War Room

by Michael Holley

  One of the hardest things to do, before or during a draft, is to predict where Belichick will go with his first pick. Most of the pre-draft speculation had the Patriots taking an edge rusher, either a big defensive end or a linebacker in the 260-to-265-pound range with the bulk to hold up against the run and the speed to get to the quarterback. If Belichick wants to go that route, he has two good options available. One is Adrian Clayborn, a defensive end who played at Iowa for Kirk Ferentz, a member of Belichick’s first coaching staff in Cleveland. The other is 280-pound defensive end Cameron Jordan of Cal. But that’s not the side of the ball Belichick is looking for.

  He was able to draft tackle Sebastian Vollmer in 2009 and watch him excel and become an immediate starter. That may not be the case for Nate Solder of Colorado, since longtime left tackle Matt Light could be re-signed and resume his starting position on Tom Brady’s blind side, but it’s only a matter of time before Solder will become a star. Phil Emery said he had never seen a man of Solder’s size, six feet eight inches, show such athleticism and ability to recover after being pushed. What the Patriots were going to have to work on was that Solder could get pushed. What they, and Brady, were going to love is that he rarely, if ever, fell down.

  There is always an expectation that the Patriots will trade out of first-round picks, but the expectation is unfounded when New England has multiple picks in round one. In those instances, the Patriots have never traded out of the “lead” pick. Their history is that they use the first pick and then trade the second one, usually for a future selection.

  After the Patriots take Solder at 17 and introduce him by phone to the man who will be paying him, owner Robert Kraft, they wait to see how the rest of the board falls before they are scheduled to make their next pick, at 28. As Pioli alluded to during his dinner with Dimitroff in Mobile, the Patriots’ draft room is an exclusive and mostly quiet place. There are no jokesters or loud storytellers. Those who want food can take a walk downstairs to the first-floor cafeteria, but this is not the place to bring your plate of chicken wings with blue cheese dip on the side. If Belichick needs additional information from a scout, he’ll have someone call him in. Otherwise, most Patriots scouts are in the same position as most football fans in America: on the outside looking in, waiting to see what will happen next. In the meantime, Pioli and the Chiefs are feeling good about what they’re seeing. There are several players on the board whom they would happily welcome to Kansas City. When their phones ring at a center table, occupied by Pioli, Clark Hunt, Daniel Hunt, head coach Todd Haley, and assistant GM Joel Collier, they are ready to deal if something makes sense. Cleveland is offering the pick it got from the Falcons, number 27, along with its third-round choice, number 70, for 21.

  The deal is too good to ignore. It’s an opportunity to grab a player with a chance to be an immediate contributor in exchange for moving back six slots, and they already see six players they like. The Chiefs agree to it and then go into the same waiting mode as the Patriots, whom they now sit directly in front of. They are in different states of mind, though. The Chiefs are waiting to make a choice. The Patriots have one eye on the board and one dozen on the phones. If he doesn’t get a deal he wants, Belichick knows he will take Virginia corner Ras-I Dowling at 28. He’d rather have someone call, though, because he’s confident he can get Dowling tomorrow, in round two. It’ll be a mostly quiet wait in the Patriots’ library atmosphere, but there will be some chatter as long as the player ESPN keeps showing, 2009 Heisman winner Mark Ingram, stays on the board, tempting some team to get him.

  Since A. J. Green and Jones went at four and six, respectively, no receiver has been taken off the board. The Chiefs were ready to pick Baldwin, the six-foot-five-inch receiver Belichick mentioned to Dimitroff, at number 27, which happened to be Atlanta’s original pick. But Baltimore and Chicago thought they agreed to a trade, with the Bears moving up by swapping first-rounders with the Ravens, 29 for 26, and giving the Ravens a fourth-round selection as well. The Bears failed to properly contact the league to confirm the trade, and so the Ravens, unaware that they were on the clock and not the Bears, sat as their allotted time expired. When that happens and the team has no card to submit in New York, the next team in line can skip ahead. That’s how the Chiefs got Baldwin, to the delight of Haley, at number 26. The Ravens, quickly realizing what happened, had their card ready for pick 27 so they couldn’t be skipped again and denied their target, cornerback Jimmy Smith. The mix-up between the Ravens and Bears has all the draft rooms talking, with the consensus being that the Bears were solely responsible for the screwup.

