OFFICIALLY KNOWN AS the National Football League Player Selection Meeting, the NFL Draft is an annual event that allows teams recruit the best college football players available in order to replenish their rosters.

A huge amount of time and effort goes into studying these recruits, from watching hours of footage of their games in college to testing their mental and athletic abilities during the NFL scouting combine.

As we’ll see later, the scouts and general managers don’t always get it right when selecting the best players for their team. However, it is the opportunity to see teams make huge mistakes or unearth a diamond in the rough late in the draft that makes the event so compelling.

History

The very first draft took place in 1936 when 81 recruits were selected over the course of nine rounds with very little known about the players, other than sparse media reports from college football beat writers.

Jay Berwanger, the inaugural winner of college football’s Heisman Trophy for player of the year, was the first player selected in the 1936 draft. However, Berwanger, along with 56 others selected that first year, opted not to play in the NFL in 1936.

The draft has undergone a number of changes since that first event and has been televised since 1980, with viewing figures increasing almost every year.

Andrew Luck was the first player selected in the 2012 NFL Draft.
Image: Jason DeCrow/AP/Press Association Images

How it works

There are seven rounds in the 2013 NFL Draft. The first round will take place in Radio City Music Hall on Thursday April 25, rounds two and three the following day, while the remaining four rounds will take place on Saturday.

The draft is designed so that each of the 32 NFL teams can make one selection – known as a pick – per round. There will be 254 players selected with those picks.

However, as draft picks can be traded between teams and others have to be forfeited for various reasons the number of actual picks per team varies between five and 13 in 2013.

The order in which the picks are made is determined by a team’s record the previous year. In 2012, the Kansas City Chiefs had the worst record in the NFL so they will pick first in the 2013 draft. The Baltimore Ravens, because they won the Super Bowl, will have the the last pick in each round.

The draft order is designed to keep the NFL competitive, at least in theory. By giving the worst team from the previous year the choice of the best young players available, it should allow that team to rebuild and compete for a Super Bowl.

Making a pick

In round one, teams have 15 minutes to make their choice. This falls to ten and five minutes for later rounds putting teams under pressure if all the players they were looking at have already been selected.

However, this shouldn’t really happen as teams begin planning for the NFL Draft months, if not years, in advance. By using scouts, coaches and general managers, teams compile a list of the players they would like to draft, based on a number of factors.

While not set in stone, a player is usually drafted because he fills a positional need. If a team has played badly the season before, it is generally because they need a quarterback or an offensive lineman to protect their existing quarterback. For this reason players who play those positions are often selected first overall in the draft.

Sometimes, especially towards the end of a round, a team might pick the best player available, regardless of whether they need a player in that position or not. The main reason for this is because that team has already filled their positional needs through free agency and trades.

JaMarcus Russell being typically terrible at football.
Image: Dino Vournas/AP/Press Association Images

Best and worst of the NFL Draft

The worst draft pick of all time is undoubtedly JaMarcus Russell.

Russell was selected first overall by the Oakland Raiders in the 2007 NFL Draft and, in just 25 games with the Raiders, managed to turn the ball over 48 times, scoring only 18 touchdowns. When Russell reported to the Raiders training camp weighing more than 20 stone in 2009, his days in the NFL were numbered.

The biggest draft steal of all time is New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. Since being the 199th player selected in 2000 NFL Draft (sixth round), Brady has led his team to five Super Bowls, winning three and in 2007 set an NFL record with 50 touchdown passes in a single season.

While there’s unlikely to be another Russell in this year’s draft, no team seems particularly keen on any of the quarterbacks available, there could potentially be another Brady.

To see who it might be, keep an eye out for The Redzone‘s 2013 Mock Draft later this afternoon.

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