NFL Draft prospects experience the process in a variety of ways. At this moment very moment, Florida State defensive tackle Eddie Goldman is sort of bored. Visits have slowed, and there isn’t much to do before workouts except take his dogs to the dog park or play video games. Thankfully, there’s always film to watch.
Eddie Goldman may be the NFL Draft’s best student
Eddie Goldman grew up studying NFL greats. With the draft day fast approaching, Goldman told SB Nation that he is ready to show off everything he has learned.
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Goldman’s defining characteristic as a player -- besides his heft at 6’4, 336 pounds -- is perhaps his studiousness. Goldman’s father used to show Goldman cut-up game tape of former NFL greats to help teach the game to his son.
The lessons stuck. Goldman wore No. 81 during his freshman year at Florida State in honor of Carl Eller, who was a fixture on the Minnesota Vikings’ Purple People Eaters defense during the 1960s and 70s. He then switched to No. 90 in honor of two players: Tony Brackens of the 1996-2004 Jacksonville Jaguars, and Jay Ratliff, currently of the Chicago Bears after appearing in nine seasons with the Dallas Cowboys.
Goldman is ready for the league. He grew up in Washington D.C., a city with no shortage of fervor for the NFL. He spoke with SB Nation about potentially going home, how he’s anxiously killing time until draft day, and the people who have helped him prepare for draft day, now just a weekend away.
Has the process calmed down much? Does it feel like the calm before the storm right now?
Yeah, yeah, definitely, because you’re so busy travelling everywhere, you’re meeting teams, you’re going out to eat, talking and stuff like that. It’s great, and it’s kind of slowed down so much it’s kind of boring now. You don’t know what to do with your time. You kind of wish you had some more team visits, you know?
Are you anxious about draft? Nervous? Do you think about it a lot?
I try not to think about it a lot, but I think about it a good amount. I’m anxious. I don’t know about nervous, but I’m anxious.
What are the first things teams want to know about you when you visit?
Just my background. They just want to know what kind of person that I am, and what I do in my spare time, and if they would draft me where would I have problems -- if I can get used to the city, things like that.
What do teams think you have to work on?
Just converting from run to pass quicker. If you’re expecting run, say it’s second-and-4, and you come off the ball like it’s a run, and it’s not a run, you have to convert to pass. So just doing that quicker. That’s definitely what most teams gave me. I mean, there’s a lot of things I can improve on, but that’s just the consistent thing that teams are telling me.
What are teams most impressed with?
Just the physicality I play with, the way I rush the passer, the way I stop the run and how I use my hands.
You’re father used to show you clips of old NFL games. Who are some of the older players you studied and what did you take from them?
He would let me know that ‘this is what this person does, this is how this person was,’ he would tell me the type of defense they would play. They would do games on ESPN Classic and he would show me a clip like that. He would show me highlights from games. Guys like Randy White and Tony Brackens. I like Reggie White a lot. His favorite was Joe Greene because he was a Steelers fan.
My favorite of my generation was Jay Ratliff, and I actually studied him. At Florida State, you can just go upstairs in the football office and watch games from like 2003. That was my favorite of my generation.
When you watch Jay Ratliff, what do you feel separates him?
Just his versatility and how physical he was.
Have you reached out to him?
No I haven’t, but actually, I went to Dallas to work out with a coach some day before my pro day, and I actually met with Andre Gurode, who was the center for the Cowboys for a long time. I got to do some half speed one-on-ones with him, he was basically schooling me on moves and stuff like that, and telling me that Jay Ratliff was one of the best athletes on the team. It was cool to do that.
Has anyone from the league given you advice?
You know [Broncos defensive tackle] Marvin Austin? He’s from where I’m from. We’re from the same city, so I talked to him a few times, and he basically gave me the rundown on what the NFL is like.
What’d he say?
He said the team that will draft you, you’ve probably never talked to them. A team may draft you who you’ve never talked to, so don’t get too caught up on the mock drafts, because a lot of things happen on draft day.
Basically, just calmed you down about the process.
Yeah.
Have you had a chance to compare your experience with other top defensive tackles in the class?
Yeah actually. Me and [former USC defensive tackle] Leonard Williams, we have the same agent so we do a lot of workouts together. I was training for the Combine and pro day in Phoenix with him, and when I did the one-on-ones with Andre Gurode he was there with me. We pretty much had a good time and we built a good relationship. I was supposed to go out to L.A. with him about two weeks ago, but I didn’t make it.
But just to see his work ethic and the way he goes about things, it just makes me want to outdo him as far as competing and stuff like that.
Did you grow up an NFL fan?
Oh yeah, I’m a huge Redskins fan. Since I’ve been in Tallahassee I kind off fell off on watching football because all we’d ever see are Jacksonville games and, you know, Miami games, stuff like that. Then we didn’t really have a chance to watch NFL games because we play on Saturday, and Sunday would be a film session day and that would start around like one o’clock, and I would miss all the games.
Having grown up in the area, would it mean something special to be drafted by Washington?
Oh yeah, definitely. That would be special. That’s a dream inside of a dream. Playing for the home team, there’s nothing like that.
How would you sum up the draft experience?
It’s been fun more than anything. Just meeting these guys, that’s good in itself. You also get to meet some of the coaches you’re going to want to play for. That was one of the best parts too.
Does it feel odd leaving behind the college experience?
Definitely being here in Tallahassee made me miss college a little bit, but I’m ready to move on to the NFL.
What separates you from others in a talented pool of defensive linemen?
I think that the amount of film I watch is critical, or was critical to my success. I set aside time all the time to watch film, and I made that a priority. I just got a thrill off of watching film. Every day I would go upstairs ... and we would go up there and basically go over the film, and go over games and practices and stuff like that. We would just see what I need to improve on. And I would just look at that, and then look at some film on the opponent, and look at some NFL film, and we’d just go out there and try to do what I said I was going to work on in the film room.
That’s pretty much what I brought to practice every day. Something I need to improve on right before practice, then go out there and do exactly what I said I was going to do, instead of watching film afterwards and going into the next day. I’d rather watch film before and then go out there and do it.
Do you still watch film in your down time?
Oh yes. It’s been a bunch of times where I’m watching more NFL. I watched a couple of games of my college career, but for the most part I’ve been watching a lot of NFL tape. You know, I don’t know which team I’m going to, but I’ve looked at the teams that I’m projected to, and just look at film on the D-line and their potential opponents. That’s basically the type of film I’ve been watching.
So what teams have you been watching?
It’s been a lot. I mean, the Colts, Green Bay, 49ers, Chargers, Detroit Lions, Pittsburgh -- it’s been a lot of teams, a lot of teams. Ravens. Everybody.
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