Security Is Tight During NFL Draft : After Months of Work, Teams Don’t Want Interference

It is to be hoped that the secrecy surrounding such locales as the North American Defense Command and Fort Knox is as complete as that which surrounds the rooms that house those in charge on NFL draft day.

Admittance is by invitation only. And there are no invitations.

In New York, the public is admitted to the room in which names of drafted players are announced. But in league cities, where the actual selections are made and relayed by phone, it’s all top secret.

Months of work have gone into the gathering of material which is used on the day of the draft and when it comes time to bring that material into play the “Do Not Disturb” sign goes out.

It is the same with every NFL team, of course, and the Dallas Cowboys are as good an example as any.

In days gone by the Cowboys were looked upon as the masters of the draft. A complicated formula involving statistics and recognizable skills was created and programmed into a computer so that Coach Tom Landry and his assistants could tell at a glance which players might make it and which might not.

Computers are now old hat and the Cowboys drafting expertise--through a series of mistakes and bad luck--has dwindled to a large degree.

But the process remains the same and that process will repeat itself Tuesday when the NFL clubs stock their rosters with the best of the 1984 collegiate senior class.

The collecting of information begins years before a player becomes eligible for the draft. Notebook after notebook of data is compiled and the Cowboys organization, with player personnel director Gil Brandt in the lead, finds a way to keep in touch with most of the nation’s better collegiate athletes.

If a player has a decent amount of talent, he is likely to receive a brochure during his senior year. The current one has a picture of Landry on the cover, pointing a finger just like Uncle Sam in the recruiting posters.

“Tom Landry needs you,” the cover reads.

And inside the brochure is a note from Brandt.

“The Dallas Cowboys will not make you a promise that cannot be kept,” the note says in part. “Our pledge is this: If we offer you an opportunity to become part of our organization as a professional athlete, we believe sincerely that you have the qualities necessary to succeed.”

Of course it doesn’t always work out that way. Thomas Henderson, for instance, did not have the qualities to succeed. But no person, or organization, is perfect.

In the old days, before Dallas found itself having specific needs, the Cowboys insisted they always took the best athlete available. And, to some extent, they still do.

Their draft lists are separated into “plateaus.” If a player is left in Dallas’ top plateau when it comes time for the No. 1 pick, that player is more than likely going to become a Cowboy.

Landry has the final say when it comes to the top draft choices, but as the day progresses he is apt to relinquish his authority.

Landry had left the Cowboys headquarters last year when the final round of the draft was held and Brandt conspired with club president Tex Schramm to select sprinter Carl Lewis--whose agent immediately said Lewis would have to take a pay cut to play pro ball.

The interest in the NFL draft around the country has grown in large leaps through the years and that can also be illustrated in how the event is handled by the Cowboys’ public relations wing.

Not so long ago a small group of reporters and broadcasters dropped by the club’s headquarters on draft day and followed proceedings from a tiny lunchroom.

Landry would stop by after each pick and say a few words.

Now the media headquarters on draft day is in a banquet room at a next-door hotel and Landry’s appearances are the next thing to a presidential news conference.

Next to the Super Bowl, draft day may be the most anticipated event having to do with professional football. An awful lot of money is spent in hopes that the day will be a successful one and next Tuesday the cost effectiveness of those expenditures will once again be determined.