Rich Eisen Quotes

From watching the draft and following the NFL closely, anything can happen in the draft. But to me, it's not where I get drafted that matters to me, to be completely honest.

I used to tell people that in 2012 when I was trying to understand where am I most likely to be drafted and who are the three or four teams that have pursued me the most and it would make sense that they would pick me, I never thought of who would be least likely to draft me.

I sat in the green room at Radio City Music Hall for the 2006 NFL Draft. At my table, I was encircled by my parents, brother, agent, former coaches and close friends.

Draft day is a hectic day, especially for draftees and, more or less, for management.

So, there's no guarantee in the NFL that if you've got the No. 1 pick or you've got a top-five pick, that you're going to be able to draft a franchise quarterback.

When I graduated from Utah, I was headed into the biggest job interview of my life, the NFL Draft.

There is a lot of information to know, but I prepare for the NFL Draft by coming to work every day.

We just have fun with our NFL Draft coverage because we understand that it's a long process, and there can be technical glitches that we don't profess to ignore. During our late coverage of the Draft, we sometimes get slap-happy and distort the heads of our analysts.

The main reason why I would even potentially go to the NFL Draft is for my family.

At the end of the day you never know what team still wants what player. You just never know with the draft.

You go to the draft board and think, 'Here's a nose tackle. Who needs a nose tackle?' Well, eight teams in front of you need a nose tackle, and there's two nose tackles. It's something you have to figure out where you can get the players to play in your system.

The Draft is about the re-generation of hope and excitement for teams. Every pick your team makes could be the next Tom Brady. He could be the guy who turns around the fortune of the franchise.

I've heard a lot about what second-round picks usually do - whether it's D-League or whether it's not playing - but for me, I have high expectations of myself regardless of where I'm picked.

I remember players talking to Willie Brown in my presence. Receivers asking, 'Is this who you drafted? I can't believe this is who you drafted.' I was hearing it from my defensive backs: 'Man, you got a long way to go.'

I had no idea the Vikings were interested. I was actually expecting other teams because the Green Bay Packers and three or four other teams asked for film after the combine in Dallas, and the Vikings weren't one of them.

I don't think I'm ever surprised at how high the quarterbacks go. There could be a lot of teams that often times don't have a lot of first-round grades on guys that are going in the first round, and that's just the nature of the business.

Once you get into the NFL, it doesn't matter what draft pick you are, what round you are, if you're undrafted or not. It's football time again. The draft, all of that doesn't matter anymore.

No one's taking quarterbacks, for the most part, in the first round that haven't had a lot of success.

Honestly, I think the combine is a waste of time. The effort should be in film watching, physicals, and mental evaluations.

For years, the NFL was the one league apparently immune from ratings downturns of any significance.

The media attention does not bother me. I am very happy that the media is at least interested in sports other than cricket.

As bad as some of the teams in the NFL seem to be, they all have way more talent than any college.

I've been on a number of NFL teams, and a lot of them address situational football. But I've never been around a team that does it as meticulously as the New England Patriots.

I think every person who gets a football scholarship thinks the potential for great success in college - and maybe even a career in the NFL - is possible.

'Hard Knocks' seems to have done for the self-serious NFL what the witch did for Rapunzel: persuaded it, somehow, to let its hair down.