‹ All movies
Draft Day poster

Draft Day

year 2014decade 10sdirector Ivan Reitmangenre Sportsgenre Drama

110 minutes

Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Kevin Costner Sonny Weaver Jr.
Jennifer Garner Ali Parker
Denis Leary Coach Vince Penn
Frank Langella Anthony Molina
Sam Elliott Coach Moore
Sean Combs Chris Crawford
Terry Crews Earl Jennings
Ellen Burstyn Barb Weaver
Chadwick Boseman Vontae Mack
W. Earl Brown Ralph Mowry
Kevin Dunn Marvin
Arian Foster Ray Jennings
Pat Healy Jeff Carson
Brad William Henke Tony "Bagel" Bagli
Wallace Langham Pete Begler
Chi McBride Walt Gordon
Griffin Newman Rick the Intern
Josh Pence Bo Callahan
David Ramsey Thompson
Patrick St. Esprit Tom Michaels
Tom Welling Brian Drew
Wade Williams O'Reilly

Draft Day | The Rewatchables

host Bill Simmonshost Mallory Rubin format Flawed Rewatchables
Explore episodeClose episode

Producer credits not yet identified.

Half-Assed Internet Research

The Jets as the original foil; the switch to the Browns for cheaper Ohio filming; Andrew Brandt's critique; a JaMarcus Russell origin for the $100 trick; the 2012 Black List script; the NFL-vetoed effigy scene; a former Jets GM consultation; an R rating cut to PG-13

In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 00:25:44Read transcript
  • Previewed as research: the foil team was supposed to be the Jets.
  • They changed it to the Browns because it was cheaper to film in Ohio.
  • Andrew Brandt, a former Packers executive turned media figure, shredded it as lacking any true description of how an NFL team operates around the draft.
  • The $100-bill trick came from a famous JaMarcus Russell story involving a blank DVD.
  • The screenplay was on the 2012 Black List.
  • The NFL nixed a scene of fans hanging Costner's character in effigy; a quoted reaction from the star found it funny but noted the NFL cracking down on fan behavior.
  • Little information exists because the movie was not successful.
  • The screenwriters consulted for two hours with a former Jets GM (transcribed Mike Dannembaum).
  • It was supposed to be rated R before being argued down, joked as the version with Eva Mendez.

Most Rewatchable Scene

Final trade with Seattle to win back the picks

In the discussion (11)
Approx. transcript time · 00:32:04Read transcript
  • The first trade call, with Tom eating pancakes and negging Brian Drew, is the first nominee; it ends with "enjoy your pancakes, Tom," though real executives would not talk this confrontationally.
  • Chadwick Bozeman's first scene as Vante Mac is the second nominee.
  • Sonny telling the war room about the third first-round pick takes the air out of the room; asking Ali about the cap only after the trade is mocked, as is Allie's Super Bowl trivia, likened to Uma Thurman in Beautiful Girls.
  • The Coach Penn scenes and Frank Langella as owner Anthony Molina are praised, including the owner saying his quarterback prospect will be the son he never had.
  • Vante telling Sonny to watch the tape, and the war-room tape review with instantly cued footage, a sports-movie trick compared to Blue Chips, are liked.
  • The Browns taking Vante Mac is liked for his stunned joy and the war room freaking out over trading three first-rounders for a linebacker.
  • Sonny demanding his picks back and David Putney leads to the "pancake eating motherfucker" line, called the movie's only f-bomb.
  • The Ray Jennings draft call is raised but bothers the co-host because Ariad Foster's character never responds, and Vante never gets a call at all.
  • Ralph's birthday-party reveal and the $100-bill playbook reveal, ending with Sonny shouting not to tell him who the other player was, are in the consideration set.
  • The pick is the second trade with the Seahawks to get back the number ones: lines like "It's Jeff Carson, Tom," a clock-like score and the bookend to the first trade make it the closest thing to flawless.
  • The other host agrees 100% and would always keep watching when that part comes on TV.

What’s Aged the Best?