  The Chiefs are thrilled to get Baldwin, at 27 or 26. Haley has gotten the most out of receivers, of all personality types. He used to push Larry Fitzgerald so hard in Arizona that Fitzgerald playfully offered him hundred-dollar bills before team meetings so his mistakes wouldn’t be pointed out in front of his teammates. He helped receivers think about the nuances of the position, like turning to look back for the ball while still maintaining leverage. When he looked at Baldwin, he saw some of the traits and growth potential in him that he saw and brought out in others. And if the team had someone like Baldwin against the Ravens in the play-offs, it wouldn’t have been so easy for Baltimore to take Kansas City’s Pro Bowl receiver, Dwayne Bowe, out of the game.

  At 28, the Patriots get their wish: a trade partner. It’s New Orleans on the phone, and it’s relative Mardi Gras in the usually serene Patriots draft room. The Saints want Ingram, the only running back the Chiefs had unanimously praised in their draft meetings on Valentine’s Day. It really was a love story that day, as one scout gushed, “He’s a coach’s dream because the message is not diluted in any way. He is the guy who believes the team is way more important than the individual award. He’s a grounded guy that never bought into the hype of his Heisman. He’s respectful and prompt. He treats everyone like they are the most important person in the world. He does everything the way a pro should.” He sounded like someone the Patriots would like, and they do like him. But they like the deal even more. The Saints are offering next year’s first and this year’s second, at number 56. Belichick accepts the offer.

  All three friends have completed their work in round one. They’ll stare over the boards once more, go to bed, and come back tomorrow to do it all again.

  On Friday morning, the hottest draft topic in America is the Atlanta Falcons. Their trade for Julio Jones produced easy debate fodder for local and national columnists, bloggers, talking heads, talk-show hosts, and anyone who wanted to say it in 140 characters or fewer in a tweet. The question was simple: Did Dimitroff give up too much or not? Those on his side said he was bold. Otherwise, he was a fool.

  He spends most of a gorgeous, sun-splashed Georgia morning and early afternoon inside. He does interview after interview in which he wants to hammer a couple of major points: He didn’t make this decision on a whim, and neither he nor anyone else in the organization is trying to send the message that Jones is the one player who will take the Falcons to the Super Bowl. By the time Dimitroff finishes his interviews, Jones has arrived at Falcons headquarters in Flowery Branch.

  One hour before they will go into their draft room for the beginning of the second round, Dimitroff, Blank, and Smith are on a dais with the newest Falcon, the enthusiastic and personable Jones. They have finished a press conference, which Jones handled like a pro, and now it’s time to take pictures. There’s one with all of them together, one with Blank and Jones, and another with Dimitroff, at five-nine, with the six-two Jones. Showing that he’s read up on the team, Jones looks at the camera and also manages to say, through a smile, to Dimitroff, “Come on, boss. Rise up with your height.”

  The top draft pick already seems comfortable with where he was taken in the draft and all the expectations that come with the selection. And now he’s even quoting the key line from the team’s marketing campaign? To tease the GM? Not bad.

  If it isn’t clear just how much the Falcons surrendered on day one to
get Jones, the empty seats in the back of the draft room on day two say it all.

  Atlanta makes a row of seats available to limited partners, advisers, and some of their friends on draft day. In New England and Kansas City, this would be considered downright treasonous. But no one is here on day two. In fact, limited partner Warrick Dunn was spotted at the airport in the morning, wearing jeans, sandals, a polo, and sunglasses, hustling out of town with his golf clubs in tow. That’s what happens when you pick sixth and your next selection is not until number 91. On paper, the eighty-five-selection gap between picks doesn’t begin to capture the amount of waiting in the draft room. There is a lot of time to talk, a lot of time to watch, and a lot of time to make other plans. During one lull, team owner Arthur Blank told Dimitroff that he was taking his son to dinner and that he’d be back in a little while.

  As he watches the draft unfold, Dimitroff sometimes goes to the phones and dials Kansas City, for no other reason than to gossip with Pioli about what’s happening. They’re like two buddies who are watching the same movie in different cities, with occasional calls to say, “Did you see that?” There aren’t many reasons to do that in round two, although a few Atlanta scouts are surprised that Belichick used his second-round pick on Dowling rather than trade it. A couple scouts had side bets and placed odds on the likelihood of a trade. They were amazed at the ease with which Belichick not only made trades in the current draft but stacked them for later as well. The Patriots did receive calls on the first pick of round two but weren’t tempted to move on any offer.

  Vital walks around the room with a sheet of paper, keeping personal notes on what teams are doing. Through the fifties, he says he likes what Tampa has done so far, drafting two defensive ends, including Da’Quan Bowers, the first-round talent who slipped to the second round because of concerns about his knee. He’s not sure what Cleveland has in mind for Jabaal Sheard, a defensive end they took at 37. “He’s playing with one arm,” Vital says. “They drafted him like he’s going to come in and start at defensive end for them. Not gonna happen.” He says the Raiders took a center at 48, Stefen Wisniewski, whom the Falcons had rated as a fourth-or fifth-rounder. The Chiefs and Patriots had back-to-back picks, at 55 and 56, with the Chiefs getting their likely starting center, Florida State’s Rodney Hudson, and the Patriots adding Cal’s Shane Vereen, giving them a dimension at running back that they don’t have anywhere on the roster: a back with track-star speed.

  Of all the players on the board with character issues, with the most extreme examples landing in the undraftable skull-and-crossbones column, Vital shakes his head as if this is a classic example of overthinking.

  “Character is not a problem if you have a strong organization,” he says. “If you have a soft organization, it’s a problem. What happened at your aunt and uncle’s house when those bad kids came over? They straightened them out, didn’t they? Because they didn’t take any junk. But in a soft house, those bad kids will run the house.”

  Falcons head coach Mike Smith had been laughing and joking with Blank and Dimitroff, but now a TV report has obviously sapped his energy: The NFL lockout, which had been lifted by the federal courts a couple days earlier, is now back on. Team president Rich McKay walks into the room and confirms the report and adds more details. The effect on Smith is obvious. When he entered the facility earlier in the day, he was still allowed to speak to his players, go over film with them, and talk with them extensively about off-season workouts. Now he can’t. Smith is essentially checked out for the night. He’s a teacher without students. He seems withdrawn.

  With sixteen picks to go before the Falcons’ selection, Dimitroff leaves the room to watch film with Vital, Les Snead, and Dave Caldwell. They return when they’re twelve picks away. Dimitroff provided a clue about what he was thinking earlier when he called to scold Pioli for pick 70, which Kansas City used to take linebacker Justin Houston of Georgia. “You told me you weren’t going to pick him,” Dimitroff says. “We wanted him.” Pioli knows he’s halfway joking. If Kansas City hadn’t taken the pass-rushing Houston, some other team would have, long before Dimitroff and the Falcons got a chance. There’s still lots of waiting. The rows for limited partners and advisers have one person, the son of limited partner Jay Williams. A couple scouts leave the room and return with plates piled with food. The scene seems like a skit for a Scott Pioli roast. It would send him over the edge.

  After Kansas City’s pick at 70, the Patriots are a couple slots away from back-to-back picks. With the first one, number 73, they add another running back in Stevan Ridley. The eyebrow-raiser came with number 74, Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett. The quarterback’s talent alone should have made him a top-fifteen selection. But there are lots of stories about Mallett’s character, with lots of whispers about marijuana use, at least, and perhaps other drugs. For the Patriots, Mallett was a risk worth taking. To Vital’s point, if the house is strong, Mallett will fall in line and be either a backup to Tom Brady or a down-the-road replacement for him. If not, the team will move on.

  After the Chiefs take Houston, they continue to work on their defense by selecting Florida State defensive end Allen Bailey. The Patriots are scheduled to pick right after Atlanta, at pick 92, but Belichick gives the Falcons’ scouts something else to talk about: He trades the pick, toward the back end of the third round, to the Raiders for a second-rounder in 2012 and a seventh in 2011. “How does he do it?” one of the scouts says with a laugh. It’s finally time for the Falcons to help their team, and they’re looking for a thumper at linebacker who can also help them on special teams. The man they have in mind is another linebacker from Georgia, Akeem Dent. Once again, they have ESPN and the NFL Network on, and once again they have the volume turned up to Gruden, who is talking about their pick.

