Risers, fallers, winners, losers, sleepers, reaches and busts. The feats and fiascos by front offices during the three-day spectacle that is the modern NFL Draft has become the stuff of legend and infamy. But what is the real process that precedes what ultimately gives us these outcomes every spring?
Inspired by Jon Bois' brilliant dissertation on the history of successes and failures by NFL franchises -- and the subsequent hilarious experiment of throwing darts at a board to engineer a more successful draft than Matt Millen could muster in 2006 -- I set out to better understand the formula of NFL front offices. Because, these guys have to actually be trying, right?
Despite Bois' dart-board randomness success, in reality preparing for the draft is a complex, laborious and painstakingly detail-oriented and continuous journey. It all starts in earnest about eight months before Roger Goodell calls out the first overall pick...
