With the news that NFL front offices throughout the league will be holding a virtual draft – all in their separate spaces – what kind of effect might that have on teams throughout the league? On a recent edition of PFN’s NFL Draft Insiders podcast, Tony Pauline and Andy Herman discussed this very question, with Pauline noting that several general managers were pushing back on holding the draft at its normally scheduled time. Pauline did note, however, that not all executives wanted to push this back.
The conversation begins at the 12:00 minute mark and can be found by searching for PFN Draft Insiders on your favorite podcast player, by clicking here or scrolling down to the bottom of this article for the podcast player.
Some GMs have strongly advocated for the NFL Draft to be delayed. But why?
“This is what I’ve learned from talking to people,” Pauline said. “I’m told that the GMs who came through the executive tree – the ones who are reliant, really reliant on others to give them information or help them make the decisions – those are the guys that want the draft pushed back.”
Pauline continued, “The general managers who really came through the scouting tree and I’m just going to throw some names out there just to give you examples – Joe Douglas of the New York Jets, Dave Gettleman of the New York Giants, Chris Ballard of the Indianapolis Colts – guys who really became GMs through the scouting route, the scouting circle, they can do the draft by themselves.”
GMs won’t have the comfort and resources of their war rooms
Pauline noted that while these general managers are always seeking input from those around them, the input they receive from the outside is not as critical as it might be for a general manager who is more of an executive than a scout. Pauline also went on to talk about how the war rooms are set up and how that’s going to change with the virtual draft process.
“You’ll see 30 and 40 people there and you’ll see all the area scouts and position coaches in that one room. When they are working the draft [virtually], the general manager is going to be talking to the director of college scouting, the director of player personnel which I think concerns a lot of people.
But when it comes to the general managers who basically came through the scouting ranks, they have an advantage and there’s less concern there because they can run the draft by themselves. They get the input from the other guys whereas, with executive types, the input from his scouts is absolutely critical.”
Scouting GMs attend many of the scouting events, which gives them an advantage
Pauline said that it is common to see GMs such as Douglas and Gettleman at the Shrine Game and other events. Additionally, they also spend time scouting throughout the season, whereas executive-type GMs might show up to a few events and do not typically scout throughout the season.
“That’s why there’s a push by some to push back the draft. They’d like to get the Pro Day workouts in and they’d like to get the physical exams in for some of these guys. They won’t be in the war rooms chattering back and forth and basically arguing and talking about what guys they’re going to select. Often times, there are disagreements and now they are going to have to do it online. That’s where the problem arises and again, it’s a bigger problem for the general managers who are more executives rather than scouts.”
This year’s draft is certainly like none other that we have ever witnessed, and it’s going to be interesting to see how it plays out. Be sure to stay tuned to Pro Football Network for all of your NFL Draft coverage, including a 7-round live blog with Pauline, Ben Allbright, and Andrew DiCecco. Follow us and Pauline on Twitter: @PFN365 and @TonyPauline for all of the latest updates.