NFL Awards Nashville Host for the NFL Draft 2019

Music City Lands NFL Draft Bid for Spring 2019

NFL team owners approved the Tennessee Titans’ bid to host the 2019 NFL Draft in Nashville this week. The selection was ratified Wednesday at the Spring League Meeting in Atlanta. The 84th NFL Draft, which takes place April 25-27, 2019, will span across multiple landmarks in Nashville’s historic downtown district. Nashville becomes the fourth city recently to host the NFL Draft after years in New York City.

“I’m so excited for the city of Nashville and so proud that we’ve been selected as the host city for the 2019 NFL Draft,” Titans controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk said during a news conference. “As we all know, Nashville has a well-deserved reputation as a city that loves the big stage and loves a big party … we’re looking forward to April of next year.”

The NFL has made the NFL Draft a road show the past four years, holding it in Dallas last month, Philadelphia in 2017 and Chicago in 2015 and 2016. The three day event has set new records for attendance and media exposure during that period.

Several other cities were under consideration for hosting the 2019 NFL Draft, including Las Vegas and Denver.

“Following an exciting and successful event in Dallas, we’re thrilled to take the NFL Draft to Nashville. The city has a passionate fan base and offers iconic locations that will enable us to expand the Draft in unique ways,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said. “We look forward to working with the Tennessee Titans, the City of Nashville, and the Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp to deliver a memorable celebration of football to our fans and incoming players.”

If the Titans’ new uniform unveiling earlier this year can be used as a barometer of Nashville’s football fanaticism, next year’s draft should draw plenty of fan interest from the Tennessee faithful and other NFL fans. The Music City plans to schedule numerous events prior and during the NFL Draft. Country Music never had it so good.

Reese’s Senior Bowl and Director Phil Savage Part Ways

The Senior Bowl made a surprising announcement related to their leadership last week. The premier college All-Start week announced they are mutually parting ways with director Phil Savage. In 1951, Mobile was blessed with the vision and leadership of Mr. Finley McRae, CEO of Merchants National Bank, who brought The Senior Bowl to Mobile, Ala. Mr. Finley employed Mr. Rea Schuessler as the first General Manager, tasked with developing the premier college football post-season bowl honoring and showcasing the talents of the best college senior football players in the nation. Since that time, there have been many dedicated stewards of the Senior Bowl, both volunteers and full-time professional employees. I worked with Steve Hale for many years helping annually to develop the roster of the top All-Star week in the country. None of the leaders have been more capable than director Phil Savage. Since Phil joined the Senior Bowl staff in 2012 as the Executive Director, the event continued to grow in popularity, and expanded a year-around schedule of engaging activities that have been enjoyed by and benefit many in our local community.

The national exposure and reputation of the Reese’s Senior Bowl has greatly benefited from Phil’s energy, creativity and leadership. After six years together, it is with regret that they announced last week that Phil and the organization will be mutually parting ways as of May 15, 2018. Phil deserves a great deal of credit for being a loyal caretaker of Mobile’s signature football event, and he will be missed by the Reese’s Senior Bowl staff and Mobilians everywhere. We wish Phil the best and success in all of his future opportunities and pursuits. As Mobile Arts and Sports Association Chairman Angus Cooper put it, “We appreciate Phil’s efforts here, his knowledge and enthusiasm for the game, and I am confident that he will continue to have a successful career in football.” A search committee will be formed by the Mobile Arts and Sports Association to identify potential candidates for this all-important position. Wishing Phil all the best in his endeavors.

NFL Draft 2018 Review

We want to thank all our supporters for their patronage this year, our 27th season covering the NFL and college football for the NFL Draft. It was an exciting NFL Draft 2018 and Draft Insiders’ covered it from spring practice thru the three-day extravaganza in Dallas and the current spring mini-camps. It was the most covered NFL Draft in history in many feature topics and surprising developments that will be in the Review in June. It was Draft Insiders’ most successful year ever and our new web site will continue to add further features and exciting platforms for the 2018 season to benefit fans. Our NFL Draft 2018 Yearbook once again was a prime source in all 32 NFL front offices and scouting insight for fans that is unparalleled in the industry. Our fans benefited from the long history of experience of scout Frank Coyle and the scouts on Draft Insiders’ staff with our nationwide connections of coaches, personnel directors, scouts and agents. We feel we give a rare insight into the entire scouting process from a prospect’s early history through their college career and the important postseason preparation and events.

Our scouting consultation service with agents and teams continues to expand with our long history of working with many highly rated pro prospects through their exciting pursuit of an NFL career. We intend for our fan base to continue to benefit from those relationships and provide unique scouting evaluation for NFL prospects.

We are currently working on our NFL Draft Review 2018 including rookie and veteran training camp reports. The Draft Review will be 40-page document and available in June. We will also provide a report for the NFL Supplemental Draft in July, though it has become a non-event in recent years with only 1 prospect selected in four of the last five draft classes.

We intend to visit many college and NFL Camps in August to begin our 28th season. We thank our loyal fans and customers for another year of support during our ongoing year-round coverage of the NFL Draft.

Frank Coyle is a long-time scout with nationwide ties with coaches, scouts and player agents. He is a long-time member of the FWAA and voter in College player awards – Heisman, Outland, Nagurski, Lombardi, Thorpe, Biletnikoff etc for the past 25 years. He writes College Football Mondays weekly during the season. He is a longtime scouting consultant for the Senior Bowl, the nation’s premier postseason All-star game. He does sports radio shows for CBS, ESPN, Fox Sports and Sporting News on a year-round basis related to NFL and College football especially during the postseason team and All-star Bowl time. He has worked for CBS Sports, NBC Sports, Yahoo and Rivals sports publications and web sites, in addition to several fantasy football sites.