The 2020 NFL Draft Database - available and free

Now that the National Championship game is finished, a number of important games will take place featuring college players, with perhaps the most notable being the Reese’s Senior Bowl scheduled on Australia Day - 26 January.

The NFL combine is scheduled from 24 February to 2 March, in Indianapolis, as usual.

The annual NFL Player Selection Meeting, more commonly known as the NFL Draft, will take place 23-25 April in Paradise, Nevada — just a stone’s throw (almost literally) from Las Vegas.

The draft involves the selection of 256 young men whose rights to play professional football in the NFL will be assigned to the 32 teams during these three days in the desert.

When I was young, the NFL draft was a rather modest affair of cigar smoke, alcohol, pencil, paper, and a large room.

Now it is a three day extravaganza that becomes the focal point of an entire weekend in a major American city and is broadcast via TV and internet all around the world. NFL Fans wait breathlessly to find out which 22 year old kid will determine the fate of their franchise for the next 4 to 10 years.

The popularity of the draft has been driven, in part, by the growth of mock drafting among fans as a pastime. It is, I confess, a hobby whose appeal totally eludes me, but I recognize that it is a modern phenomenon with a broad appeal across a large section of the NFL fanbase.

As I was preparing the daily Twitter post recently, I came across a Tweet that caught my attention. It said, “I don’t expect it to be, but the wishful part of me asks, is this sheet publicly available?”

Curious about what the writer was referring to, I clicked on the Tweet, and saw this:

It turns out that it refers to a Google Docs spreadsheet that has been put together to provide a handy reference tool for the 2020 draft.

I clicked on the link to see what it looks like (which you yourself can do). Here’s a sample of what you’ll find:

I’m no expert, but this seems like a lot of work has been put in, and I would think that anyone trying to get familiar with the top prospects for the upcoming NFL combine and NFL draft could do a lot worse than having this resource as a starting point.

You can see the tabs across the bottom that separate prospects by position, along with some other information.

Anyway, for a free resource, I thought it seemed better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, and thought I would bring it to the attention of Hogs Haven readers, many of whom seem to relish the mock drafting season, and seem keen for all the available info they can get.