen to agents!

You'd imagine that scouts would be able to give agents info and vice versa. I'd imagine its a bit of a cesspit!

robluvshandegg

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nfl--geno-smith-s-firing-of-agents--pre-draft-actions-shed-light-on-why-qb-dropped-183846651.html

Some other angles on Geno's slide.

Mikeyt086

I don't suppose anyone has been able to source any more Gruden QB's Camps from this year? I've only seen Joeckel and Geno...

Paully D

Brilliant read (as always) from Peter King about being in the draft war room of the Rams. I was a huge fan of the Rams draft so it's very interesting to get a glimpse of what went on that night:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1207516/1/index.htm

5:47 p.m. CT, St. Louis Office of Rams COO Kevin Demoff Days before the draft, G.M.'s Les Snead of the Rams and Buddy Nix of the Bills agreed on a tentative deal: Buffalo would send its first-round pick, No. 8, to St. Louis for No. 16 plus the Rams' second-rounder, No. 46, and the teams would swap third-rounders, moving the Rams up seven slots. Now Demoff's phone was chirping. It was Bills president Russ Brandon, and the news wasn't good: Buffalo had other suitors for the pick.

"Do we have to go get another partner?" Demoff asked. Could be, Brandon replied.

A dark cloud. On the big board in the windowless second-floor draft room at club headquarters were five targeted players. The two whom Snead and coach Jeff Fisher valued above all were West Virginia receiver-returner Tavon Austin and Georgia linebacker Alec Ogletree. Austin—a durable lightning bug and the most dangerous player on the board—was crucial. St. Louis ranked 31st in punt-return average in 2012, and QB Sam Bradford's 6.72 yards per attempt were 26th. Greatest Show on Turf? Not anymore. These Rams needed weapons.

In an ideal world St. Louis would move up to No. 8 for Austin, then take the troubled but speedy Ogletree at No. 22—or maybe trade down, still get Ogletree and recoup the capital they lost in getting Austin. A day earlier Fisher and Snead gathered the coaches and scouts to explain the plan and hear out any naysayers. There were none.

Losing the deal with the Bills, the Rams felt certain, meant losing Austin. The Jets picked ninth and coveted him. St. Louis had been trying to get ahead of New York for six weeks, got to the finish line, and—poof!—it could be gone in minutes.

Or the price could change.

What would really seal the deal for Buddy is a seven," Bills cap guy Jim Overdorf told Demoff less than an hour before the draft. Demoff knew that if adding a seventh-rounder to the package was what it would take to finish the move, the 222nd pick wouldn't stand in the way. Snead and Fisher okayed it. The trade wasn't a lock yet—nothing is until both sides verbally inform the league of trade details. Now the Rams had to just sit and wait.

Snead, 42, paid his scouting dues under Falcons G.M. Thomas Dimitroff (a.k.a. Trader Thomas) in Atlanta. He's been a good match with the 55-year-old Fisher, who historically has been willing to take chances on talented players with troubled backgrounds or hotheaded streaks. Some have busted (Albert Haynesworth, eventually; Pacman Jones); some have paid off (Cortland Finnegan). Snead's draft attitude has been to not let the board come to him but to go get the players he wanted, using as much draft capital as needed. When he interviewed for the Rams' G.M. job 15 months ago, he told Demoff, "I will never be scared to make a move," and when the two drove to work together on the morning of the draft, he told Demoff, "Don't be scared today." That bravado would soon be tested.

7:55 p.m. Rams Draft Center

Thirty people in the 18-by-35-foot room—coaches, scouts, execs—waiting. The Browns, at No. 6, could have been a trade partner if their target, LSU defensive end Barkevious Mingo, wasn't still available. But Mingo was there, and Cleveland pounced. Snead grabbed a land line and rang Buffalo to see if the deal was still on now that they'd agreed to add a seventh-rounder. It was, as long as Arizona, at No. 7, didn't pull the upset of the draft and steal Austin.

7:59 p.m.

