It’s the day before the draft. If you’re a member of the Steelers draft team, you walked into the facility around 9 or 10 a.m. and you immediately get to work making sure you have your facts straight.
That’s what former Bill general manager and Steelers executive Doug Whaley said during his weekly segment on The Fan Morning Show.
He says the first things you do are make sure all of the numbers you have on your desired players are correct. Height, weight and speed.
You also need to make sure you have the correct contact information for draft night.
Also, you need to make sure the player you want is, well, living.
“I don’t mean this tongue-in-cheek, he’s alive, because you never know, overnight, something may happen,” said Whaley. “Is he alive, did he get injured in anyway, working out in a car accident?”
While it may sound silly, Whaley says after months of long hours away from family and countless hours of going over data, it’s important to make sure you have correct information.
When it comes to actually picking in the first round, they have the players ranked from 1 to 32. If they’re #1 guy is there for the Steelers at 17, they take him, if not, they take the next person on their list.
This to the entire interview with Whaley to go even deeper into what it’s like to be in the “war room” on draft night.