Cable and streaming rewatch value; Chadwick Boseman as Vontae Mack; the versatile-linebacker profile; ESPN draft-telecast integration; Frank Langella as the owner; the Browns' draft-day chaos; Kevin Costner's throwback performance; NFL media cameos

In the discussion (14)
Approx. transcript time · 00:41:28Read transcript
  • The movie has aged best as a cable, on-demand, streaming or airplane movie that maybe never needed a theatrical release, like Million Dollar Arm, which the host helped produce.
  • In 2020 it would be a Netflix movie released two weeks before the NFL draft.
  • Split screen is offered as aged best because so much of the film is phone calls.
  • The split screens are countered as aged worst: the logic from the making-of is sound, but the effect is distracting and dated; the first host stays pro split screen.
  • Chadwick Bozeman as Vante Mac comes across super likable and realistic despite limited screen time, though he is the smallest guy in several rooms.
  • His undersized, versatile build is added as aged best for the era of flexible defenders, citing Derwin James and Isaiah Simmons falling in the recent draft.
  • The ESPN telecast is used well, even Berman; filming at the actual 2013 draft at Radio City with real analysts and Goodell captures the event, plus good helicopter shots.
  • Dennis Leary as a head coach is kind of liked and seen as realistic.
  • Frank Langella as the owner is great, his second sports-owner role after Eddie, reunited with Kevin Dunn from Dave, and wearing sunglasses almost throughout.
  • The Browns doing crazy things on draft day has obviously aged best.
  • Sonny's "don't Twitter" advice is called aged best by one host; the co-host has it as aged worst because the NFL now wants players building online personas, though she backs never-tweet advice.
  • Jacksonville having a terrible GM is offered as aged best; the co-host cites Jalen Ramsey and Josh Allen but notes the real 2014 Jags took Blake Bordell's.
  • Costner in a sports movie is the top aged-best item: he is undefeated, the Michael Jordan of sports movies, and the only actor the movie works with; Brad Pitt and Denzel are floated as the only alternatives.
  • The NFL media cameos, including Chris Berman, Rich Eisen, John Gruden and Mike Mayock, are called aged best by both hosts.

What’s Aged the Worst?

P. Diddy as a sports agent; Jennifer Garner as the salary-cap expert; the 'how important is winning' call; a running back taken with a top-10 pick; Roger Goodell's cheered cameo; NFL involvement sapping the edge; Sonny's unpreparedness; the reliable-quarterback premise; Sonny bullying intern Rick

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 00:53:55Read transcript
  • P. Diddy as a high-powered sports agent is unconvincing; the Bo Callahan scenes are meant to be stilted, but any Wire actor, such as Jamie Hector or Bunk, would be better.
  • Jennifer Garner as the football-savvy salary-cap expert is worse: no chemistry with Costner, scenes in closets, pregnancy pressure that makes him less likable, and a 90s-style casting cliche.
  • The co-host likes seeing a woman executive but not the illicit affair and the coach testing her football knowledge in the cafeteria, which feels like 1987.
  • A GM dating the cap expert would get both fired now; the co-host jokingly supports them, and the subplot is called ludicrous.
  • The "how important is winning to you" call is called idiotic.
  • Taking a running back with a top-10 pick, combined with a linebacker at No. 1, is "bold font, not in today's NFL," especially given the Browns' 2012 Trent Richardson pick and Coach Penn's 28th-ranked offense.
  • Ray Jennings's father was a Cleveland great, though the Browns had few great moments after 1993-94.
  • Every Roger Goodell cameo has aged worst: fans cheer him at a time he was booed after bounty gate and the referee strike; they should have used a different commissioner.
  • NFL involvement lends authenticity but saps the edge; a Ballers route would be better, the film is too chaste with one f-bomb, and Ballers and Uncut Gems show permission was not needed.
  • Sonny is sold as a genius who knows nothing, not knowing who drafts fourth or the Jags GM's name and not scouting Callahan; the reliable-quarterback premise, Coach Penn's sexism and bullying intern Rick are added.

Casting What-Ifs

The Buffalo Bills in place of the Browns

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:07:12Read transcript
  • No casting what-ifs were found; the only what-if is the team being the Bills, as it was supposed to be.
  • One host would have enjoyed the Bills more: a little more competent, 90s Super Bowls and a desperate fan base.
  • Bills-Jets trades within a division would be an unclearable hurdle, and the co-host prefers the Browns, retroactively validated by the 2014 draft.
  • Bills fans would have thrown themselves into the movie; screenwriter Rajeev Joseph, from Cleveland, said in the making-of that they needed a city whose fans live and die by a team without success.

