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No more secrets in NFL draft
By JEFF DARLINGTON
Cox News Service
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — One day more than 30 years ago, a salesman walked into the offices of the Dallas Cowboys hoping to unload some artwork.
He left without success, but he unknowingly had sold the Cowboys on another idea.
“This guy had been a soccer coach in the Balkans,” said Gil Brandt, then the Cowboys’ director of player personnel. “He was saying how these athletes in Europe could kick a ball 80 meters.”
Within weeks, Brandt was on a plane to Europe, where he found and signed a kicker in Vienna — Toni Fritsch, who ended up spending 10 years in the NFL.
“Being a dominant team was also about being innovative,” Brandt said. “That hasn’t changed at all — and it never will change. But these days, the challenge of being different has become much more difficult.”
True, as teams prepare for next weekend’s NFL Draft, there’s little chance of discovering a talented player who isn’t entered into every scout’s laptop or on the tip of Mel Kiper’s always wagging tongue.
Brandt and the Cowboys were crafty and creative in their scouting efforts long before the rest of the league caught on. But nowadays, the computer age, extensive coverage of college football, massive scouting departments, combines and even draft dafts like Kiper make it nearly impossible to miss a prospect.
That’s why fans from Foxboro to San Francisco will get to know Miles Austin this week even though the wide receiver played for tiny Monmouth University in central New Jersey and never appeared in a televised game.
Austin has credentials — he’s 6-foot-3, 219 pounds, runs a 4.47 40 and has 33 career touchdown passes — so scouts didn’t need word-of-mouth to find him.
“Everyone is crawling underneath the bushes right now looking for people,” said Joe Bugel, the longtime offensive line coach for the Washington Commanders. “There’s nobody coming out of the cracks.”
In other words, scouts will find you. But that wasn’t always the case.
Bugel recalls the time in 1981 when then-Commanders General Manager Bobby Beathard told him to head to the University of Louisville to take a look at an offensive lineman. Louisville’s program wasn’t on anyone’s radar screen, but Bugel obeyed his orders and took off to meet a 6-7, 300-pounder named Joe Jacoby.
“We worked him out for an hour and a half,” Bugel said. “I said, ‘Something is wrong for this kid to be this good without anyone knowing about him.”’
On draft day, when there were 12 rounds instead of today’s seven, Jacoby’s name never got called. That’s when the Commanders signed him as a free agent.
“We gave him probably $5,000 to sign and a couple of roast beef sandwiches,” Bugel said.
Jacoby went on to play for Washington for 13 years, winning three Super Bowl rings and appearing in four Pro Bowls.
Teams still find players from smaller programs — the 2004 champion New England Patriots had five players from Division II schools — but everyone is competing to draft or sign them.
Brandt believes teams can still discover hidden talent by being innovative, like his old Cowboys. In the ‘70s, he sent scouts to the annual convention of college basketball coaches to figure out if there were any athletes whose hard-court talents might translate to helmes and pads.
“I think there are still gems out there,” said Ron Wolf, the former longtime general manager of the Green Bay Packers. “This is what makes the NFL so great. You can take a guy in the first round who’s a flop and you can take a guy in the sixth round who becomes a Hall of Fame performer.
“It’s just a matter of finding them.”
By JEFF DARLINGTON
Cox News Service
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — One day more than 30 years ago, a salesman walked into the offices of the Dallas Cowboys hoping to unload some artwork.
He left without success, but he unknowingly had sold the Cowboys on another idea.
“This guy had been a soccer coach in the Balkans,” said Gil Brandt, then the Cowboys’ director of player personnel. “He was saying how these athletes in Europe could kick a ball 80 meters.”
Within weeks, Brandt was on a plane to Europe, where he found and signed a kicker in Vienna — Toni Fritsch, who ended up spending 10 years in the NFL.
“Being a dominant team was also about being innovative,” Brandt said. “That hasn’t changed at all — and it never will change. But these days, the challenge of being different has become much more difficult.”
True, as teams prepare for next weekend’s NFL Draft, there’s little chance of discovering a talented player who isn’t entered into every scout’s laptop or on the tip of Mel Kiper’s always wagging tongue.
Brandt and the Cowboys were crafty and creative in their scouting efforts long before the rest of the league caught on. But nowadays, the computer age, extensive coverage of college football, massive scouting departments, combines and even draft dafts like Kiper make it nearly impossible to miss a prospect.
That’s why fans from Foxboro to San Francisco will get to know Miles Austin this week even though the wide receiver played for tiny Monmouth University in central New Jersey and never appeared in a televised game.
Austin has credentials — he’s 6-foot-3, 219 pounds, runs a 4.47 40 and has 33 career touchdown passes — so scouts didn’t need word-of-mouth to find him.
“Everyone is crawling underneath the bushes right now looking for people,” said Joe Bugel, the longtime offensive line coach for the Washington Commanders. “There’s nobody coming out of the cracks.”
In other words, scouts will find you. But that wasn’t always the case.
Bugel recalls the time in 1981 when then-Commanders General Manager Bobby Beathard told him to head to the University of Louisville to take a look at an offensive lineman. Louisville’s program wasn’t on anyone’s radar screen, but Bugel obeyed his orders and took off to meet a 6-7, 300-pounder named Joe Jacoby.
“We worked him out for an hour and a half,” Bugel said. “I said, ‘Something is wrong for this kid to be this good without anyone knowing about him.”’
On draft day, when there were 12 rounds instead of today’s seven, Jacoby’s name never got called. That’s when the Commanders signed him as a free agent.
“We gave him probably $5,000 to sign and a couple of roast beef sandwiches,” Bugel said.
Jacoby went on to play for Washington for 13 years, winning three Super Bowl rings and appearing in four Pro Bowls.
Teams still find players from smaller programs — the 2004 champion New England Patriots had five players from Division II schools — but everyone is competing to draft or sign them.
Brandt believes teams can still discover hidden talent by being innovative, like his old Cowboys. In the ‘70s, he sent scouts to the annual convention of college basketball coaches to figure out if there were any athletes whose hard-court talents might translate to helmes and pads.
“I think there are still gems out there,” said Ron Wolf, the former longtime general manager of the Green Bay Packers. “This is what makes the NFL so great. You can take a guy in the first round who’s a flop and you can take a guy in the sixth round who becomes a Hall of Fame performer.
“It’s just a matter of finding them.”
