2005 NFL Draft - How a Draftee's Name Gets Called

How a Draftee's Name Gets Called

While I was next to the stage, I took time to record the process by which a name gets called to be the "whatever round" pick of a team. It works like this: First, the team -- let's say the San Francisco 49ers -- has 15 minutes (or a quarter in football lingo) to decide who they're going to select.

Two giant football-style clocks count down the seconds. If a team fails to make a pick during that time span, they must pass and the next organization in draft order has 15 minutes to make a selection. This is called being "On the clock."



It's Starts With The Team Table

Second, the team's representatives, including (depending on the team) the owner, general manager, head coach, and player personnel staff, are not in New York at the Draft, they're at the team's headquarters. It's from here that they call in their selection to their representative at the team table. Washington Redskins team representatives are in the foreground in the first picture shown on this page.



...Then The Name Is...

Third, the team's representative -- which range from a friend of the organization to a young employee -- write the name of the choice on a card. NFL and CSC events employees pick up that card and carry it to the NFL's main operations table. (NFL SVP Frank Supovitz is the leftmost person above.)

Fourth, from that table and to its left, the card is passed over to a bank of NFL staffers that enter it into a computer system to be recorded.

Finally, NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue is given the name of the draftee. He steps out of his room backstage and onto the main stage to read the selection to the ballroom and TV audience. The Commissioner does this work only for the First Round, he then gives way to NFL Director of Operations Gene Washington for subsequent rounds on Saturday, and then other NFL officials for the final rounds on Sunday. Then, there's the event that comes with the selection of "Mr. Irrelevant." But we'll get to that later.

The San Francisco 49ers are on the clock.

The First Round Surprise -- At least to me and the "Back of the Pack Club"