Many aspects of the NFL Draft process for NFL clubs are no longer secret for those not in the league.
After the college football season ends in January, NFL clubs meet in preparation for the all-star games in late January, then meet again before the NFL Scouting Combine in late February, followed by the nationwide travels of the Pro Day circuit throughout March.
But what do teams do in April? The answer is both a lot and a little. It’s both uniform and differs between teams.
Here’s a bit of the different tasks and focuses NFL teams do as we work towards the culmination of the draft process: NFL Draft weekend.
Reviewing workout warriors and late-round/priority free agent players
The major benefit of the NFL Combine for clubs is simply that it hosts so many players in a uniform setting. NFL teams can leave feeling fairly good about more than 300 players all in one place, with most, if not all, of their scouts and coaches.
But for pro days, NFL clubs are spread across the country, sometimes at seven or more different pro days at once. While people outside the league can benefit from leaks of pro day results to start reviewing and assessing these guys, for many teams, pro day month is data collection, and April can be the first time to actually start making sense of the numbers.
Teams differ on how they process “workout warriors,” or players who either tested far better than expected or weren’t on the radar at all, but now warrant review. Sometimes, it’s area scouts diving back in and updating reports. For others, it can be at the director level as the pro day results come in.
That results in one of, in my opinion, the few benefits of the pro day circuit. The “workout warriors” end up standing out so much that not only are directors, coaches and executives watching or rewatching their film, but they’re watching it less than a month before they start actually using their…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/news/2024-nfl-draft-what-happens-in-april-inside-what-nfl-teams-do-in-the-weeks-leading-up-to-the-draft/
Author : Eric Galko
Publish date : 2024-04-01 12:03:40
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