Last week’s NFL draft allowed teams to pick their Jimmies & Joes for the upcoming season. Some teams followed last week’s football saying…culture trumps talent. 
The Giants clearly prioritized culture over talent when they traded away one of the most talented players in the league earlier this year. They also went with culture with their #6 pick in the draft. Not to say that Daniel Jones is not talented, but he is most definitely the best cultural fit of this year’s QB choices due to his relationship with the Mannings.
A year ago, I shared a blog detailing a practice we do at St Johnsbury Academy. Draft your own team. You are the General Manager and every player on your roster makes up the list of available players who have declared for the draft. Create your 15-20 player draft order. After you are done, invite your assistant coaches to do the same; but do not share your draft order with them prior. Their draft order will tell you a lot about them and what is important to them.
They may go with best available, positional need, cultural fit or all of their position players. It is also interesting to see how yours differs from theirs, and theirs from each others’. If all of your coaches understand your culture and their values reflect yours, one should find little difference between all of the draft orders. Once you and your staff have the draft completed, you may find the opportunity to discuss culture and values, as well as assess positional changes to ensure the best 11 are on the field.
Coach Rich Alercio is available to discuss coaching philosophy, X’s & O’s, or teach his O-Line “techniques in the trenches.” Contact Coach at richalercio@gmail.com and share http://www.olineskills.com with your colleagues and friends.
Thanks for your time!
O Line Skills 