The Draft: A Year Inside the NFL's Search for Talent

by Pete Williams

An explosive look at the NFL Draft from the inside out that exposes the multilayered feeding frenzy that swarms around America's top college players.

The Draft follows a handful of NFL hopefuls through the ups and downs of the 2004 college football season and the predraft process, culminating with the 2005 draft. Among the prospects are Virginia defensive end Chris Canty, who overcomes a devastating early-season knee injury to reestablish himself as a top draft hopeful, only to suffer a detached retina in a nightclub skirmish; and Fred Gibson, a talented but rail-thin Georgia wide receiver who struggles to put on the weight needed to go over the middle in the NFL.
It's a complex environment, with college coaches attempting to protect their "student-athletes" from exploitation (while fully aware that they can only remain competitive if they attract NFL-caliber players to their schools), along with sports agents and NFL scouts trying to stay a step ahead of their competition.
These parties provide a multi-angled view of the world of emerging NFL talent. The reader follows the season through the eyes of a host of power players and scouts, from veteran agent Pat Dye Jr. to Jerry Maguire clone Jack Scharf, to the coaching divisions of Florida State University and the University of Virginia---headed by longtime Bill Parcells disciple Al Groh. Also central to the narrative are the Atlanta Falcons and executives Rich McKay and Tim Ruskell (now with Seattle), who use a character-based evaluation system to set their draft board. These parallel stories weave together, culminating in draft weekend, to create a gripping and fascinating look at a world few see from the inside.

Genres: Sports, Football, Nonfiction

336 pages, Hardcover

First published March 7, 2006

Reviews

[Dale · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book very interesting, well researched and well written. The book is all about the events leading up to the 2005 NFL draft. The author spends time with college athletes getting ready for the draft, agents, trainers, coaches, scouts and family members.

If you've ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes in an NFL teams scouting department, this book will provide answers. I had no idea the depth of research that NFL teams do when they evaluate college football players.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who is an NFL fan.

[Flora · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book, which follows a number of scouts and players in the year leading to the 2005 draft, reads like a series of columns or essays rather than a whole narrative. I feel that the lack of focus weighed it down, but it's also possible that I just wasn't that interested in the draft to begin with.

[Jimmie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Draft was an entertaining book to read. Although this book is a bit dated as the book chronicled the 2004 NFL draft, I found the insights from the book to be both detailed and very interesting. The book covers the end of the 2003-2004 NFL draft season and follows a select NCAA football players as they prepare for the 2004 NFL draft. The author provides behind the scenes of how NFL executives, scouts and coaches research potential NFL players.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the background information on the planning and testing of future NFL players. I knew some of these stories as I have followed the NFL draft for many years. But it was great to see this view of the NFL draft. I highly recommend this book to any NFL fan.

[Kidwonder Kards · Rating 3 out of 5]

We follow a few players and draft agents through the 2005 draft. The title tricked me a bit. I expected the book to be about the actual draft process: The fitness and mental preparation of a player, the combine, east west shrine game etc. However, it was mostly about the sport agents part of the process, and although it is important, it is a side of football that I am not fond of. I did not finish the last chapter or so because I didn't need to know much more. However, if your are interested in this side of football, it's a solid read.

[Nolan]

Character matters and is graded with nfl teams

[Steve Chilton · Rating 2 out of 5]

A disappointment. Masses of detail about the draft but too much coverage of agents. Needed to give a better insight into the struggles that teams and players make in the lead-up to the draft, and the history and implications of drafts past and present.

[Josh Liller · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun and informative look at a year in the NFL player selection process, through the eyes of several general managers, coaches, agents, and college football players hoping to make it in the NFL.

It would have been nice if the book examined the draft philosophies of more teams and examined more examples of why certain famous high draft picks failed and why certain players were taken late in the draft but because hugely successful. I guess those could be considered outside the scope of the book though.

My biggest problem with the book was the author's tendency to repeat himself.. The worst example was the 3-4 defense: anyone who is reading a book about the NFL draft should know enough about football to know what a 3-4 defense is. Still, it's not unusual (if usually unnecessary) to explain such terms the first time they are mentioned. When you explain it for the fifth time in the span of 300 pages, it's annoying.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since the book was published 8 years ago, it is interesting to see the names and who actually panned out and became NFL stars.

The book is full of information but it needs an editor. The author will share the same anecdotes 2-3x, often with the same language, throughout the book. It became a slog to read through all of these redundancies.

[Denali · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ostensibly chosen as a light read but my mind isn't far from the doctoral admissions process...

[Shane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good insight into the NFL draft, though the writing is poor throughout and the obsession with the minutiae of life as an agent is likely to try the patience of the average football fan.

[Matt Atkinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit dry and focuses too much on the uninteresting agents rather than the players and GMs

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh....