FMIA: The NFL Draft is 17 Days Away, and Memories of a Draft Past Show How Much Has Changed

I have a story for you. It’s a draft story. It’s 39 years old, from my first month covering pro football. On April 30, 1984, I was a rookie beat reporter covering the Bengals for the Cincinnati Enquirer, and I walked into the Riverfront Stadium office of first-year Bengals coach Sam Wyche to do a draft preview story. The 12-round draft was May 1 and 2, and my preview story would be in the Enquirer on the morning the draft kicked off. Big draft for the Bengals. They had three first-round picks — seventh, 16th and 28th overall.

“Do you want to know who we’re going to draft?” Wyche asked.

Has there ever been a question with a more obvious answer in journalism history? I don’t think so.

Wyche said, As long as you don’t phone anyone in other cities, as long as you don’t share the information, I’ll tell you.

I promise.

In those days, the Associated Press wire and the landline telephone were the only ways to share deadline information about the draft. The AP bureau in Cincinnati surely wouldn’t re-write a story from the morning paper in town with the beat writer’s speculation on who the Bengals would choose. As strange as it sounded, Wyche wasn’t risking a damn thing sharing the information he was about to share — ostensibly to get on the good side of the kid beat writer.

“In the first round,” Wyche said, “we’re gonna take Ricky Hunley, linebacker, Arizona, with our first pick. Then, we’re thinking Boomer Esiason, quarterback, Maryland. The lefty. Or Brian Blados, guard, North Carolina. Hopefully can get all three.”

He went on. Later: running back Stanford Jennings, Furman … Don Kern, tight end, Arizona State … Bruce Kozerski, center and long-snapper, Holy Cross.

So the next day, in primitive draft-coverage times, in a