  “The only question,” Gruden says, “is can he play on third down?”

  “We don’t give a shit!” Dimitroff says back to the TV.

  The draft room bursts into laughter.

  They’re done for the night, with their one pick, so they’re now focused on eating chicken wings and chips and watching two TVs. One of them is tuned in to the Memphis Grizzlies and San Antonio Spurs in an NBA play-off game. The other one still has the NFL Network, where they get even more entertainment from Charles Davis.

  “If Bill Belichick had made that Julio Jones trade, we’d all be saying, ‘Look how brilliant that is,’” the analyst says. “But it’s Thomas Dimitroff. Look, he’s a two-time executive of the year. He knows what he’s doing.”

  They all applaud and go wild. Then, as if on cue, one of them says, “Okay. Now for the rest of the story: Charles Davis is the analyst for our preseason games.”

  It’s time for more laughs. It’s approaching midnight and anything and everything seems funny now. The only person who, noticeably, isn’t enjoying himself is Smith. He sits and talks for a while and then leaves before anyone else, still bummed about the lockout. After a full day of interviews in which he found himself playing defense, a press conference, some phone time with Pioli, and a marathon wait between picks—about twenty-seven hours in real time—Dimitroff heads home. He can’t even say, “This is my plan for tomorrow…,” because it is tomorrow. His wife and son have left town for the week because they know how chaotic the draft can be. By the time Dimitroff mentally replays the day and finally clears his head, it’ll be close to starting time for round three.

  One of the biggest differences between fans and executives going into the final day of the draft is that the executives still see a draft board filled with good players. The fans, naturally, are drawn to the early rounds. But there are fewer and fewer familiar names in rounds four through seven, and although the impact players are there on occasion, you’ve got to dig to find them.

  On a sunny Saturday morning in Kansas City, Scott Pioli looks forward to the challenge. The general manager is wearing a blue dress shirt, brown slacks, and a light-colored blazer.

  “Does this match?” he says with a lau
gh.

  He’s on his way to his office and then to a place that he pointedly calls the draft room for round four. He’s always been bothered by the common and casual use of “war room” to describe what’s happening among pro football personnel types. He won’t acknowledge the term if one of his scouts uses it. “This is our livelihood, but it’s not war,” he says. “When I call a kid and his parents, I’m usually calling with good news. When parents of soldiers get phone calls, it’s usually not a call they want to take. I just don’t like the analogy.”

  Before the league officially starts the clock, Pioli will have a pep talk for everyone in the room. He didn’t think the names were pulled off the board quickly enough the day before and thought the overall operation was a step behind, so he wants to make sure everyone is fresh and motivated to finish the draft strong.

  He still sees several good players on the board, and he wants to make sure he’s got a clear head and an in-tune room when the Chiefs are in position to get them.

  “He is like a fish in water in the draft room,” Clark Hunt says. “That’s his element. And not that he’s better at calling other teams and making trades than anybody else, but he’s very thoughtful and very analytical about how he’s doing that. He has the whole thing in his head, and therefore, when we’re talking about X, Y, Z player in the fourth round, it’s not some isolated, ‘Okay, this is the best available player and we’re just going to have to do this.’ There’s a master plan that’s associated with that player and where he’ll fit in the team. You actually look out over the next four or five years. So, I think he’s the best at that.”

  Maybe Pioli gave the speech before the start of round four because he knew how busy he’d be today. There is no time for a warm-up or a throat-clearing. As soon as everyone sits down, the Chiefs’ phones are quickly ringing, and one of the first calls is from in state. The Rams are on the phone, looking to offer their fourth-rounder, 112, for two Chiefs picks, 118 and 223. Pioli is thinking of rejecting the offer, but he wants to wait a minute before definitely saying no. He wonders if it’s really worth it to go up six spots here when he’s confident he can get the player he wants anyway.