“It just takes one team to draft you” (player draft adage)

“It just takes one team to draft you” (or “it just takes one team to fall in love with you”) is a popular draft adage, especially in the NFL college draft. Most teams might not think that a player is worthy to be drafted in the first round (or to be drafted at all), but it takes just one team to “fall in love” with a player for that player to be a first round pick (or to be drafted).
   
”“He has both ‘A’ and ‘B’, which means all 28 NFL teams will look at him. And all it takes is one team to fall in love with you” was said by an NFL scout in 1988. “All it takes is one team to fall in love with you” was cited in 1990. “But all it takes is one team to draft him” was cited in 1993.
   
   
4 October 1988, The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH), “KSU back keeps proving his worth” by Elton Alexander, pg. 1-E, col. 5:
“He has both ‘A’ and ‘B’, which means all 28 NFL teams will look at him. And all it takes is one team to fall in love with you.”
(Mike Lombardo, chief scout for the Cleveland Browns.—ed.)
 
22 April 1990, The New Mexican (Santa Fe, NM), “Mathis to NFL: Remember me?” by Tom Coyne (AP), pg. C-3, col. 3:
And (New Mexico wide receiver Terance—ed.) Mathis isn’t too concerned about some scouts’ predictions he’ll still be around after the first four rounds.
 
“All it takes is one team to fall in love with you,” he says.
 
28 June 1993, Medicine Hat (Alberta, Canada) News, “Draft day nerve-wracking affair for Roest” by Donna Spencer, pg. A9, cols. 3-4:
“At this stage of the game, he’s getting judged on what he’s doing in the WHL and what people are projecting he can do in pro.”
 
But all it takes is one team to draft him.
 
“We watch Stacy Roest and I could say ‘No, I don’t think so,’ but somebody else watching him might say ‘Maybe, maybe, maybe in the right situation, playing with the right players, he could be the guy to pump in 20 goals and 50 assists.”
     
San Diego (CA) Union-Tribune
While SDSU’s McCoy has jumped up mock draft lists, Morrison has dropped
By By: MIKE SULLIVAN - Staff Writer MIDNIGHT APRIL 22, 2005
(...)
“Everybody has their own opinions and everybody can say what they want and say, ‘Who’s hot?’ ” Morrison said. “The biggest thing is three years from now. Take the Ryan Leaf situation. Was that the guy you wanted or not?
 
“I don’t need all 32 teams to like me. I just need one team to fall in love with me.”
   
Google News Archive
5 January 2008, Spartanburg (SC) Herald-Journal, “Draft stock soars for Haves,” pg C4, col. 5:
“He’s seen his stock drop significantly but still plays a big position of need,” Saninocencio said.
 
But as Saninocencio points out, “it only takes one team to fall in love with you.”
 
Twitter
Justin Young
‏@JustinDYoung
@DraftExpress re: character but it only takes one team to draft him high, not all teams are led by smart people
11:27 PM - 27 Jan 2010
 
Twitter
Zack
‏@Fire1OutSports
Stafon Johnson’s draft diary: ‘It only takes one team to fall in love with you’:
... http://bit.ly/a3ThFo
3:49 PM - 20 Apr 2010
 
Twitter
Liam Hatton
‏@liamhatton
I still don’t see Tebow going in the first round, then again it only takes one team to fall in love with him…
3:36 PM - 22 Apr 2010
 
Bucs Nation (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
In The Draft, It Only Takes One Team
By Sander Philipse  @Sanderrp on Apr 24 2011, 8:00a
In the NFL Draft, only one team needs to like a player for that player to be drafted highly. We’ve often seen this in years past, when a player will be drafted extremely highly because one team fell in love with him. Darrius Heyward-Bey may be the best example of this, as the wide receiver was drafted 7th overall by the Oakland Raiders while he wasn’t rated nearly as highly by other teams. We could see the same thing this year, and this could help or hurt the Buccaneers.
 
Twitter
Tommy Johnson
‏@tjtwostep
@rick_bonnell just never know on hypotheticals. One scout/team has one opinion, another has another. Just takes one team to draft a guy high
7:42 PM - 22 Jul 2012
 
theScore
Derek Carr: I’m the best QB in the draft
by Mike Dickson Apr 1, 2014 11:02 PM
(...)
“There’s no doubt in my mind that I can play with those guys, and if we’re going to compete, I like my chances,” Carr said. “It only takes one team to fall in love with you. That’s all we want, that one team to fall in love and just take you, because if they do, that means you’re their guy.”
     
FiveThirtyEight
The Odds Michael Sam Will Be Picked in the NFL Draft
11:14 AM MAY 6, 2014 By NATE SILVER
(...)
Personally, however, if the odds are something like 50-50 on Sam being drafted, I think I’d take his side of the bet. Why? A player only needs one team to draft him.
 
Tampa (FL) Tribune
USF’s Davis eager to get attention at East-West Shrine Game
By Joey Johnston | Tribune Staff
Published: January 17, 2015   |  Updated: January 17, 2015 at 07:45 AM
ST. PETERSBURG — While preparing for today’s East-West Shrine Game, an all-star showcase for NFL draft hopefuls at Tropicana Field, wide receiver Andre Davis first requested No. 7, the jersey number he wore at Jefferson High and as a University of South Florida senior.
(...)
“As they say, it just takes one team to draft you, then it’s up to you to take advantage of that,” Davis said.