The NFL Draft is huge, one-a-year selection process where college players get to live out their dreams of playing professional football. In fact, it is often referenced as the biggest sporting event that doesn't include the actual playing of sports. It is televised and draws millions of views from dedicated football fans all the over the country, praying that their favorite team makes the best decision. But, the NFL Draft wasn't always the big event it is today. It started from the bare bottom in terms of organization, glamour, and interest.
In 1936, every team owner and NFL representative flew in to Philadelphia for the very first NFL Draft. With the very first pick of the draft, the Philadelphia Eagles selected Heisman trophy winner, Runningback Jay Berwanger out of Chicago. Unfortunately, they weren't able to come to an agreement in terms of a contract, and eventually traded him to the Chicago Bears. Here, he decided that he'd rather not play football and took up a day job at a rubber factory. This is actually quite common even today. One recent example is Myron Rolle, a 26 year-old drafted by the Tennessee Titans, who decided to quit football after this past season and pursue his dream of attending medical school.
There are many similarities between today's NFL Draft and 1936's such as the overall structure and mechanics of the draft. But, there are just as many differences. Probably the biggest difference is the growth of the draft and the entire league as a whole. The league started off as a small event with 9 total teams and developed into the huge nationally viewed event including 32 teams and 7 rounds. With the increasing attention came increased complexity to the whole practice. In 1946, the Los Angeles Rams hired the first private scout to travel around the nation and watch aspiring football players. They changed the entire face of the game after they won National Championships in 1949, 1950, and 1951. In 1960, the draft underwent another drastic change during the creation of the AFL. There were two separate drafts for the NFL and AFL, which caused both leagues to fight over which players entered which drafts and even caused the "kidnapping" of players. This type of “kidnapping” included teams holding draft hopefuls in their hotel rooms until the draft. This would increase the chance of their league signing the player to one of their teams. To avoid this type of quarrel, both sides agreed on only having one overall draft in 1967 and eventually merged leagues in 1970.
From there, even more changes that made the NFL Draft more similar to the type of event it is today were made. In 1987, the scouting combine was moved to Indianapolis, where it still remains today. All the scouts, coaches, and front office staff were able to attend this low key event and witness athletes being put to the test. This gave the media an opportunity. ESPN began attend the combine and televising it. From here, the draft blew up in terms of media. ESPN hired their first expert analyst of the NFL Draft, Mel Kiper, who is still working today. That’s where the scene of scouting reports, mock drafts, and draft breakdowns started to take off. Ever since, fans and experts alike have to been making and reading websites much like this one. The NFL Draft has come a long way from its start back in 1936,
The whole process of the NFL Draft is still going through changes in this era of technology and the internet. All over the web, there are sites dedicated to the draft much like this one. Mountains of stats, reports, and highlight tapes on a single player can be found easier than ever, with the click of a button. Regular fans are able to create scouting reports and try to predict the success of certain players and predict the draft through mock drafts. but it is still the best place to rebuild a team with youth.
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