NFL Draft Philosophy Part 1: The Art of Team Building and the Draft

The 2020-2021 college football season is coming to a close and you know what that means? It’s time to dive head first into the NFL draft. Although the 2021 NFL draft is around four months away, it’s never too soon to talk about the wonderful event that will change the lives of around 256 collegiate football players.

I will put out a lot of draft content over the next few months, but I want to start with a couple of pieces that will explore my philosophy about the NFL draft. In these articles, I will discuss different concepts and ideas and explain my thoughts about these ideals. Today, I want to start with the art of team building and the different factors teams should consider when drafting players.

Team building is a huge part of managing a sports franchise. To be successful in any major sports league, you have to be able to construct a roster that fits together and has the talent to win games. The process of building a roster that’s capable of winning games starts with the draft.

Payroll Management

The key to having a successful draft is identifying your positions of need and filling them. This may seem like a simple concept, but it can be quite the opposite. It doesn’t just boil down to whether or not you have a good player at X position. There are many more factors to consider and you must look at the age, talent, and contract situation of each player on your roster. Payroll management is immensely important when determining your positions of need and often goes overlooked.

Teams have to become familiar with their salary table so they can make smart decisions that will positively impact their franchise’s salary cap situation for years to come. If they plan ahead, they can draft players that give themselves flexibility in terms of their salary cap.

For example, I believe the Carolina Panthers should’ve drafted an offensive tackle with the seventh pick in last years’ draft because they traded Trai Turner (a young offensive guard) for Russell Okung (an aging offensive tackle on an expiring contract) during the off-season. If they drafted an offensive tackle like Jedrick Wills or Mekhi Becton, they would be able to let Okung walk this off-season and draft a quarterback without the pressure of providing a quality offensive tackle for their young signal caller.

Instead, they drafted Derrick Brown to improve their run defense, which makes their 2021 first round draft choice much more difficult. If they choose to draft a quarterback now, they run the risk of putting him behind a poor offensive line in the future. To avoid injuring their franchise quarterback, they also may have to keep Teddy Bridgewater on their roster longer than they’d like to. That simple mistake of not planning for the future and drafting a franchise offensive tackle has put them in a sticky situation.

The Derrick Brown pick was in no way a bad selection. The Panthers drafted a top ten talent that filled a position of need and could fix their poor run defense. However, drafting a franchise left tackle would have given them flexibility in the future and would make their 2021 draft pick a bit easier to make.

Keeping track of your future free agents and who you want to keep long term will greatly improve your draft results.

Positional Value

Now I want to get into positional value. Once teams figure out which positions they should target in the draft, determining which are the most valuable is the next step. In the NFL, there are thirteen positions (eight on offense and five on defense) and twenty two players combined between the offense and defense. However, not all positions provide the same value.

The quarterback is the most valuable position in football. Even if your defense is bad and you don’t have the best weapons on offense, you can still win games if you have a great quarterback. The 2020-21 Houston Texans are a great example of this. The only reason why they’re even competitive this season is because Deshaun Watson is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL.

Running backs are the complete opposite. Although having an explosive running back who provides value as a runner and pass catcher can improve your offense, they don’t drive winning like quarterbacks do. The 49ers almost won a super bowl last season with a run heavy offense that relied heavily on three running backs that weren’t first round draft picks. To clarify, my point isn’t that running backs are useless. I just believe that spending a high draft pick on a running back is irresponsible when there is evidence that you can find value at the position in the later rounds of the draft.

On defense, the most valuable position is an edge rusher. Edge rushers include 4-3 defensive ends and 3-4 outside linebackers. Having an elite pass rusher that can put pressure on the opposing quarterback can make your defense one of the best in the league. This is why teams covet pass rushers and look to select one at the top every single draft. Players like Chase Young and T.J. Watt are extremely rare and can change the outlook of a team’s defense.

Positional value on defense is different than it is on offense. I would argue that every position on defense is rather important and none of them are invaluable. Each defensive position has different value depending on the teams’ scheme. The Patriots’ defense is very unique. They believe they can scheme pressure without having elite pass rushers, so they focus on building an elite secondary which allows them to play aggressive man coverage. In their scheme, cornerbacks and safeties are more valuable than edge rushers. This isn’t common for most teams, but it shows that positional value on defense depends on scheme.

Positional value is extremely important when making decisions during the draft and it can be the difference between a great pick and a terrible one.

Player Role/Team Fit

This is the final thing to consider before finalizing a draft selection. Teams must determine how a player fits in their system/scheme before adding them to their roster. Different schemes require their players to do different things and gives them different roles. Putting players in the proper scheme will benefit both the player and the team. If a player goes to a team whose scheme he doesn’t fit, there is a good chance that they will fail and underachieve. This is why team fit is an important factor to consider when drafting players.

Let’s say a team runs a vertical offense that attacks defenses by throwing the ball deep down the field. Their offense will include a plethora of vertical routes (flies, fades, posts, etc.) that will stretch defenses and allow them to put up points at a rapid pace. To maximize this offense’s potential, the team needs a quarterback with a strong arm who can make throws deep down the field. Drafting a quarterback with a weak arm would not be a smart decision for this team.

Perhaps that team runs an aggressive defense that includes a lot of man coverage. A slow corner who excels in zone coverage wouldn’t be a great fit in this scheme, because they would be forced to play man coverage and physically gifted receivers like Tyreek Hill, Stefon Diggs, and Justin Jefferson would overwhelm the corner with their physical prowess.

In my opinion, team/scheme fit is the most important thing to consider when drafting a player. Whether or not a player fits a specific scheme can have a drastic effect on their future success and a bad scheme fit will likely lead to an underwhelming career. Talent is not enough to succeed in the NFL. Players also need to be put in a situation that will utilize them in a way in which they can be successful.

It is incredibly difficult to consistently draft good players. If it wasn't, every team would be great at it. It seems that no one has "cracked the code" yet, but I believe these three factors can help teams do a better job of drafting quality players. There are more factors to consider, but this is a good starting point and you will see me use these ideas when I put together my final mock draft. Stay tuned for the rest of this series!