Draft day can be daunting for first-timers

Updated: June 7, 2005, 9:52 PM ET

By Randy Mueller | ESPN Insider

With a lot of the draft talk this year centering on the lack of consensus at the top of the first round as far as players are concerned, another point of note is the lack of a track record for those people who are actually doing the selecting.

The top three teams on this year's draft board – San Francisco, Miami and Cleveland – all sport new head coaches, and two of the three also have new personnel chiefs. That being said, the obvious fact jumps out at you: Their next draft selections will be the first picks they've ever made purely on their own.

Speaking from experience, the reality of this fact can be a very sobering thought on draft-day morning. No doubt it has been a lifelong dream of every assistant coach to become a head coach and every scout to become a general manager. Having been in that chair before, I'm here to say, be careful what you wish for. When draft day dawns, they will feel the first bit of pressure that comes with these jobs.

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