When you plant yourself in front of the TV for the draft, you want the right magazine in front of you. Every year, more and more challengers are entiring the arena and vying for the attention of fans of the draft. There are some high-end options available directly from scouting services, but they cost around as much as all 4 reviewed magazines, if not more. They may get deeper into the class at each position, and get into more detail about each prospect, but the draft magazines have much better organization and presentation, and are beginning to compete with the professional draft guides for depth. The upper hand they have in slick packaging and layout is somewhat nullified in timeliness, going to press before the combine and beginning of free agency, so draft stock moves since the combine are not reflected. Amateur draftniks should still consider buying a guide from the likes of Draft Insiders or Ourlads. A subscription to NFLDraftScout is still a must.

The width, breadth, and depth of the information in these magazines makes almost all of them terrific values at under 10 dollars a pop. Hopefully, this breakdown will help you decide how to spend that finn. What you do with the change is up to you. Even if you've already bought a mag, maybe this will help you discover that another magazine is more up your alley. I reviewed: Sporting News, ESPN, Lindy's and Athlon

Cover :All but Lindy's went with a glamour shot of Brady Quinn. Lindy's had a collage of Quinn, Russell, and Calvin Johnson in action. There doesn't appear to be regional covers like you might find on pro or college football preview mags, as all of these were bought in Austin, Texas, not far from Russell's Bayou Bengal Country. People are buying these for the info contained within, but mailing it in with the easy choice of the smiling mug of the all-american QB from Notre Dame is not a surprise - because 3 of the 4 made an uninspired choice, they all blend together and give the buyer almost no guidance on which mag to pick.

Winner: Lindy's by default

Features: Features are very low on the list of the draws to draft guides. They are somewhat interesting when done right, but take up relatively little of the magazine..

Sporting News: This offering had some good lists of instant impact players, sure things, character and bust risks, speediest guys, workout warriors, small school players, a 3 round mock, and draft board with a X-axis of position and Y-axis of round. They generally add more depth to players covered in the rankings.

ESPN: The sports network mag of course focuses more on the personalities in their stable, including a Mike and Mike (Golic and Greenberg) discussion, and Kiper's mock first (including a writeup of a sleeper the team might look at later on), with Todd McShay "pickoff" when he disagreed with Mel. One excellent extra is a thicker pullout page that lists all 304 players covered in the mag, ranked by their overall grade - the best part is a checkbox next to each player so you can keep track of who their BPA is as the draft goes on.

Lindy's: The sports guide specialist has similar lists of impact players, risks, and other types that are often mentioned at this time of year, and is the only mag to cover 08 prospects (and beyond). They are also alone in having a feature about the importance of a postseason game (the Senior Bowl). The 2 round mock includes commentary on each pick.

Athlon: This new entry's features are not as relevant for this year's draft. They include a first round do-over from 2006 (who the teams should have taken), a big piece on Quinn vs. Russell (and other historical QB dilemmas), best historical draft picks at each slot in the first and gutsiest picks. They also have a draft board (which mentions players that were not reviewed or mentioned in the positional rankings), and a draft pick value list. Athlon's features are more like a compendium of interesting draft history and trivia than a group of pieces that enhance your understanding of this year's class.

Winner:Draw

Team needs: This along with positional rankings/scouting reports makes the guts of every draft mag. They are not nearly as important as rankings/reports in determining the mag's value, but a good needs section can add a lot of value to a guide as general offseason reading material.

Sporting News: Built around a depth chart with first and second team and icons giving them one of four grades ranking from elite to fringe. They cover the five year record with an annual grade and numerical breakdown of the take from studs to guys who aren't even in the NFL, and a review of each 2006 pick including game played and games started. The needs go 7 or 8 deep and are somewhat specific and explained with suggestions who the team might take. The sections were written by beat writers from each team

ESPN: ESPN has some novel features, including a rank of all 32 front offices, a breakdown of how the team spent their draft points over the last five years (based on the draft pick value chart). and a section that details who calls the shots and what philosophy they use. The five-year of scoreboard of pick value spending is terrific for determining patterns (the accompanying commentary points these out), and you also see exactly how much they have spent in the last five years (Poor Texans). The pages also detail the top 5 needs, with the most specificity of any of the mags, such as beaking out free or strong safety, and inside or outside linebacker. There is a short "roster report" about the state of the team and top 5 building blocks. The finishing touch is a "game plan" paragraph that details a strategy for the first round pick and later picks and suggests some players.