The Dion Waiters Award for Best Heat Check Performance

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:11:30Read transcript
  • The Browns' strength and conditioning coach comes in hot and hits a couple of threes in one scene.
  • Chadwick Bozeman is named as a pick for being great in only about four scenes.
  • Sam Elliott dominates his one scene with charisma and the "Don't overthink this like your dad would have" line, which affects Sonny the rest of the way.
  • Frank Langella is floated, but he is thought to have too many scenes; Sam Elliott is confirmed as coming in hot, with a wished-for Wisconsin sequel.

Recasting Couch

Eva Mendes in the salary-cap expert role; Hoyer as Brian Drew

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:13:41Read transcript
  • Eva Mendez replaces Jennifer Garner to dial up the role and make the closet scenes charged.
  • The co-host has no nominee, accepts the incumbent's seriousness, and finds the movie hard to imagine with almost any role recast.
  • A real quarterback as Brian Drew is proposed: Ryan Tannahill is too young for 2014, so a fringe player like Trent Edwards, Fitzpatrick or Hoyer; "I like Hoyer," though it would be Tannahill now.

Apex Mountain

No affirmative selection

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:17:46Read transcript
  • A hedged case is made that this is the Apex Mountain for the 21st-century Browns: after the franchise left for Baltimore and 21 years of misery since 1999, the last 15 minutes might be their happiest moment this century.
  • The co-host calls it compelling but says the Ringer's Trust the Browns' Process Week hype may have been the most excited Browns fans got this century.
  • It is otherwise nobody's Apex; Roger Goodell is floated and rejected, since his Apex is the recent quarantine draft.

Picking Nits

The owner's impossible trip to Cleveland; Sonny firing his father; the eight-year $100 playbook trick; silent conference calls; no draft value chart; no Goodell boos; David Putney missing at the end; the blog's wrong conference name; the Callahan printout errors; Sonny missing the will reading

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 01:19:37Read transcript
  • The owner getting from the draft to Cleveland in about 45 minutes is impossible; Jeff Chow initially argued for a helicopter-to-plane route but agreed it was not possible.
  • Midtown traffic, 466 miles by the co-host's husband's math, a helipad and a flight add up to at least two hours 15 minutes, versus about 40 minutes across picks two through five; a FaceTime from the plane is suggested.
  • Sonny firing his own father is glossed over; the co-host had it as an unanswerable question, noting Barb asked him to keep Coach from dying on TV, and compares it to Sierra voting out her mother on Survivor.
  • The $100 playbook trick has apparently been used for eight years without agents catching on.
  • Calls between two crowded war rooms are implausibly silent, a point sharpened in the Zoom era.
  • In 2014 teams had draft value charts, yet no one checks the value of three seconds for a first; Sonny acting alone makes advice hard.
  • The co-host's top nit is the lack of boos for the commissioner; David Putney is missing from the final huddle despite being central to the trade, joked as waived after the third preseason game.
  • Bo's conquest blog is named for the wrong conference instead of the Big Ten, where Wisconsin plays.
  • Callahan's printout looks made in Microsoft Word, lists his height as 6-4 and 6-3, and has a birth year of 88.
  • Sonny not being at his father's will reading is very strange; the rest of the nits are skipped.

Probably Unanswerable Questions

What happened at Bo's birthday party; why Bo's website needs a sign-in; who the real-life Brian Drew is; what career Bo Callahan had; how many people Bo slept with each week; what PEDs Brian Drew is on

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 01:24:19Read transcript
  • An unanswerable question: what happened at Bo's 21st birthday party, since not one of 85 scholarship teammates showing up would have come out in draft prep.
  • More a question than a nit: whether the blog embeds a full sex tape and why it requires a sign-in; a scout character bookmarked the page.
  • The real-life Brian Drew is nominated as Alex Smith and Dalton, with Dalton too young in 2014; Smith is called a good one.
  • Bo Callahan is read as a pocket passer with Matt Leinert's career; the film invites a Ryan Leaf comparison, and Carson Wentz is floated.
  • A hot take says Bo Callahan had a great career; a debate follows over whether the birthday story happened, with Sam Elliott's anger taken as evidence it did.
  • How many people Bo slept with weekly: one scout character says 20 and another 10; one answer is one a day, with a missed Joe Namath joke and Mark Sanchez as a comp.
  • What PEDs Brian Drew is on, given his late-career strength gains; the only other theory is that Tom Welling is again playing Superman, and he should be in the stands serving a four-game suspension.

