Draft Wait

Lost in the bitching, mostly my bitching, over this never-ending wait for the 2014 NFL Draft is the impact that the two week delay has had, and will have, on some of the more under-appreciated NFL employees. The scouts. During the draft preparation period all of the attention moves from the college all-star games to the Scouting Combine to the Pro Days, visits and private workouts. That brings the general managers, the head coaches, even the coordinators into sharp focus. No one ever seems to care about or know about the scouts that have laid all of the draft preparation groundwork for all 32 NFL teams. The scouts might be the hardest working employees in the league.

Scouts are on the road for most of the calendar year. They live in hotels, airports, and cars. When they aren't in an hotel, airport, or car, they are on a football field somewhere. If they have a family, they rarely see them for the majority of the year. All of their work builds toward the draft. Not long after the draft, they begin work for the next one. The important words are "not long after the draft." The only break that the scouts get each year is a few weeks after the draft. The two weeks that we, meaning me, are bitching about now are supposed to be the first days of the scouts' much-deserved break. The scouts summer schedule won't be shifted two weeks because of this stupid draft delay because the college football summer schedule hasn't shifted two weeks to accommodate it. The scouts yearly routine will kick into gear when it normally kicks into gear. I wonder if Roger "the Goods" Goodell thought about that when he "made up" this, now cancelled, scheduling conflict at Radio City Music Hall. No one has embraced this stupid delay but most of us are more inconvenienced that truly impacted. It's the scouts that are truly impacted. Here's a Flea Flicker salute to the NFL scouts and all that they do. All of you are very much appreciated. Well, maybe not the scouts of the Minnesota Vikings rivals in the NFC North.