Two-time Super Bowl-winning coach Bill Parcells often says of NFL team executives and the NFL Draft: “We can only draft what the colleges send us.”
Such limitations never seemed to hinder Parcells, who, in more than three decades in professional football, built a reputation as a specialist at rebuilding previously underperforming teams.
On ESPN, Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET, the legendary coach will share his secrets, philosophies and inside knowledge on how the NFL Draft works in a one-hour SportsCenter Special: Bill Parcells’ Draft Confidential.
With host Monday Night Football’s Mike Tirico, Bill Parcells’ NFL Draft Confidential pulls back the curtain to reveal the dynamics of an NFL Draft room. It also explores how the game’s decision-makers come to the point where they are ready to invest in a prospect.
In the program, Parcells takes an in-depth look at the last 10 NFL Drafts and shares his unconventional thoughts on drafting Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin as Nos. 1 and 2 picks, respectively, and why drafting a quarterback in the first round is a risky call.
Parcells also warns against a trend by team executives in drafting tight ends, believing the success of players like Rob Gronkowski (New England Patriots) and Jimmy Graham (New Orleans Saints) is not a product of their respective talents, but more a by-product of the systems in which they play.
On Draft Confidential, Parcells is joined by six-time NFL Executive of the Year Bill Polian as they preview the draft and take the viewers into the thought process of the league’s most successful talent evaluators, head coaches and management.
Polian, who constructed two highly successful teams — the Buffalo Bills (1986-93) and Indianapolis Colts (1997-2011) — offers his insight from a general manager’s perspective.
This marks the second straight year ESPN will present Parcells’ insight on the NFL Draft process.
Last year, the 90-minute show debuted with critical acclaim. In the program, Parcells discusses the strategies he has learned in more than five decades of working in the NFL and applies his expertise to the 2012 NFL Draft.
