NFL tries to make draft more fan-friendly

By Sam Farmer, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer April 26, 2008

NEW YORK -- It's called the NFL draft, but it's almost like a high-stakes game of lining up dominoes.The first one is in place -- the Miami Dolphins made Michigan tackle Jake Long the No. 1 overall selection -- and the rest will begin falling today, when two of the seven rounds take place.
According to the NFL, more people will be watching the draft than the NBA playoffs when the two events are being aired at the same time. Recognizing the draft has increasingly become a made-for-TV spectacle, the league moved the start time back three hours to noon PDT and shortened the time between selections. Teams will now have 10 minutes to make a pick in the first round, instead of 15, and seven minutes in the second round, instead of 10. The third round has been moved to Sunday. The event will air on ESPN and the league-owned NFL Network, which is broadcasting four hours of pre-draft coverage.Commissioner Roger Goodell said the reason for the changes "is to make it more entertaining and make it more fun for the fans. There was a significant amount of time during the picks that teams just sat on their picks, waiting to see if somebody came to them."We felt that it was a time that was not necessary. So we shortened the rounds. By shortening the rounds, it gave us the ability to move it later in the day, which made it more convenient for a large part of the country, particularly the West Coast."The quicker rounds are the only pared-down aspect of this draft. Otherwise, what is officially known as the "annual player selection meeting" has only grown by the year -- in magnitude, money and fan interest. Oh, and the players aren't shrinking either. It's entirely conceivable that half of the first 10 picks could weigh in the neighborhood of 300 pounds.Unlike in years past, when skill-position players dominated the top half of the first round, this class is loaded with big men, offensive and defensive linemen who will command gargantuan salaries.In signing a five-year, $57-million deal, Long became the highest-paid offensive lineman in the league. And he's never participated in a practice, let alone played in a game."That drives me," Long said. "It pushes me, because I've got to go out there and prove to people that it was a good choice and show people that I will do well at this next level."Rookies are paid so much, with the first player selected setting the standard, that it's often cost-prohibitive for teams to trade up into the top five to grab one of the elite prospects. Many people in and around the league think the system needs to be addressed and changed, so that veteran players are given a bigger slice of the financial pie.Regardless, anyone selected in the first round today will instantly become a millionaire several times over. There are 31 picks in the round, one fewer than typical because the New England Patriots were docked a selection after they broke league rules by secretly videotaping the hand signals of opposing coaches.The Patriots will still have the seventh pick, however, and are in prime position to further upgrade their roster. Kansas City and Dallas each have two selections, whereas the Cleveland Browns, who were very active in free agency, don't pick until the fourth round, having traded away the majority of their picks. As many as five USC players could be chosen in the first round, but the only ones virtually guaranteed of that are defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis and linebacker Keith Rivers. There's a good chance defensive end Lawrence Jackson, tight end Fred Davis and tackle Sam Baker will slip into the second round, although all are expected to be taken on the first day.There is widespread speculation that several teams will look into either trading up or down in the first round, or, in the case of the Dolphins, trading back in to select a quarterback. The four passers generally considered the most promising in this draft are Boston College's Matt Ryan, Michigan's Chad Henne, Louisville's Brian Brohm and Delaware's Joe Flacco.Before a quarterback is selected, however, the St. Louis Rams are likely to use the No. 2 pick on a defensive lineman, either Virginia's Chris Long or Louisiana State's Glenn Dorsey. Chris Long, the son of Raiders great Howie Long, is comfortable with the fact he wasn't selected first. In fact, he seemed to have the mega-event in very clear perspective."I don't think of it as the draft as the achievement," he said. "I think it's the career afterward that matters."
sam.farmer@latimes.com
Source: latimes.com