Looking at Draft Publications

[lamberts-lost-tooth]

Being a "draftnik" I surf the draft sites and I buy several publications a year. For those of you who have been glancing at the draft magazines at the store but have not got around to buying one yet I thought I would give you a heads up on the top 6 you will probably see (and hopefully save you some money!!!)

in descending order


6) Sporting News: consistantly the worst...they will buy into the "hype" that surrounds players and traditionally give no regard to what type of offensive or defensive scheme teams used...therefore QB's that played in a shotgun all year will generally get too high of a rating...and LB's that are lucky enough to have a defense that funnels everything to the ILB will be rated to high...They usually have more misses on their mock draft than any other magazine...(and last year had a player in the first round that didnt go until the 7th)..I would call it a "rag" if not for that term being the exclusive right of S.I.

5) Lindys: Usually much better than this years magazine...tend to rely too much on outside sources and since NFL teams are not always very forthcoming in what they REALLY intend to do, Lindys sometime misses the mark...Player rankings pretty spotty...Good article on sleepers and small school studs though

4) Athlon: New to the draft scene..but involved in covering the NFL for some time now...Very interesting article on 2006 draft "do-over"..in which they re-do the draft based on how last years class performed...(Thought it was interesting ..that they had us still taking ...Santonio Holmes!!) Mock draft is just so-so...and player rankings also seem suspect.

3) ESPN: If you hate Mel Kiper..you might want to skip this magazine but I thought they did a good job of pairing him with Todd McShay of SCOUT INC., and they seemed to balance each other out pretty well...Good articles on potential busts and sleepers... and a good tear-out draft board

2) Street & Smith: Most up to date of the magazines with some combine results..and an excellent 7 round draft that seems to at least have a very good idea as to what round players may land...also a VERY good article on how Character counts in drafting,..(not so good an article if your a Bengal fan)

1) Pro Football Weekly: Still years ahead of most of the competition...year after year they are usually more accurate in their mock drafts, and more educated as to which players will/will not make it in the NFL...Incredible article on avoiding one-year wonders...great coverage of the all-star games (Senior-bowl..East-West..Hula bowl..North-South)..always the best analyses in regards to team needs and recent draft record.

Hope this helps.

[BettisFan]

ye ai just got prosports weekly its great

[Suitanim]

Sporting News is a great Baseball mag. They cover NASCAR better than just about everyone else, too...not so great on the NFL.

SI...hmmm...Peter King...great example. Charlie Frye threw a 60 yard bomb flat footed at a workout in Akron. King wasn't there, and reported that Frye has no arm-strength at all. Meanwhile, everyone else was reporting that the arm-strength thing was a myth. How can you expect yourself to be taken seriously as a legitimate information source if you base your analysis on guessing?

The rest are all pretty good, and I think you should add Football Digest to the list.

[BettisFan]

i liked it

[lamberts-lost-tooth]

Originally Posted by Suitanim

Sporting News is a great Baseball mag. They cover NASCAR better than just about everyone else, too...not so great on the NFL.

SI...hmmm...Peter King...great example. Charlie Frye threw a 60 yard bomb flat footed at a workout in Akron. King wasn't there, and reported that Frye has no arm-strength at all. Meanwhile, everyone else was reporting that the arm-strength thing was a myth. How can you expect yourself to be taken seriously as a legitimate information source if you base your analysis on guessing?

The rest are all pretty good, and I think you should add Football Digest to the list.

Thanks Suit...havnt seen Football Digest yet..but I am always looking....I try and compare all the mags and internet sites andcombine results to get a good feel for how things may end up....I will let you know if I find FD

[Suitanim]

Actually, I think it went bust last year...

[lamberts-lost-tooth]

Just a little add-on to what I had said earlier....Pro-Football Weekly is not only the best of the draft magazines...but they have a code number inside the mag that allows you access to another pre-draft "on-line" updated source..and a post draft on-line magazine.

I have checked out the on-line pre-draft extras..and it is VERY good!!!....39 pages of extras including new articles...combine results and updated mock draft.