MovieChat Forums > Draft Day (2014) Discussion > How realistic is this movie

How realistic is this movie

posted 10 years ago by rtk-921-895960
24 replies | jump to latest

Hi, Maybe someone can shed some light on this.
I live in Europe, so I didn't grow up with the NFL. I am a big fan though and follow the NFL very ,very closely. And being European, I guess I know quite a bit about the competition, the game, the teams, etc., etc.

The one thing I never really paid a lot of attentie to, is the draft. I liked this movie, and I keep asking myself: how realistic is the story? Forget the romance sidestep :-)
Hoe realistic is the process of trading draft picks in the last 24 hours?

Anyone care to shine some light on this?

[–] Spooderman 10 years ago

Some reality to it but not the level this movie portrays.

[–] saybow69 10 years ago

Well a team don't trade for a 1 pick and then turn around and trade it in same day!!! That's a joke!!! Bills would have just made the trade BEFORE Browns or would have been a 3 way deal. Acting and storyline was good. But that's real dumb and bad.

[–] spookyrat1 10 years ago

... I didn't grow up with the NFL.

Neither did I and obviously there is stuff happening for dramatic effect, but my understanding is that the processes we see operating here are quite realistic.🐭

[–] pokerkeith2k5 10 years ago

I have never seen a team trade away a pick and then reverse the trade and give up a kick returner. There are stupid general managers in the NFL though.

for instance in 2012 nfl draft the team with the no2 pick rams trades down to pick 6 and gets 2 future first rounders and a 2nd rounder. (This trade is mentioned in the movie.) What is not mentioned in the movie is that rams again traded from pick 6 to pick 14 to get another 2nd rounder.

So the rams had 3 2nd rounders in the 2012 draft. Isiah Pead RB who has since been cut and Brian Quick WR (who had some decent games last year before getting injured for the season) and CB Janoris Jenkins.

The one thing about the rams is that was 3 chances to draft Russell Wilson and instead they took 3 players who so far have been just league average players.

Also in that 2012 nfl draft the vikings had the no3 pick and the browns had the no 4 pick. The idiot browns trade up 1 spot to draft a rb that the vikings were never going to draft anyways. The browns gave up some mid round picks that might or might not have been decent players drafted it is impossible to say.

At pick 5 the tampa bay bucs owned this pick and then the jags traded up for a wr who has since been suspended named Justin Blackmon and the bucs traded down to 7. The rams were stunned this happened as they were hoping blackmon would fall right into their laps so then they found a trade partner in dallas who needed a top tier nfl cb. The cowboys drafted morris caliborne who has not been very good thus far. At pick 7 rhw bucs drafted a safety named mark barron who in 2014 was traded to the rams for some 2015 mid round picks.

So to answer your question during the nfl draft there is wheeling and dealing going on.

I just use the 2012 draft because out of the last 3 drafts in the first round it had more trades between teams then any draft of the last 3 in the first 10 picks.

If the Ohio State Qb who started in the national time game comes out in the 2015 nfl draft then it will be a game of chicken because he looked pretty awesome in the 3 games that he played in. Also the Florida State QB had 2 great years but he has a bunch of off the field issues.

Personally I love the drama of real life nfl draft and the movie focused too much on characters I did not give a crap about.

Imo Any Given Sunday is the far better football movie even though the NFL did not let it use real team names. If you have not watched that movie I suggest you check it out.

[–] spookyrat1 10 years ago

So to answer your question during the nfl draft there is wheeling and dealing going on

I didn't ask a question, but in any draft (not just the NFL) there's always wheeling and dealing going on.

Personally I love the drama of real life nfl draft and the movie focused too much on characters I did not give a crap about.

I on the other hand wanted to watch a movie focusing on the draft and not a live feed of the actual draft.

Imo Any Given Sunday is the far better football movie ... If you have not watched that movie I suggest you check it out.

I've seen it and like it. It's a more traditional American football movie. This is a football movie ... without the football. I really liked it.🐭

[–] mdstapleton30 10 years ago

pretty sure the guy meant to reply to the OP...

[–] cannonr 10 years ago

The wheeling and dealing is correct, and there are many deals shopped during the draft day itself, most of which don't happen. GM's will probably talk to all 31 other teams if there is a player they are shopping.

And on the day as situations change and players get picked, you'll often see deals to move up a little bit.

The deals they made were entirely ridiculous and soured the movie a bit for me. Jacksonville would never have made that trade, and Seattle wouldn't have given up so much to trade back up.

I don't recall any GM being fired immediately after the draft, that's not the time they do such things.

[–] FooserX 10 years ago

Yeah, 3 #2's for Jacksonville's pick seemed off, and Seattle trading back 3 #1's was ridiculous.

If Seattle wanted Callahan to begin with that bad, they wouldn't have been shopping the pick in the first place.

Fun movie, but way over the top on the draft moves...but I suppose that is fun drama though. It wouldn't be very fun if all the moves were fair and calculating for both teams involved.

X

[–] Chucktesta2574 10 years ago

Two words: Ricky Williams

[–] mpgman7 10 years ago

This movie is billed as a sports drama,it is actually science fiction,fantasy,first of all by the day of the draft they know more about the players,especially the Heisman winning top overall player than his mother would,to give up 3 firsts for a player including a high(7th)he would have to be a once in a DECADE player and why would the worst team give up the pick,then another team would take back 3 second rounders for the pick and then the original team gives back ALL the picks plus a player...ITS STAR WARS

[–] UN_Jefferson 10 years ago

I would say very unrealistic until you actually review the deals made by Josh McDaniels while in Denver where his stupidity knew no bounds... for example trading a first for a second then a year later trading the guy he got with the second for a guy taken in the seventh who was cut a year later. Hollywood wouldn't even be able to make a character that stupid.

[–] mmablaster 10 years ago

Stuff like what was seen happens in team offices. But the movie seemed like they took stories from 5-6 different teams and had it happen all at once. Father dying, QB trashing an office, draft day double dealing, QB having character concerns/stories, ect.

GM secretly dating another front office staff member and getting her knocked up seems like the least likely thing to happen.

[–] johncg25 10 years ago

Some of it was realistic, some not. It was mostly just heightened though for dramatic effect.

Usually a team knows who they will take about a week before the draft. Most teams will have their top target, and one or two back-ups. At least a week before.

(Teams will spend a full week 9am -9pm, or whatever it takes, every day for a week for the scouts and GM to decide who they will take with each pick and finish the draft board. And thats usually done a week before the draft. So rarely will a GM not know who he will take up to the last minute but it probably does happen sometimes. But definitely not to the extent they showed in the film with 3 draft picks being traded just like that etc.

[–] TCopelin 10 years ago

Not very much but entertaining.