The Takeaway

Is The NFL Draft Exploitative?

Making it to the NFL is the dream of countless young boys and men across the nation. <a href="https://operations.nfl.com/journey-to-the-nfl/nfl-development-pipeline/college-player-development/">Less than 2-percent</a> of college football players will make it to the NFL. 
For those who do make it, before they can don the uniform of a professional team and see those dreams realized, they must be selected in the NFL draft. Draft day is like winning the lottery for those selected to play on an NFL team, but the draft isn’t without its critics who find the process dehumanizing. Former NFL quarterback <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/sports/colin-kaepernick-netflix-series-likens-nfl-draft-slavery-no-dignity-rcna4312">Colin Kaepernick </a>and <a href="https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/nfl-owners-get-defensive-after-scouting-combine-gets-compared-to-slave-auction-by-league-exec-troy-vincent/">football executive Troy Vincent</a> liken the process to a modern day slave auction. 
With the NFL draft taking place later this month, we check in with Dave Zirin, sports editor of The Nation and author of The Kaepernick Effect, about the state of its draft and how it stacks up against other professional sports.

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