Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
NFL Draft has grown to a never-ending pursuit
LOS ANGELES — Ten men gathered in the war room to run through NFL draft scenarios, what-ifs and trade possibilities. The conversation soon turned to the subject of Johnny Manziel, the former firstround bust who is attempting an NFL comeback, and the seasoned scouts and draft enthusiasts around the table wondered how he compared with Baker Mayfield and the other top quarterbacks in this year’s draft class.
“Johnny Manziel was a better football player to me than Mayfield,” someone said.
“They’re totally different,” offered another. “I think Mayfield’s better in the pocket. Johnny’s more athletic.”
“This is getting way in the weeds,” Daniel Jeremiah piped in, “but to me Manziel is in the developmental category, which puts him with Josh Allen. Whereas Mayfield is less of a developmental guy. He can play in a normal structure.”
This draft discussion happens every day, but it takes place away from any NFL team’s headquarters. It is show prep that includes Jeremiah, a former college quarterback, turned former NFL scout, turned current TV draft analyst, and an NFL Network crew that churns through draft-related topics for an hour every weeknight on a show called “Path to the Draft,” plus an additional hour every Tuesday on another program called “Mock Draft Live.”
The network’s lively war room amounts to just a small window into the allconsuming, round-theclock, unending frenzy that the NFL draft has exploded into.
Jeremiah, 40, is part of a new generation of analysts in what was essentially a one-man media monopoly until relatively recently. ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. endured years of mockery for his interest in a niche event that’s essentially a series of roster transactions. Today it’s second to only the NFL playoffs on the football calendar in terms of fan interest and media coverage.
The draft is spread over three days and will be held in a football stadium in front of 30,000 fans. Its opening night will be broadcast live on three major networks this year — with Fox joining ESPN and NFL Network — and will be preceded by hundreds of hours of TV updates and a nonstop stream of Twitter analysis, YouTube clips and speculation from a growing class of self-appointed experts armed primarily with an internet connection and varying degrees of football smarts. It’s a cottage industry that suddenly features a handful of skyscrapers and no shortage of folks trying to get into the neighborhood.
“All the sarcasm and the ridicule and the negativity about the draft and about who covers it back in the day . . . you don’t hear any of that anymore,” Kiper said. “That’s kind of satisfying. Nobody is getting criticized anymore. There’s none of the commentary that’s negative about, ‘Why do people do this? Who would care about that? They’re wasting their time doing this,’ and all that garbage.”
Barely a decade ago, the draft was presided over primarily by three knowledgeable kingpins: Kiper and Todd McShay from ESPN and the NFL Network’s Mike Mayock.
There are now dozens of podcasts, websites and social media accounts dedicated to the draft, several others dedicated to aggregating them, and several more focused on critiquing them. In addition to mainstream media and traditional football outlets, fans can type in seemingly interchangeable words and come up with a mock draft, among them: NFLDraftScout.com, DraftSite.com, MyNFLDraft.com, DraftBlaster.com, NFLDraftExpress.com, DraftKing.com, NFLMocks.com. You get the idea.
There is even a website, WalterFootball.com, that houses a database of more than 300 mock drafts from a variety of gurus, experts and bar stool general managers. For the most part, the authors aren’t former players or scouts.
“It’s not just seasonal, like it used to be,” said Phil Savage, a longtime NFL personnel executive who is now the executive director of the Senior Bowl. “Mel Kiper blazed the trail and you’ve seen a lot of people follow. I would say there’s certain media members you’re going to listen to a bit more — that you can trust — and Daniel is right near the top of that.”
Savage is the one who gave Jeremiah his first scouting job 16 years ago. Back then, scouts had to travel around and lay eyes on a prospect. They carried cases of Betamax tapes, then DVDs and later external hard drives. Nowadays, information is accessible to anyone with an internet connection. Virtually every player has highlights available on YouTube, their vital measurements and football stats all readily available.
Jeremiah starts most days early, leaving his home in Murrieta, Calif., by 4 a.m. to beat traffic. He records podcasts and writes for NFL.com, but the draft-specific television programming offers his biggest platform, and his entire year builds to the few weeks in March and April when draft interest peaks.
Jeremiah attends a handful of regular-season college games and a halfdozen bowl games each year. Then he’ll make the rounds to the NFL scouting combine and postseason all-star games. That includes the Senior Bowl, which can be a socializing job fair of sorts, but Jeremiah makes a point of grabbing Chik-fil-A each night and retiring to his room to watch practice footage.
After this year’s draft, he plans to take a couple of weeks off in May before diving back into tape. It’ll be time to turn his focus to the 2019 class.
After all, talking about the NFL draft is a yearround job.