Bill Consoli, the Rams' director of information systems, sat in the back of the room, connected by a headset with New York. "The Arizona Cardinals select ... Jonathan Cooper ... guard ... North Carolina."

The room erupted in high fives and hugs, Fisher jumping up and pumping a fist. In back, the biggest smiles creased the faces of special teams coach John Fassel and receivers coach Ray Sherman. Demoff got NFL director of player personnel Joel Bussert on the phone to confirm the trade. "Joel, Kevin Demoff with the Rams.... Good, good.... The Rams send 16, 46, 78 and 222 to Buffalo for eight and 71. Got it? Have they called? Are we confirmed? ... Good. Bye."

Austin was a Ram. Limping from hip replacement surgery, Sherman called out, "He's gonna get coached up, baby!" Someone shouted to offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, "You got your home run hitter, Schotty!"

Two large wall-mounted TVs tuned in to ESPN and the NFL Network began unspooling Austin's college highlights, and the room in St. Louis exploded: WoooopWooop!!! WoooooohHahahahaLookatthat! Assistant head coach Dave McGinnis sounded like a fan hollering from the cheap seats: "Do it, Tavon! Do it!" He clapped Sherman on the shoulder.

"Perfect," McGinnis said. "That's the perfect player for us."

Snead, meanwhile, was already aiming for the second one.

9:05 p.m.

"The next four picks are crucial," Snead said, huddling with Fisher and Demoff in their seats at the front of the room as linebacker Jarvis Jones went off the board to Pittsburgh at 17.

The Rams sat at 22. They wanted Ogletree and were reasonably confident he'd be there. But they'd been talking with Houston at 27 and Atlanta at 30 about moving down to recoup some of what they'd given up to acquire Austin. Their fallback guy was UCLA defensive end Datone Jones, but if he and Ogletree were gone, they'd take Kentucky guard Larry Warford. As bravely as they spoke about Warford, though, picking him in the first round would amount to a big loss for the Rams.

Demoff laid out the options. "We can go to 30 and get a three and a seven from Atlanta, or we can go to 27 and get a four and a six from Houston."

"Or we can stay and just pick Ogletree," Snead chimed in.

Fisher went for a walk and rubbed his lucky 1901 $20 gold coin, a gift from his grandmother years ago that he'd brought out at every draft.

Snead, meanwhile, made a call. He and Ogletree share an agent, Pat Dye Jr., and at this moment Dye was sitting at a draft party in Atlanta with Ogletree and his family. Snead asked Dye what he'd heard. "You better not get cute," Dye replied, "or you'll lose him. If I'd said you could get Alec at 22 a month ago, you'd have kissed me on the mouth. Just take him!"

The 49ers traded up to 18 for LSU safety Eric Reid. The Giants took Syracuse tackle Justin Pugh. And then the Rams sweated out the linebacker-needy Bears. Consoli announced Oregon guard Kyle Long to Chicago, and the draft room went, Ooooooooooh.

9:18 p.m.

One of the biggest misconceptions outside of NFL draft rooms is that the people inside of draft rooms are omniscient, that they have a great feel for other teams' moves. The lone three-by-five-inch magnetic player card left on the top line of the Rams' board was Ogletree's, and all Snead, Fisher and Demoff had to go on now was a gut feeling that he had a chance to slip to No. 27 or 30. On the board Ogletree's card bore a yellow dot and sat slanted along the top line. "Yellow means caution," Snead said, and slanted meant there was still some doubt that he was a wise risk to take. Ogletree had a positive drug test (marijuana) and a DUI on his résumé. There was a chance he would slip.

Consoli: "Cincinnati takes ... Tyler Eifert ... tight end ... Notre Dame. We're on the clock."

Houston called to bow out. If the Rams wanted to trade, they had one option, Atlanta at 30. Snead rang Dimitroff. "T," he asked, "we still on?" The Falcons wanted a future seventh-rounder to clinch the deal, and the Rams had an extra one in 2015 from a trade with New England. Snead okayed it. Now the two teams, St. Louis and Atlanta, had to decide whether to go through with it.

