COLUMBIA, Mo. — There’s a narrow, winding stretch of asphalt situated between Missouri’s new indoor practice facility and the southwest corner of Memorial Stadium.
Before home games, Marching Mizzou and fans line its curbs, forming a brassy gauntlet for the players and coaches who shuffle their feet down the steep hill on their way inside the stadium. On other days, cars make a double-axled clang-clang as they pass over a drain cut into the surface.
During the Friday pro day workouts for former Tigers hoping to land with NFL teams, there was a steady stream of business cutting across this glorified driveway. Off the indoor practice field, through the throng of agents, reporters and family in the facility lobby, across the pavement, and into Faurot Field’s South End Zone headquarters they went: prospects and pro teams’ representatives, sometimes already engaged in conversation.
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The NFL draft process is a multifaceted one for these budding professionals. Their game film has long been established. So are their stats. The workouts and drills emblematic of the skill combine are still happening, sometimes in public, sometimes in private.
But just as important — if not more important — are the interviews, the meetings, the conversations that take place between prospects and the 32 potential employers within the NFL. That’s where pitches and promises flow in a more personal fashion.
Some of Mizzou’s prospects have likened the broader ordeal to one really big, really important job interview. These meetings are certainly that.
Players and teams could duck away for those chats during pro day, with groups finding quiet areas of the program’s facility to talk. Leaving the stadium after some of these meetings, for example, cornerback Kris Abrams-Draine said he’d sat down with at least five teams just around that workout.
Teams could be looking for any number of things during those conversations. Abrams-Draine has concluded that “they know everything about you, but they just want to see if you tell the truth or not.†There could be explanation of injuries, in the case of cornerback Ennis Rakestraw Jr.
And for seemingly every player, there’s a chance to deliver the big pitch.
The Post-Dispatch asked some Missouri pro day participants that deceptively difficult question that’s apropos of any job interview: Why should an NFL team draft or sign you?
“I’m highly productive,†running back Cody Schrader said. “From high school to Truman, Division II, Division I, I’ve been nothing but productive. I help build cultures. I’m a great locker room, teammate guy, so I’m not just a football player. I can help build an organization and help be a part of something special.â€
The Lutheran South product who won the Burlsworth Trophy last season while setting a new MU single-season rushing record rattled that off easily — it was clearly not the first time he’d thought out his case for landing in the NFL.
And he’s a player who needs a good elevator pitch. Because he spent six years at the college level — four at Truman State, two with the Tigers — his age and mileage are knocks, even in a running back class seen as weak by NFL draft analysts.
The impacts of that are up to front offices to decide. But the production he cites is undeniable. Across all levels of college football, Schrader finished his career third among active running backs in all-purpose yards. He’d racked up more than 6,700 yards in high school, with 99 touchdowns. The volume and numbers are there.
In terms of a locker room presence, Schrader’s journey — underrecruited Division II player to walk on at the bottom of the depth chart to the Southeastern Conference’s leading back — is still held up as an example by Mizzou coaches as a testament of what hard work and buy-in can yield.
Rakestraw, who’s gotten some first-round buzz, is in a different situation. A groin injury that required offseason surgery has also limited what he’s shown in workouts and tests. His pitch, then, is a little more of a redirection.
“Film speaks for itself,†Rakestraw said. “I’ve been here four years; I got a lot of film to show them I’m fast, show them I’m quick, twitchy. They’re going off that. Obviously, they know my situation. A lot of them are just proud that I decided to come here and try to compete and more amazed that I’ve been dealing with this the whole season last year.â€
And he’s not the only one who’s pointing to game performances. Offensive lineman Xavier Delgado, who had a lengthy run as a starter, hasn’t received the combine invites or draft hype of others. With his experience, he’s marketing himself as “someone that’s consistent, reliable.â€
“I feel like my tape speaks for that,†he said. “This whole season, I was consistent in my play — never really wavered.â€
Abrams-Draine is a player with a unique pitch. He played mostly wide receiver in high school, where he switched positions to be a dual-threat-but-run-heavy quarterback during his senior year. He enrolled at MU as a wide receiver but switched sides of the ball to cornerback after his freshman season.
That centers his pitch around novelty.
“I feel like a team should be interested in me because — I don’t want to say I’m new to the position now, but I just started playing defense three years ago, and I feel like I was one of the cornerbacks in the nation this year,†Abrams-Draine said.
The NFL draft begins April 25. Players will continue meeting with teams before the event.