A tribute to the best draft guru, the late Dave Te' Thomas on draft night.

[Albany,n.y.]

My favorite draft guru was Dave Te' Thomas, who died 4 & 1/2 years ago. I 1st heard Dave Te' on a radio show & saw him on various cable sports shows.  In the late 1990s I was a subscriber to his "Poor Man's Guide to the NFL Draft" that he later renamed the NFL Draft Report.  During one interview he gave out a phone number to order his draft report.  I called the number from my desk at work and he answered the phone himself. One of the 1st things he said was the price, which was around $70, much more expensive than the other guides.  I figured I'd try it to see if it was worth it (it was!) and then he started talking about football & a lot of other stuff.  He talked about how they thought he was going to die from cancer & one publication even announced his death while he was hospitalized.  After about 45 minutes I had to get back to work and we ended our conversation.  When the Poor Man's Guide arrived at my apartment's door, it came in multiple boxes.  There were comprehensive reports on a lot of prospects totaling hundreds of pages. In later years his work was on the internet as he no longer published his printed guide.  Dave Te' battled cancer for about 25 years before passing on 10/14/2020.  One of his last drafts was 2018, he had the right QB as "the cream of the crop".  https://www.bigblueview.com/2018/4/21/17264242/nfl-draft-report-josh-allen-cream-of-quarterback-crop-2018-nfl-draft-sam-darnold-josh-rosen