The Neil McCauley “A Book about Metals” Award for Best Line from the Movie

"Come on, Tom. Say it with me, you pancake eating motherfucker"; "How is it that the ultimate prize in the most macho sport ever invented is a piece of jewelry?"; "No one can stop a ticking clock, but the great ones, they can slow it down"; "You're on Twitter?"; "I need five minutes and then you can fire me"

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:29:57Read transcript
  • Two nominations: the line about the ultimate prize in the most macho sport being a piece of jewelry, and the ticking-clock line that the great ones always find a way to slow it down.
  • The pancake line is called obviously the best line, but since it was discussed so often two others are nominated: Sonny telling his mother Barb she is on Twitter, played by Oscar winner Ellen Burstyn.
  • The second nomination is "I need five minutes... and then you can fire me," after which the owner backs off.

Who Won the Movie?

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:36:46Read transcript
  • Costner obviously won the movie.
  • Costner's making-of description of the pancake line as absolute justice and poetry is shared, and he is called maybe the most beloved actor in the Ringer universe.
Podcast choices
Speaker not identified
Kevin Costner

More from the conversation

Producer Craig texted during a first watch asking what was happening in the movie and why it was picked; football fans cheering Roger Goodell is called not even among the ten most unrealistic moments.
Approx. transcript time · 00:02:15Read transcript
The first viewing felt like the dumbest sports movie ever; by the third and fourth viewings it reads as vintage Costner whose sins are forgiven.
Approx. transcript time · 00:02:33Read transcript
The co-host calls it nonsensical but clean, rarely intentionally comedic yet hilarious, and fun either as a logic puzzle (the answer is almost always no) or for Costner strutting in well-fitting slacks.
Approx. transcript time · 00:03:14Read transcript
Costner brought the film up proudly on an earlier podcast, and the making-of featurette treats it like a classic; Costner calls it a little American classic, which the hosts joke puts it alongside Bull Durham and Field of Dreams.
Approx. transcript time · 00:04:00Read transcript
The Racing in the Rain role voicing Enzo the golden retriever is recalled as preparation for going all in on Koster.
Approx. transcript time · 00:05:20Read transcript
Per Wikipedia as read on air, reviews were mixed and it was a box-office failure grossing $29 million against a $25 million budget in 2014, during the Grantland era.
Approx. transcript time · 00:05:39Read transcript
The hosts say the Browns' real 2014 draft weeks later was crazier: trading back from 4 to 9, up to 8 for cornerback Justin Gilbert, and back in at 22 for Mansell, echoing the Bo Callahan storyline.
Approx. transcript time · 00:06:00Read transcript
The co-host contends Mansell and Bo Callahan share no quarterbacking commonalities and teases other Callahan comps.
Approx. transcript time · 00:06:49Read transcript
The hosts decide to discuss the three trades up front because they overlap every category; about 140 Rewatchables in, this is called unprecedented.
Approx. transcript time · 00:06:49Read transcript
Trade one setup: Seattle's GM Tom Michaels calls Sonny Weaver Jr., whose legendary father died a week earlier and whose partner Allie, the Browns' cap guru, is pregnant; the hosts settle on calling the father Coach Weaver.
Approx. transcript time · 00:08:33Read transcript
A wished-for sports-movie consulting group is compared to a stepmother obstetrician nitpicking ER in 1994; nitpicking is called no fun, yet these trades are indefensible.
Approx. transcript time · 00:09:46Read transcript
Everything happens within about 12 hours on draft day; Sonny consults no owner or right-hand person, while the owner demands a splash at a water park, symbolism the hosts mock.
Approx. transcript time · 00:10:54Read transcript
Sonny consults Allie only on the heart, not on the first trade, which he agrees to at a gas station after Seattle raises the ask to three firsts.
Approx. transcript time · 00:13:50Read transcript
A trade this big made without shopping it around would draw a thousand angry emails in a fantasy league; the war room balks only when the third first-round pick is mentioned.
