Greg Gabriel shares his experience from draft rooms during his scouting career.
With the 2024 NFL Draft beginning tomorrow night, I thought it might be interesting to explain how different Draft Rooms I have been in were set up. Just like no two Draft Boards are alike, the same can be said about Draft Rooms and who is in them.
The first time I was in a Draft Room was in 1982 with the Buffalo Bills. Back then, it was much different than it is today. In the two-week period leading up to the Draft, the scouts were in town and set up the Board. Once they completed setting up the Board, the scouts who were out of town went home.
The Draft was on Tuesdays at that time and was 12 rounds. It began at 8:00 AM Eastern time, and all 12 rounds were completed that day. It usually didn’t end until about 2:00 AM the next morning. The only people who were in the room those years were the Head Coach, the Director of Player Personnel, the Scouting Director, and the few scouts who lived locally. The only opinions that mattered or who discussed who to take were the Head Coach (Chuck Knox) and the Director of Player Personnel (Norm Pollom). The General Manager of the Bills at that time was not involved in the Draft, and his job description was more like that of a Club President today. I was with the Bills for three Drafts, with the same people involved and the Draft Room scenario being the same.
In 1984, I went to work for the New York Giants, and the 1985 Draft was the first Draft I was involved in with that Club. The Giants did it totally differently than the Bills.
All the scouts came to the Giants facility two weeks before the Draft, and like with the Bills, we spent those two weeks setting the Board. Because the Draft was 12 rounds at the time, we didn’t finish setting the Board until about two days before the Draft, but there was always a discussion between the decision-makers in the week leading up to the Draft to strategize.
With the Draft being 12 rounds, we had 12 columns of 28 players (there were only 28 teams at the time) set up from highest grade to lowest. When there were players with the same grade, we stacked them in order of preference.
The Draft Room at Giants Stadium was much different than it was in Buffalo. It was huge, and during the Draft, the entire scouting staff, the General Manager, the Personnel Director, the Head Coach, the Coordinators, and, of course, the Owner were all present.
As we got close to each pick, the discussion would begin as to who we would select. Any person who had written a report on one of the players discussed was allowed to take part in the discussion. At that time, we went strictly by the Board, and we would talk about the five highest-rated players on the Board regardless of position. At the end of the discussion, there was always one player the room agreed upon, and that was the player we selected. This procedure was the same for every round of the Draft. The entire 17 years I was with the Giants, we did it the exact same way.
There were many things about the way the Giants ran a Draft that I wasn’t comfortable with. When Jerry Angelo and I came to Chicago in June of 2001, we had both spent time in New York, and we both agreed that wasn’t going to be the way we ran a Draft here in Chicago.
The main thing we didn’t like was that there were too many players on the Board. We wanted to cut that number to strictly players we had an interest in. We called those prospects our “Hot List.” When we got to the Draft, the only names that were on the main Draft Board were just Hot List players, and that number was about half of the 255 players drafted each year. Some years, it wasn’t even that. Players with character issues, medical issues, or who weren’t fit for our scheme were not on the Board. The thinking was, “Why have names on a Board that there was no way we would even think about selecting?”
The other main difference we had was we didn’t rank the players in seven rows but rather stacked them by position. Offensive players were on the left side of the Board, and defensive players were on the right. Each position was stacked by grade and separated by round designations.
Players that we felt were worthy of being selected in the first two rounds were “A” players. Players with third and fourth-round grades were in the “B” group, and the “C” group were players with grades for rounds five through seven. If a player had a “D” designation, he could not be drafted but only signed as a UDFA after the Draft.
When selecting players, it was always hoped and usually worked out that we were able to get an A-level player in the third round and a B-level player in the fifth and sometimes the sixth round. That happens because every team’s Board is stacked differently.
In the final week leading up to the Draft, we would discuss strategy. We would prioritize the players we wanted for each round and have a “game plan” set up for Draft Weekend. When we got to the Draft, we would always follow the plan that had been set up. Of course, there would be discussion before each pick, but we tried never to deviate from the original plan.
As for who was in the Draft Room in Chicago, it was General Manager Jerry Angelo, me, the scouts, Head Coach Lovie Smith, team President Ted Phillips, and both Michael and Pat McCaskey. The Head Trainer and the team Doctor were also there in case there were any medical questions that needed to be answered.
When it came time to discuss players, the only people who talked were the scouts, Jerry, Lovie, and myself. Neither Ted nor the McCaskey’s seldom said a word. In between picks, Jerry and I would always huddle in his office and discuss the next pick before going back into the room and discussing things with the scouts.
I worked as a consultant in Philly in 2012 and 2013. Their Draft Room procedure was very different from how I had previously done it.
In Philly, the scouts didn’t come in until a week before the Draft, and for the most part, the first four rounds of the Board were already set. When the meeting began, it was much more about Day 3 than anything else, as the decision-makers had already set the first part of the Board to their liking,
The Draft Room in Philly is very small and can’t accommodate more than about ten people. That said, the only people in the room were the decision-makers, the Head Coach, the Owner, and a few of his guests. The scouting staff was in an adjacent room and were brought in to answer questions. After the decision was made, we came into the room as the pick was announced. Needless to say, I didn’t like that situation as I had never been in a Draft Room where the scouting staff didn’t have a say in who got picked. Philly generally has good Drafts, so that way of doing things works for them.
Now, many clubs have cameras in their Draft Rooms. When watching the Draft, be aware of how many people are in the room, who is standing, and who has a desk and chair. That can tell you how many people are involved when draft decisions are being made.
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