Consoli: "Eight minutes."

Fisher massaged his 1901 coin. The Falcons were thinking. And thinking.

"Time?" Fisher asked.

Consoli: "Five minutes."

The phone rang. The Ravens, at No. 32, were feeling out the Rams about moving up if St. Louis traded down. Call you back. There was a palpable but unspoken sense in the room. Take Ogletree here. Don't risk the trade. We can handle him! We handled Janoris Jenkins!

Fisher and Snead exchanged a look—they agreed that waiting was a gamble worth taking—but amazingly said nothing. Two days earlier they'd decided that if they got this far, like Thelma and Louise they were going off the cliff. Snead dialed Dimitroff's cell. "T, it's yours. Who you taking?" A pause and he hung up.

Snead, to the room: "Atlanta ... Desmond Trufant."

Fisher: "We got 30."

Demoff called in the trade. This time there was no cheering.

"We'll get one of our guys," Fisher said, working the gold coin, "or we'll trade again."

"Now," Snead said, "Alec's sitting in Pat Dye's living room, and he'll see us trade down. And if we pick him, he'll come in with a massive chip on his shoulder."

9:43 p.m.

There were seven selections to go—Minnesota, Indianapolis, Minnesota again, Green Bay, Houston, Denver and, lastly, New England.

The Ravens called back offering a fifth-rounder to switch spots from 32 to 30. Dallas owned the 31st pick, and Snead asked his pro personnel czar, Ran Carthon, to run down the Cowboys' linebackers to see if they were a threat for Ogletree. Meanwhile, Demoff worked the phone, "scenario-shopping" with teams positioned high in round 2. "You have any interest in coming up to 30?" he asked Eagles G.M. Howie Roseman, preparing to trade if Ogletree was off the board at 30.

Sharrif Floyd to the Vikes. Bjoern Werner to the Colts. Xavier Rhodes to the Vikes.

Consoli: "Green Bay takes ... Datone Jones ... defensive end ... UCLA." Then silence. Fisher, speechless, stood up and stared at the board, still working the 112-year-old gold piece. Wasn't that supposed to be a lucky coin? Now it was Ogletree at 30 or bust. Oh, the Rams would talk bravely about what a good player Larry Warford is—but convincing their own defensive coaches would be much tougher.

"Want me to offer Houston a [sixth-round pick] to move down to us?" Demoff asked. Fisher grabbed the phone instead and dialed Texans G.M. Rick Smith, who was on the clock.

"Hey, you staying?" he asked. "Would you go to us for 198 [the Rams' sixth-rounder]?"

Evidently not. Fisher, off the phone, told Snead, "They want 113." No way the Rams were giving up a fourth-rounder to climb three spots. Minutes passed.

Consoli: "Houston takes ... DeAndre Hopkins ... receiver ... Clemson."

The Broncos on the clock at 28. "Ran, give me Denver's linebackers," Snead called out, and Carthon went into detail about players and contracts. Snead got on the phone. Whom he called, he wouldn't say, but with five minutes left he huddled with Fisher and Demoff. Quietly, he said, "Denver's deciding between," and he wrote in pencil on a Post-it: LACY WILLIAMS OGLETREE.

Alabama running back Eddie Lacy. North Carolina defensive tackle Sylvester Williams. And Alec Ogletree. "They just signed Wesley Woodyard to play [weakside linebacker]," Snead said. "I can't see them taking Ogletree."

"But," one scout said, "Ogletree was in Denver on the last day for visits." No one else spoke.

10:13 p.m.

Consoli: "Denver takes Sylvester Williams ... defensive tackle ... North Carolina."

Cheers—but not wild ones—and the first smile from Fisher in two hours. He tossed the coin on the table. "I bring it out once a year for the draft," he said. "For luck. Maybe.... " Demoff held his fist out for a bump, but Fisher shook his head. Not yet. Not yet.

