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Former St. Louis Rams Coach, Dick Vermeil, Talks The NFL Draft With Ramblin’ Fan

By Blaine Grisak

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Hey Mr. Dick Vermeil, this is Blaine Grisak. Im writing a story on the NFL draft and finding that diamond in the rough player, and I was just looking for a coach’s perspective. 

“When I started coaching, there were 16 rounds in the draft, and the player that I drafted in the last round that year made the team. So, I think in the old days a lot of players made football teams that would today be college free agents and considered finding the diamond in the rough, but in the old days, they were drafted.

With the collective bargaining agreement and all that kind of stuff, those, you know, 8th, 9th, 10th on up draft choices just disappeared because they only have seven rounds now. So there are more people today that fall into the category of a diamond in the rough.

When I was an Eagle, Id bring 120 guys to training camp. Unbearably, we’d find somebody that no one had any information on, that’d end up making or football team, but today, you’re restricted on the number of players that you can bring into camp. That in itself, cuts back on the number of so-called diamonds in the rough, the undrafted player that makes a team.”

It’s obvious you know for teams to hit on their picks in the early stages of the NFL draft, but how important do you think it is for teams to hit on players when we get to the later stages of day two and day three to find those diamond in the rough players?

“To me, that’s what makes your football team. The last draft that I was involved with was 2005, and in the fourth round we drafted Jared Allen, who completely ended up being better than any defensive lineman drafted in the first round. Then, he was also a long-snapper. You gotta be a little bit lucky, and you’ve gotta invest as much time evaluating those guys as you do the higher picks.

Sometimes it takes a little more work, but I remember this, my first three years in the league, we didnt have a first, second, or third round pick. They had been traded away, but we had great success in the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh rounds, and on up, because we didnt waste any time evaluating the superstars because we couldn’t draft them anyway.

So, we invested more time in the so-called medium to late-round picks, and you know, we ended up hitting on more of ‘em. We got an all-pro running back, an all-pro defensive tackle, an all-pro nose guard, all in the seventh, eighth, ninth round picks. The departments today are also much bigger, that they aren’t spreading themselves too thin when they invest a lot of time on all the kids.”

From a coaches perspective, How important is it for a team to build through the NFL draft and get their picks right?

“Well, I think today, more so than ever, it’s more important to build through the draft. You can supplement through free agency, but a high percentage of free agents, big dollar based guys dont pay off. Not in the NFL nor in Major League Baseball, if you saw the article in the paper the other day about MLB players and free agency. What they’re pitching ERA’s and how they negatively were influenced by large dollars. So, I think it’s critical, and I just read an article the other day where fourteen of the kids who started in the Super Bowl for New England, they drafted.”

 I think this is something that’s always baffling especially from a fans perspective, is how a team can miss on a player in the first round that has been hyped up and done well in  pro days and at the combine, and then another team can hit on a player from the same position later on in the NFL draft. Why is it that this happens year in and year out? Is this more of a scouting error, looking too much into physical attributes? Is it more just bad luck of a player not producing at the next level and one player playing with a chip on his shoulder? What is your take on this?

“College exposure. Sometimes maturity, or lack of. Some kid might mature a little earlier and not get any better, another guy might mature later and get a lot better, and you know, those types of things. Sometimes it’s system, sometimes it’s coaching.”

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When you coached how involved were you in the draft process and when it came to drafting a player who usually had the final say, you or the GM?

“My first three years. My first two teams were the Eagles and the Rams, I had 51% vote. I had the final decision. Now that didn’t mean I didnt include everybody, because I did, but I had 51% vote on the roster. With the Kansas City Chiefs I did not. It didnt bother me, it didnt hurt me or anything, I mean you work together anyway.”

How much scouting did you do yourself? 

“I did some, I wasn’t on the road a lot. I went out some, but not a lot, because first you get the videos at home back at the old office, and you paid people to do that, and really your responsibilities are within your own building. When you’re not there, theres no one there doing your job.”

When you coached, how much stock was put into events such as the combine, and do you believe that more stock is put into it now than when you were a coach.

“Well I think we put an awful lot into the combine, but it was only solving pieces of the puzzle. You know, it was only a contributor. It was not a decision maker. Now, if there was a player that you were borderline on, it either could make him or break him in regard to your evaluation process. Sometimes you go there and the guy appears to be better than you thought he was, so you upgrade him a little bit.”

“Sometimes you go there and the guy doesn’t appear to be as good as you thought he was, so you degrade him a little bit. You’ve got to be careful though putting too much stock and letting that make your decision for you.”

How important is it to have undrafted free agents or late round picks to produce for your team?

“Well, Ill tell you this, you know I had one world championship team, the quarterback was a free agent undrafted college player, the left guard was an undrafted college player, the center was an undrafted college, the right guard was an undrafted college player, the starting defensive tackle was an undrafted college player, the outside linebacker, who made the tackle, that won the game, Mike Jones, was an undrafted college free agent. So they are critical to your success.”

I had one world championship team, the quarterback was a free agent undrafted college player…and the outside linebacker, who made the tackle, that won the game, Mike Jones, was an undrafted college free agent. So they are critical to your success.-Dick Vermeil”

In your opinion what is the best draft strategy? Is it to take the so-called best player available? Draft based on need? Draft the “can’t miss, sure-thing player”? 

“Well you know, a lot of that is influenced by your roster. You can say draft the best player available at the time on your board, and all of a sudden you get there, and you’re duplicating something you already have with that draft pick, Then there might be a position you need badly, so you might move a little bit, but you never move drastically.”

How much stock is put into the intangibles of a player? How hard he works, if he has the “it” factor and so on?

“A lot into it. That’s why you have the interviews at the combine. Thats why you bring in guys before the draft. Thats why you visit them on campus. Thats why you sit down with their coaches. Heck we interviewed High School coaches. Especially those early rounds, where you invest a lot of money. You owe it to your owner. If you’re going to spend millions of dollars, its best to invest in the guy that has five tires you know?”

How much of scouting is a science?

“Well I dont know if its a science, I think its a process. And there are some people that have a more complete processs in their grading system and are more disciplined to stick by it, and then there are some people who have great instincts in their evaluation abilities, because of those things, they’ll do a slightly better job.”

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