Approx. transcript time · 00:14:56Read transcript
The first trade is said to be modeled on Washington's 2012 trade with the Rams for Robert Griffin (three firsts and a second), referenced in the film; the hosts call that trade one of the biggest whiffs in draft history, alongside Ditka giving up every 1999 pick for Ricky Williams.
Approx. transcript time · 00:15:27Read transcript
The draft-capital price is judged fairly reasonable if Bo Callahan is as good as billed; the indefensible part is Sonny consulting no one, lacking background on Callahan and not knowing Brian Drew had been in the weight room.
Approx. transcript time · 00:16:46Read transcript
Callahan is billed as the best prospect since Andrew Luck, a Heisman winner praised by the actor the hosts identify as Jonah from Veep; the splashy pick suits the owner's demand.
Approx. transcript time · 00:18:00Read transcript
Trade two setup: the GM investigates the birthday-party story, asks the quarterback whether winning is important, learns the $100-bill detail from Ralph, played by the actor the hosts call Dan from Deadwood, then Costner takes Vante Mac without telling anyone.
Approx. transcript time · 00:19:05Read transcript
Taking Vante Mac first is called ludicrous since he was expected to fall into the teens; the alternative would be drafting the quarterback and trading him later.
Approx. transcript time · 00:20:30Read transcript
A falling franchise quarterback would draw frantic trade calls; the co-host calls other teams building their drafts around Cleveland's moves the single craziest thing in the movie, because they're the Browns.
Approx. transcript time · 00:21:13Read transcript
The Callahan slide is read as modeled on Dan Marino's draft fall over drug rumors and Aaron Rogers's slide versus Alex Smith, but the hosts say it ignores how football worked over the previous decade.
Approx. transcript time · 00:22:23Read transcript
The idea that the Broncos would pass on a quarterback because they have an All-Pro is mocked; they would trade back for assets.
Approx. transcript time · 00:23:27Read transcript
Trade three setup: the Jacksonville GM, called a village idiot, gives up No. 6 for three second-rounders, near trade-chart value, without calling anyone else, repeatedly asking what Sonny knows about Callahan.
Approx. transcript time · 00:24:01Read transcript
Seattle in real life had Russell Wilson and was coming off a Super Bowl; the hosts argue the Jets or Arizona would have been better foils because they could believably botch this.
Approx. transcript time · 00:25:44Read transcript
Chat rooms are mocked as an early-90s reference; Sonny never goes online, too busy throwing computers.
Approx. transcript time · 00:27:00Read transcript
Asked which trade is the biggest stretch, one answer is Jacksonville trading out of six unprepared; the co-host instead picks the final trade, where Tom does not know what had been given to Jacksonville in the Twitter age.
Approx. transcript time · 00:28:09Read transcript
Much of the plot boils down to saving $7 million against the cap, and returner David Putney as a throw-in is either too good to include or irrelevant.
Approx. transcript time · 00:29:47Read transcript
Net effect: Cleveland effectively trades three second-rounders for No. 1 and Putney, ending with a linebacker and running back in a draft with an elite quarterback prospect; he wins the dick-swinging contest but it is very rough.
Approx. transcript time · 00:30:12Read transcript
Director Ivan Reitman is called a legend; the hosts believe this may be his last film and list Ghostbusters, Stripes, Meatballs, Twins, Kindergarten Cop, Dave and Junior.
Approx. transcript time · 00:31:07Read transcript
Reitman made a lot of money on No Strings Attached in 2011, and his son Jason Reitman is called a friend of the Ringer; the hosts insist they like the movie despite the trade frustration.
Approx. transcript time · 00:31:40Read transcript
Producer Craig, who first saw the movie for this episode, is brought in: his heart was pumping at the Seattle deal, he calls the split-screen defense a bad take, and his girlfriend dislikes the movie picks and wants Dirty Dancing.
Approx. transcript time · 01:38:24Read transcript
The sign-off announces Armageddon as the next Rewatchable.
Approx. transcript time · 01:39:46Read transcript