Another call: Vikings G.M. Rick Spielman ringing Demoff, and the conversation went quickly before Demoff hung up. "They'll give us their two, three and four for 30," he said.

Snead: "No, no...."

Fisher: "No more screwing around now."

Two, three, four minutes passed. The 29th pick, New England's, was being auctioned.

Consoli: "Minnesota has traded into this pick."

"Gotta be Manti Te'o," said Snead.

Nope. A minute passed. Then two. Consoli: "Minnesota takes ... Cordarrelle Patterson...." The rest of it, you couldn't hear. There was too much screaming.

10:22 p.m.

"Frank Bush!" Fisher yelled to his linebackers coach. "Go straighten Ogletree's card out!" A beaming Bush walked to the board and adjusted Ogletree's card to an ovation. "Man," he said, "that's good stuff. I've been waiting two weeks to straighten that card!"

"Let's call him," Fisher said, and he and Snead phoned Ogletree. "Coach Fisher here, Alec," he announced, then waited for the cheering on the other end to die down. "It's O.K., Alec. It's O.K. to be excited."

"Turn in the pick, Bill," Snead told Consoli. "Turn in, Alec Ogletree ... linebacker ... Georgia."

Midnight, Snead's Office at Rams Headquarters

Embracing the day's successes with friends, the G.M. took a deep breath. "Felt like Wall Street in there tonight," he said. "Is that what it's like on Wall Street?"

UnitedIrishman

And here's one from the Browns, over on Grantland - http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9255454/chuck-klosterman-draft-day-cleveland

Way too long to copy and paste but love this bit:

For three seasons in the '90s, there was no football team in Cleveland, although the nonexistent Browns remained just as popular as the Indians and more popular than the Cavaliers. (This three-year stint was actually an excellent era for Browns fans, since nothing bad could possibly occur.) The club was reintroduced in 1999, highlighted by a new $300 million downtown stadium and the first overall pick in the draft, Kentucky quarterback Tim Couch.

Paully D

Looking back over some of the teams drafts, and one team I missed having a very good draft was the Cardinals.

Cooper will improve what was a terrible O-line. Minter was good value in round two as many thought he might be picked up at the end of round one. I wouldn't be the biggest fan of Mathieu but a lot of people who know more than me think he can do the business in the NFL. Okafor was a steal in round 4 and Swope very good value in the 6th.

Dansby was a nice free agent pick up today too.

Paully D

Looks like the draft may be pushed back an extra three weeks for next season to around May 15th-17th.

I don't like that move at all, the wait is long enough as it is and I'm sure everyone, from fans to GM's are tired enough of mock drafts, the same TV coverage etc and going back over and over decisions by April, rather than waiting an extra three weeks.

Apparently the NFL say it's because the venue isn't available on the week it's usually held next year, but surely there's elsewhere?

Players Championship in the golf is apparently on that weekend too, and it's mothers day weekend, so it won't help attract viewers.

Peter King sums it up nicely:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nfl/news/20130521/nfl-draft-move/index.html

BOSTON -- I've been trying to find reasons to justify the NFL pushing back the draft by a whopping three weeks next season, to Mother's Day weekend, May 15-17. I can't find one. I'm not alone.

Talked to one personnel czar last night on the phone. "Hate it. Absolutely hate it.'' Saw one owner at dinner last night, and he said (sarcastically) his GM "would just love this ... more time to obsess on final decisions he made a month ago."

The NFL will say if the change is made -- and it's all but done, and could be approved at the meetings here today -- it's because Radio City Music Hall isn't available next year on the last long weekend of April. I live in New York City. There are other venues. Lots of them. It's ridiculous to trot out that excuse. To say the league couldn't find another place at Madison Square Garden or the Barclays Center in Brooklyn or any one of a score of other options in New York is insulting to the intelligence of any thinking person. Say what it is: three more weeks to hype the most ridiculously overhyped event on the NFL calendar. Three more weeks for spring-programming-starved NFL Network to be relevant. And less time for NFL coaches, GMs, scouts and coaching staffs to be human beings and have family lives.

