From the Press Box: Storylines for Day One of the 2013 NFL Draft

Garda tells you some things he's looking for during Day One of the NFL Draft.

We're a little over 24 hours from the start of the 2013 NFL Draft, a time filled with as much misinformation and chaos as there is water in the ocean.

Which is to say, it's one of the most fun moments before the draft.

There's a ton of stuff which takes place prior to the first pick from the lectern (there you go Mr. Schottey), a lot of it media manufactured and more than a little of it silly, but all of it fun.

I'm excited. This is my fourth year covering the event from Radio City Music Hall as a credentialed media member, the first as a member of the Pro Football Writers Association, and only one where a movie will be shot simultaneously.

It will be a lot less frantic for me as I won't be working for Bleacher Report, but that's really just lowering it from 'stupid levels' of stress to 'high levels'.

Speaking of which, our very own Aaron Nagler is hosting a live draft event for BR at Boomer's Stadium Grill at the Bowlmor in NYC. While I believe it's a sold out event (and I was going to pay people going to heckle Nagler, Matt Miller, Josh Zerkle and Mike Felder but I'm too late) you can watch all three days worth of picks online.

And by all three days, I really mean all three days. When the ESPN/NFLN guys are recapping the first round during the sixth, Nagler and company will be breaking down the sixth round.

Novel concept, I know.

I'm excited to see what our guy gets up to, so when you're not listening to Brian Carriveau, tune into the front page of BR and see what Nagles is doing.

On to the draft, here are a few things I am looking forward to seeing reveal themselves on Day One.

Who will break the 'picks embargo' first from the majors?

NFLN and ESPN have been told not to tip picks before Goodell hits the lectern (there you go again Schottey) but brave soul Jason LaCanfora shall not go gently into that good night!

LaCanfora is not with a broadcast partner of the NFL so he's not beholden to the tweet ban.

Do you care? I don't but then again I'm rarely on Twitter during the majority of the first round (I'll be getting you guys videos) so what do I know?

What I am interested in is which of the two network's gang of informants breaks first and starts tweeting picks ahead of time.

Like they said in "Talledega Nights": if you ain't first, you're last!


Which QB will go first?

One of the more intriguing aspects of this draft is how the lack of an elite top end in the quarterback class has caused chaos in mocks across the nation (and analyst's radio throws).

As Waldman said in the interview I posted the other day, we've been spoiled of late. The last few classes have been really good. This one has no real standout.

Which is to say everyone has their thoughts on who the first QB off the board should be. I'm really interested to see who goes first and what that does to the rest of the first round.

Which brings me to the next question...

Will there be a late run on QBs?/How many trades will we see in the last 10-15 picks?

I've long thought that despite this being a weak overall QB class, that there will be a ton of jumping back into the first round late. Especially if QBs start to slide as some feel they might.

Which means teams in the second half of the first round might have a chance to trade back and pick up an extra second.

Second and third round picks are worth their weight in gold this year. People call this a weak draft and that's not right. It's a week QB draft, but there is a ton of talent overall.

There will be a tremendous opportunity for a team to really clean up on day two.


What will be the "reach" of the first day?

I don't believe in the concept of reach very often. If you like a guy, go get him. That said, it's a term people use, so here it is.

Who will be the team who grabs a guy that makes us all arch an eyebrow and say "him? Seriously?"

It's always fun to see a team throw a monkey in the wrench of the first round and in a draft like this-when talent is all over the place-you might see more than one headscratcher.

Some of them will pan out, some won't, but it's always fun to see the pick and hear the wail of a thousand angry fans.

Which GM will out-think himself?

I've been re-watching "The Wire" a lot lately, in particular the second season when they were dealing with the Baltimore docks.

Which led me to tweet that this time of year, so many GM's think they're Stringer Bell (calm, cool, calculating and in control, getting one over on everyone) but they're really Ziggy Sobotka (an idiot who is not half as clever as he looks and a screw up as per this NSFW clip).

Everyone is trying to feed bullcrap to the media and out-maneuver each other but every year someone overdoes it.

Who will it be this year? Hard to say. Because in the end, even Stringer Bell overplayed his hand. Anyone can screw it up.

There's so much more going on than you can track. Those are a few of the things I'll be looking at for Day One. What about you?

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Comments (2)

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jmac3444's picture

April 24, 2013 at 10:21 am

I am going to go out on a limb and say that Ryan Nassib is the wtf pick of the year to either Buffalo or NY

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perrin's picture

April 24, 2013 at 10:43 am

...16 regular season games later and he proves himself to be the best qb in this draft. YAHTZEE!

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