The Draft: A Year Inside the NFL's Search for Talent

Sports business writer Williams follows the NFL's team selection process from the fall 2004 college football bowl season through the much-anticipated April 2005 draft in this behind-the-scenes look at how the big league secures its talent. Williams explains the draft's history, league-wide rating systems and the use of psychological tests with as much zeal as he invests in chronicling players' extensive preparation for lesser-known evaluative events such as the Senior Bowl, the National Invitation Camp or ""Combine"" and school Pro Days. Through these events Williams concentrates on agents, team managers, scouts, trainers and the talent with an eye trained on the unique business investment analysis process that the draft is. There's a great deal of sympathy for agents, but very little football played in this book; the reader does not get to see why athletes like Chris Canty and Fred Gibson, whose ""stock"" rise and fall during the season, or first-round picks Ronnie Brown and Carnell ""Cadillac"" Williams are the subjects of so much discussion. Williams may get inside the draft with concern for each interested party's stake in the outcome, but he does not get inside its various parties' heads with any significance. The lengthy quotes and lack of critical perspective on the draft process can give this book the patina of infomercial, but football fans will appreciate Williams' patient explanation of the vagaries of professional football's exhaustive job interview process.