I was a naysayer at first on the league moving the first round to Thursday, with Rounds 2 and 3 on Friday. But I get that now. I actually like it. You get to digest the big round before moving on to the next two. But three more hype weeks? Three more weeks of mock drafts and guesswork? Three more weeks of 64 draft analysts breaking down tape? Lord save us.

The upshot will likely be the elimination of rookie minicamps for many teams. In this age of more and more rookies playing opening day, that's like taking away Spanish 101 and moving right into the second year of it; catch up if you can, rookie. The league will be cutting the number of weeks between the draft and the opening weekend of the season from 19 to 16. It's another way to sacrifice quality to keep the NFL on the front pages longer.

Another factor: Teams will have three more weeks to work out players. Teams aren't going to go into caves and just watch more tape -- they're going to work players out more. Say there's a top-50 prospect rehabbing from injury next year, a player who couldn't work out at the Combine. Now, instead of 12 teams going to work him out individually, maybe 20 will. The rehabber, trying to put his best foot forward day after day, could get hurt exerting himself over and over, day after day, over six or seven weeks.

No one empathizes with NFL employees and their time off. Nor should they. But this is a tradeoff of more hype for less time off, make no mistake about it. Do you honestly think organizations will now say to their staffs, "Take two weeks off in February to make up for extra time in June you'll have to work now?'' No -- not with free-agency tape to study and with college-prospect prep beginning.

The larger question, really, is this: How much hype is enough? How big does the league need the golden goose to get?

Silly question. We see it answered every day by an insatiable league.

UnitedIrishman

First thing I thought of was the increased time for college players to get DUI's and other misdemeanors whilst they wait around for the draft! Bad move.

Son Of A Vidic

I was hoping they would shorten the gap between the Combine, Free Agency and the Draft. But oh no, they go and widen it. Fecking idiots!!!! :mad::mad::mad:

Paully D

Well, the date has been changed to May. 8th-10th to be precise.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2013/05/28/2014-nfl-draft-may-8-10/2366433/

The NFL has officially moved the NFL draft back by two weeks, scheduling the 2014 draft on May 8-10 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

For now, the NFL has only changed the date of the 2014 draft, the stated reason from the league being a scheduling conflict at Radio City Music Hall.

But NFL fans (now with two more weeks of hype to enjoy), agents (with two more weeks to pay expenses for their clients), teams (two more weeks of draft meetings and road trips for scouts) and prospects might want to get used to the draft falling in May, not April. The league is considering a variety of options, including different dates and locations for future drafts.

The NFL announced Tuesday that next year's combine will be held Feb. 18-25 while the league year — and the ensuing free agency frenzy — will begin on March 11. Those dates remain in line with the current 2013 calendar.

The NFL would need approval from the NFL Players Association to make any other significant changes to the calendar.

The NFL said the changes to the 2014 draft won't affect any other parts of the offseason schedule for teams, including the number of practices teams hold in May and June.

Paully D

The Cowboys draft board has been leaked again:

http://www.bloggingtheboys.com/2013/5/30/4378574/dallas-cowboys-2013-draft-board-leaked-almost-complete-7-round-board

In the week following the 2010 draft, a bunch of intrepid BTB readers captured screen shots from video taken inside the Cowboys war room and brilliantly constructed an almost complete version of the team's 2010 draft board. Well, I'm pleased to announce that, thanks to a similar set of images taken in the team's war room during day one of the 2013 draft, we have reconstructed the team's 2013 board.

In this and other photos, you can see the board in the background with the players' names aligned on it. Behind Jerry, you can see the players ranked by round. To his right (our left) hung a whiteboard with the various positions broken down by round. By careful examination of these images, I was able to reconstruct the position-by-round board

A few attendant thoughts:

Number of players: We had heard before the draft that the Cowboys wanted to include only players on the board that they were sure they wanted, so they were working to develop a leaner, more "pure" board. This board has 132 players on it, which is actually pretty close to the one that leaked in 2010, which had 129 players.

