2008 NFL Draft: Don't Overlook the Later Rounds

This year, if you Google "2008 NFL mock draft" you get just over two million pages in as little as .5 seconds.

I haven't looked over all of these, but I'm willing to wager that many of these "mock drafts" don't include the second day selections. 

Drafting players on the second day of a draft is an art form. It takes a sharp eye and a keen nose to scope out those "diamonds in the rough". How can you know whether that player will turn out to be the next Tom Brady (sixth round) or the next Tyler Thigpen (seventh round)?

I'm not saying that free agency is worthless. Many teams improved this year through free agency, and other teams lost key players through free agency.

The key to building a good team is to be successful in the later rounds on draft day.

There have been many gems found amid the late rounds of the NFL draft. Will an NFL owner find the next Derek Anderson (sixth round), or Randy McMichael (fourth round), or even Rex Hadnot (sixth round)?

There is also the possility that an NFL owner makes a fool of him/herself like Minnesota Viking's Rick Spielman did in 2000 when he passed over both Tom Brady and Adalius Thomas to pick Ernest Grant in the sixth round.

It's almost a game among NFL owners: who can find the best player latest in the draft? To help with that, teams hire scouts that are cream of the crop. 

Jerry Resse, currently the GM of the Giants, has this to say about the second day of the draft:

"On the back side of your draft, we always talk about, 'This is where we really make our money. We have to get some diamonds out of the rough on the back side'...and we were able to do that (Super Bowl win with eight rookies). It's really a testament that there's probably more diamonds in the rough than you would expect."

One benefit of having great scouting is the ability to sit back and relax during the free agency period. Why would you have to worry about making your team better in every aspect right now, when you can wait until the draft and uncover some gems?

For this year's draft, be sure to not tune off your radio or TV too soon. 

Andrew Kneeland is a senior writer at Bleacher Report. You can read all of his articles here.