The NFL is always a fun time of the year for fans of Football. It’s a unique time where fans of College Football get to see where their favorite players are landing, while NFL fans are going to see who the next generation of stars are coming from and who they need to continue or start to research to see how this will affect their favorite NFL team in the future. The draft as a whole will be graded and assessed, with winners and losers named before some of these players even set foot in the state they will play in let alone put on a pair of cleats for their new teams. The top end of the draft the first two nights will get most of the attention but teams will be built in later rounds who can identify talent they can develop and will fit their scheme, systems, and locker room.
Draft coverage is a saturated market every year with various television, social media, written coverage, and every medium imaginable covering the draft not only draft week but year round. This year after one night the thing that stuck out to me is the coverage of the draft are some different view points from both college and NFL Coaches who've seen these war rooms from the perspective as Coaches and front office members. I'm speaking of Nick Saban and Bill Belichick working in broadcasting and giving the vantage point of a College Coach on these prospects and NFL GM and Coach on Draft day with their thoughts on these prospects and their fits. Another great resource throughout the draft is College Football Dawgs Follow them on social and refresh the site for your up to date news on the NFL Draft.
First looking at Coach Belichick on Pat McAfee's Draft Show. Coach Belichick's resume doesn't need to be stated he's done all you can do in Football at the highest level over a long period of time. Him on McAfee's show is not only entertaining seeing him interact with Pat and his crew including an imitation Mel Kiper but provides valuable knowledge of a Coach who's worked out many of these prospects like Jayden Daniels, and the thought process of NFL front office minds because he's sat in the war room and made these decisions in the past. He also has more stories than most when it comes to drafts which can be very entertaining including one about how the trade for Randy Moss came to be. like in the tweet below.
Below is the full video from the first night of the draft from Pat McAfee's show.
The knowledge of draft picks and value why something like the Carolina Panthers trading from the 33rd pick to the 32nd pick is a very interesting thing to listen to and what the thought process the front office has. Below in the clip talking about the trade between the Panthers and Bills, Coach discusses why drafting Xavier Legette in the first round compared to the second is beneficial because of the fifth year option for the program because they think he's a guy. Also it gives some view into Buffalo wanting to move back to try to make a deal or review their board.
Next let's look at Coach Saban in analysis. Coach is interesting because he has experience as a former NFL Coach and has an understanding of what it looks like from the NFL perspective, but also has intimate knowledge of College Football and specifically players from his own team. Below are two clips of him discussing two of his former Alabama players getting drafted. He shows in these clips great analysis showing their growth from being prospects to draft day, as well as the relationships built with players.
Another interesting perspective was Coach Saban discussing players they played against and making comparisons to former NFL talent and scheme fit for players when they were picked. The most interesting one to me gave some view of a top tier recruiting department in FBS College Football today were Coach Saban discussed the Eagles draft pick, Quinyon Mitchell. He discussed how they had him ranked as their top prospect should he enter into the portal, which he never did. This shows something we've seen in professional football has trickled into college football which is a split in scouting with a department to focus on top prospects that are currently in college football mirroring the NFL having College and Pro scouts to evaluate potential free agents.
Day 2 and 3 of the draft are sure to bring more excitement as well as more knowledge and insight from not only these two great Coaches but other of sources in the draft. Make sure you enjoy the draft and hopefully your teams put themselves in position to be better than last season with their picks. Below are some articles from the first day of the draft and the link watch some film on YouTube for schemes or to watch prospects that your team may draft.
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