The NFL Draft is the first in a series of events that lead us to the start of a new football season. It also serves as the beginning of a possible Hall of Fame career for some of the players selected.
The NFL Draft is a crap shoot, regardless of what anyone tells you. Mel Kiper and Todd McShay would disagree, as would many NFL scouting directors.
But the fact is, no one ever truly knows if a “sure thing” will ever develop into the type of player most envisioned. Much of a player’s success depends on which team selects him and if he fits a particular system.
When a team has invested so much time scouting, watching hours of film and personally evaluating each player at the NFL Combine, drafting someone that fits your needs doesn’t seem all that difficult.
But history has proven that team’s make bad draft choices every year. First-round busts are just as likely to happen as are late-round picks becoming instrumental in a team’s success.
Among the more than 250 players who will be selected in this year’s draft, there are a few that could find their way into the Hall of Fame.
About one-third of the players drafted should reasonably expect to have long and prosperous NFL careers, one such player being defensive tackle Dan Williams from Tennessee.
When he signed a Letter of Intent in 2005, Williams was virtually an afterthought among all of the Volunteers’ signees. Tennessee’s recruiting class was ranked the best among all college football programs that year.
Williams has been overlooked since high school, when he was rated as a three-star prospect by recruiting service Scout.
This past season, he was selected to the coaches All SEC second team defense, behind Alabama’s Terrence Cody, Florida’s Carlos Dunlap, Auburn’s Antonio Coleman and Kentucky’s Corey Peters.
But on Thursday, Williams will be taken in the first round of the NFL Draft ahead of all those players SEC coaches thought were better than him.
In a draft where Williams is considered to be the third best defensive tackle available behind Gerald McCoy and Ndamukong Suh, he’ll be in familiar territory. 
McCoy was a five-star prospect when he signed with Oklahoma in 2006 and Suh was listed as a four-star when he signed with Nebraska in 2005.
McCoy and Suh were expected to be good and both lived up to their potential, but Williams wasn’t expected to do much more than to provide depth.
At 6-2 and 327 pounds, Williams possesses all the physical tools to play defensive tackle in the NFL.
Of all the measurables draft experts like to talk about, there’s one important intangible that can’t be measured.
Heart.
In a draft filled with former high school and college phenoms, you won’t find a player with more heart than Williams.
One day, a decade or so into the future, when all of his tackles and sacks are tallied, they’ll amount to nothing more than numbers on a ledger because it will be Williams’ heart that made him a great NFL player.
He’ll be a man that every young football player in America can look up to, someone they can try to emulate.
On Thursday, that journey begins. One NFL team will be smart enough to select Dan Williams and they’ll reap the benefits for years to come.
