Welcome to day three of the NFL Draft, rounds 4-7, an event which is strictly for the football hard cores and total draftniks. Thursday night, round one, always has major hype and true mainstream pop culture appeal. Meanwhile Friday night, rounds 2-3, is kind of the draft’s proverbial and metaphorical sweet spot between sizzle and steak.
The draft’s final day is many things, but a spectacle it is not. Current Illinois head coach Bret Bielema has previously held the same position at Arkansas and Wisconsin. In the NFL, he’s served as an assistant with the New England Patriots and New York Giants. So he’s seen the transition from playing on Saturdays to playing on Sundays from both sides of the equation.
When he met the media earlier this week, he provided a quote that serves as a perfect glimpse into how selections work on the draft’s final day.
“What I have found, both in this business and then on the other side of it in the NFL, a lot of times, teams in those fifth, sixth, seventh rounds, or even going to the fourth round, they keep it to themselves,” he said.
“They don’t want other people to know it, so that they can kind of surprise people, including the players on draft day.”
The soundbite was part of his answer into a query on his quarterback Luke Altmyer, a round 5-7 level prospect. Everything he said there makes perfect sense, obviously teams don’t want tip their picks or telegraph their plans beforehand, but it’s interesting how even the prospects themselves don’t even know.
This is apparently a divergence from the earlier rounds, where teams makes it known to the prospects, beforehand that they will be selected. Given how this a life-changing weekend, literally, for the draftees, a lot of emotion is involved. So maybe it is best to keep it on the down low, in order to help reduce the stress of it all.
Bielema saw his first player of this class, edge rusher Gabe Jacas, get taken last night, 55th overall in the second round by New England. Everyone involved in the program knew, all year long, Jacas was going to be high pick.
Bielema should see his offensive lineman, J.C. Davis, go somewhere in the 4th-6th round today. Bielema played a major part in getting Davis’ draft stock up to where it is now.
Altmyer, would likely get taken after Davis. If any other Illini drafted, it would most likely be OL Josh Gesky and then maybe tight end Tanner Arkin. Also, we might see wide receiver Hank Beatty lands a UDFA deal.
This article originally appeared on Draft Wire: Bielema says teams really keep it to themselves with late round picks