Lindy's: Two pages per team is double that of any other mag, and the resulting overview of the team will make for good reading, even if it is somewhat out of date by now. They break down and list players on the roster at every position. The breakdown includes a review of the player's 2006 performance and scouting report of the talent at the position. Relatively little space is devoted to actual draft coverage, with only the top 3 needs covered. The last 5 years and 06 draft class are covered very similar to Sporting News.

Athlon: The top 3-5 priorities are covered in some detail, with a "bottom line" paragraph that focuses on an 06 draft pick. The first rounders from the last 10 years are listed with draft position, and a first and second team depth chart with number of years in the league and FA status covers almost a third of each page.

Winner:ESPN for draft related material, but Lindy's is almost an offseason guide to each team, which is a nice added bonus.

Positional Rankings/Scouting Reports: : Thia is why you buy a draft magazine. 90% of your decision on which mag to buy should be based on the rankings. They are essential in fleshing out your understanding of the class so that draft day means more as the names are called (and that includes Sunday). Unlike some of the other features, the rankings are where the magazines really separate.

Sporting News: A class overview starts each position, and there are short sections detailing "job requirements" and the criteria for scouting, including optimum and minimum ht/wt/40. The players are ranked on a 1-10 scale (with one decimal place), and the projected round organizes the section as much as ranking. The rankings include "snapshots" where a few players answer questions that really enhance your understanding of their report, including "I need to work most on", and "my stats dont show". Players are given icons for rising, falling, hurt and sleeper status. A "skill set" question tells you the best of the class in important parts of playing the position. Top players are scouted by area of play at the position and include NFL comparisons , while the rest of broken into strengths, weaknesses, and a summary. There is also a selection of "on the rise", "on the decline", "sleeper", "unrealized potential", and "biggest risk" for each position with commentary on why that player was chosen.

The scouting reports are somewhat typical in that they speak mostly in fragments that begin with verbs, but the fragments use a wide range of descriptive words that fill out a picture. There's lots that begin with "is", "isn't" or "must". The summaries are very good and make a quick overview if you don't have time to get into detail on the whole class. My favorite thing about these reports is that they take a position on the players future, projecting their future role and level of success. These reports aren't afraid to strongly tout or pan a player, and explain when they are out of step with the rest of the crowd.

Speaking of being out of step, the Sporting News rankings are by far the most unconventional. There are many rankings that are vastly higher or lower than the conventional wisdom. Some make me think, "they are the only ones that got it right", others seem almost indefensible. These rankings also cover more players that I have heard little about than any other magazine. They go deeper than any other mag, with full reports on players that the other 3 mags don't even mention. Sporting News is also aggressive about projecting players at new positions and mentioning possible position changes in the future.

These are the best rankings if you are looking for coverage of more obscure players or unconventional rankings.

ESPN: ESPN gives the class an overview and grade at each position, and a list of the best 3 from each of the last five years, including their grade, so you can see how this year's top prospects stack up again previous top prospects. There is also a fun exercise of guessing who a past scouting report is referring to Keeping with the ESPN personalities theme, Kiper and McShay have a back and forth on a question about the class. The grades are on a 30-100 scale with 8 icons for character issues, durability issues, struggles to learn, young/inexperienced, underachiever, overachiever, sleeper, and undersized. The football outsiders weigh in with a breakdown of what round the current NFL starters got selected in and interpretation of that chart and a breakdown of an important question about what scouts look for at that position. The best part of the overview is "the prototype" where each major area of the position's game is described with an ideal ht/wt/40, NFL role model and the top 3 from the class in that area.

The rankings are good for a surface look, but somewhat lacking beyond that. The most noticeable feature is a ++ and -- for the biggest strength and weakness of that player's game. I don't always agree with these, and they range from minor areas of their play that can be fixed with good coaching to important cornerstones that are mostly unchangeable like size or character. You can get a picture of the player from this combination, although it will be distorted and incomplete. There is an NFL comparison for everyone. Again, I don't always agree and sometimes think the choice is misleading, then again, sometimes they are spot on.

The rest of the scouting report is a + and - section with fragments. Their favorite words include: "good, standout, knows, must, lacks, will struggle, not a, doesnt". There are also a good amount of specifically descriptive words mixed in, but these rankings sorely lack something to tie the scouting together.

