With the 2024 NFL Draft beginning on Thursday in Detroit, Michigan, there are plenty of rumors circulating and trades being discussed every day. On the other hand, players' draft rankings are changing rapidly as teams make their final decisions on which direction to go in.
Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders had some interesting comments on the draft and how some leak negative reports regarding players to affect their status, as he made those comments during an episode of the Front Office Sports Today podcast.
“You have guys that are slated to go and slot it to go at this number pick. Randomly, something comes out that they flunked their drug tests, or they have this type of injury, or they were seen with this and wildly, their draft grade drops later in the round, or even the next round. How does that happen? How does that mysteriously come out right before the draft?… So that’s done every year. The reason I know is that I worked the draft for about 10 to 12 years straight. I know that to be true.”
It's quite the claim from Deion Sanders as things come out on players time and time again. However, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network shot down such claims while talking on the same Front Office Sports podcast:
“That’s to me, that’s sort of like a draft myth, I guess you would say. I do this a lot — like I will go through my phone and basically call everyone I know. I will talk to many, many decision-makers on many, many teams, and I won’t say it has not happened. There’s one example specifically where a team…probably 10 years ago, a team told me that a player had a weakness in his shoulder, hoping that I would say it, hoping that it would get back to everyone else.”
Ian Rapoport chimes in on NFL Draft hubbub
Rapoport called Deion's claims a “draft myth” but went on to say that it hasn't happened. However, he admits it doesn't really make a huge difference, either.
“Does it matter? I personally don’t think it matters because teams have all the same information. They have all the same medical information. A lot of teams share medicals. I don’t think it matters, but I would not say it never happens…And if it was going on — I talk to a lot of people — I think it would come to me. And I just don’t get the sense that that’s the case, mostly because everything is so transparent now. If there’s character issues on a player, there’s been legal thing or medical, whatever it is, everybody knows.”
There are plenty of cases where information comes out about a player and it ends up affecting his draft stock, but Rapoport says it doesn't matter too much since teams have all the same information available at their fingertips. On the other hand, Rapoport stated that agents arguably do more for the players' narratives than the teams themselves, which isn't exactly a surprising tidbit, either.
“I talk to a lot of agents; a lot of agents of top players, not top players, a lot of them. They can be helpful. They can tell you where a player’s going and what teams are interested. The really good ones who have been doing this for a long time have a sense of where their player is going before the draft.”
The 2024 NFL Draft is full of quarterback talent, and there is a chance that four quarterbacks go within the first four picks. Caleb Williams from the USC Trojans is almost undoubtedly a lock to go No. 1 overall, so it will be interesting to see how everything plays out leading up to the pick coming in from the Chicago Bears (barring a trade).
The NFL Draft rumors aren't going away anytime soon, but Rapoport states that the claims Sanders' made aren't exactly what happens during draft time.
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