It’s long since gone by the wayside, but former NFL executive Gil Brandt used to host an annual gathering for the Playboy All-America team.
Twenty-six of the nation’s best players attended the photo shoot, most of them eventual first-round picks, and Brandt would extend special invitations to a handful of talent evaluators across the league as well.
New Detroit Lions general manager Bob Quinn was on Brandt’s invite list one year, a designee of New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, and Brandt marveled as Quinn spent his three days at the Arizona resort filling a notebook with thoughts on the year’s attendees.