Lindy's: Lindy's doesn't devote too much to position overviews, only a text overview and letter grade, along with a short description of what scouts look for with optimum and minimum ht/wt/40. They are the only ones that break designate FS and SS prospects.

The scouting report gets into specific areas for top prospects and "positives", "negatives", and "in our view" for the rest of the class. They go on to say who the best in class is at each area covered in the top prospects scouting report.

These scouting reports are dense and detailed, with solid stances (including the why) and projections in the "in our view" blurb for each player, serving as a mini draft guide in themselves. These reports do the best job by far of giving context for a player's characteristics and explaining the relative important of their good and bad points (what are the biggest, best, worst). These reports truly paint a picture of the player instead of just describing atomic details. Comparisons to current players are woven in along with facts about the player including stats and biographical info. They also describe the player's likely NFL role.

Lindy's doesn't go quite as deep into the class as Sporting News or ESPN, but they do a better job of capturing the players they do cover.

Athlon: Not suprisingly, Athlon mightily trails the rest of the pack in depth and cohesiveness. The class is graded on a "above average-average-below average" scale, and they also tell you the average number drafted at that position. The best feature by far is the scouting checklist that breaks down each important area into specific things to observe and questions to ask. It is exhaustive and almost makes this otherwise poor mag worth buying.

The prospects are given a round grade and rank. The round grade can include gradations, such as 3rd/4th, instead of just 3rd or 4th. no other mag built in this kind of flexibility. This is one of the mags to include stats, including QB W-L record. There are too many large photos taking up pages in this already shorter mag, and this mag covers by far the least number of players in depth, not even enough to cover the whole class in any scenario. The mag does not make up for these shortcomings in the depth or quality of the scouting reports. They are typical fragment reports, with fewer descriptive words. Favorite words include: Needs and lacks and “not a”. Has and can.

The reports are broken down into "strong points", "weak points", and "summary". The weak points are almost always too short. The strong points include contain some average/so-so/even bad points. the summary is not a summary at all. It doesn't tie the report together and it often contains more strong and weak points. Some "big picture" observations are included, but they blend in. Like ESPN, Athlon gives no real quick reference way to scan the position and get a decent idea of each player out there. There are some facts and stats spiced into the fragments, but the lack of individual descriptions and a real feel for the player makes these rankings a mechanical feel.

Winner: Lindy's

Final Verdict

Sporting News:This is the guide that is most like what I would write at my best. It covers the largest group of players and shines the spotlight on many lesser known players. Russ Lande includes observations from the Shrine Game and Senior Bowl practices and makes sure to indicate when his views deviate from the conventional wisdom. I learned more new players from this guide than any other. This is the best magazine to buy to have as a complete reference to likely have at least something about most every player in the draft.

ESPN: This is the best product as a magazine. It has the best graphics, color schemes, layouts, and organization. While the magazine is pleasing to the eyes, it doesn't sum up players as well as Sporting News or Lindy's. This mag does a terrific job of coming up with the bite size features and insets. This is the best magazine to buy if you are mainly going to read it in the bathroom.

Lindy's: This is the guy that is most like what I would aspire to write. Lindy's will give you the best writing and the most descriptive scouting. It's more like the professional draft guides that cost considerably more than any other magazine. It doesnt do the best job of taking full advantage of the magazine presentation, but that is mostly ornamental. This is the best magazine to buy to get to know the true players.

Athlon: I love the scouting checklist, but otherwise, this magazine falls short on many levels. Pass.

Tale of the Tape
	Sporting News	ESPN	Lindy's	Athlon
Number of Players Reviewed:
QB	20	26	17	12
RB	38	39	25	10
FB	11	9	8	4
WR	62	35	35	17
TE	19	24	15	10
OT	33	29	19	12
OG	30	22	21	10
C	16	12	9	8
DT	33	26	20	11
DE	30	27	26	15
ILB	28	17	16	10
OLB	30	24	20	12
CB	39	31	26	12
S	34	23	17	12
Index?	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Lead Scout	Russ Lande	Todd McShay	Rob Rang	Ourlads
Against the Grain	Kolb QB2 Pittman RB2 Griffin S13 Cornelius WR14 Carriker DE7 and many more	Jackson RB3 Timmons OLB1 Wilson OT11 Harrell DT4 Nate Harris ILB6	Blades ILB4 Rowe QB6 Ball WR18 Yanda OT5 Spencer DE4	Milner TE3 Barringer S10 Kolb QB8 Walker RB6 Baker WR17