Deep draft: We heard time and again that this was a deep draft, particularly in the second and third rounds. While Dallas' second round isn't overly populated, the third round is rich (and, somewhat surprisingly, so is the fifth).

Late rounds: It appears the team didn't feel there were many players deserving of sixth and seventh round designations. This makes sense, if we consider that they are trying to draft only players who have a legit chance to make the club. There are, however, a lot of guys on whom they are willing to take a chance: a bevy of names populate the "priority free agent" designations at the bottom of each position column.

Players not on the board: It looks like there are several categories of player not on the Cowboys board:

1. Injury or character scratches: First rounders Jarvis Jones, Alec Ogletree and Matt Elam aren't on Dallas board. Neither are RB Christine Michael, WRs Keenan Allen and Robert Woods, CBs Tyrann Matthieu and Therold Simon, or DE Sam Montgomery. Clearly, its still important that the players they draft are "RKGs." Further, the team seems to be moving away form selecting talented yet injury-prone players. Several guys with injury histories - Marcus Lattimore, or the aforementioned Jones, for example - are nowhere to be found.

2. Bad scheme fits. You'll notice that three big defensive tackles who received a lot of ink before the draft as possible fits at the one technique - Johnathan Hankins, John Jenkins and Montori Hughes - are not on the Cowboys board. Jesse WIlliams? Nope. As the guys who were on the board suggest, Kiffin and Co. wanted defensive tackles in the 300 pound range who offer quickness and penetration more so than the ability to stand up two rival O-linemen.

3. Wrong size, Charlie: Similarly, they tended to downgrade short receivers (Marquise Goodwin received a sixth round grade; Ace Sanders was nowhere to be found) and small corners (B.W. Webb appears to be a notable exception). It's rare to find a safety on their board under six feet in height. On the other hand, all the linebackers on the board are quick, undersized guys; all the big Parcellsian run stuffers were on other teams' boards.

Differences of opinion: Not only did Dallas eschew some highly-drafted players for the above offenses, they had several guys ranked considerably lower than where they were drafted. They had a second-round grade on D. J. Hayden, who the Raiders reportedly were prepared to take with the third overall pick; in addition, they had third round grades on Desmond Trufant (taken 22nd overall), Datone Jones (26th), and Kyle Long (20th). The most egregious differences? QB E.J. Manuel, drafted 16th, had a fourth round grade, and CB Johnthan Banks, who the Buccaneers nabbed at #43, was given a sixth round designation.

Ranking them regardless of position: Thanks to a sliding whiteboard covering rounds six and seven, I only have the first five rounds of the position rankings that you can see behind Jerry in the above picture. Given that they only had a handful of players with sixth and seventh round grades, it's probably not a big deal. Here's what rounds one through five look like:

From this, we can ascertain the Cowboys draft, according to their board:

Travis Frederick [2, 22]
Gavin Escobar [2, 25]
Terrance WIlliams [2, 23]
J. J. Wilcox [3, 50]
B. W. Webb [3, 47]
Joseph Randle [3, 67]
DeVonte Holloman [5, 147]

As this suggests, Dallas didn't follow a pure "BPA" strategy, even after their trade back with the 49ers. But they were pretty close to one. Here is what their draft would have looked like had they followed a pure "BPA" strategy (I've included options other than Matt Barkley at #80, given that the Cowboys would have just drafted Nassib):

31 Travis Frederick [2, 22]
47 Terrance Williams [2, 23]
74 Ryan Nassib [2, 28]
80 Matt Barkley [2, 31] or Kenny Wheaton [3, 44] or B. W. Webb [3, 47]
114 Webb or J. J. Wilcox [3, 50]
151 Everett Dawkins [3, 62]
185 D.C. Jefferson [3, 63]

It's clear that they didn't want to draft a quarterback and did want to draft a running back - hence passing on both Nassib and Barkley, and opting for Randle (who, to be fair, was the next player on the board after Dawkins and Jefferson).

An interesting insight.