Guessing who was going where in the 2005 NFL draft was a real crap shoot for everyone, what with no clear-cut top star. You knew San Francisco would use the No. 1 pick for a quarterback and some brave team would take a risk on the troubled Ohio State star Maurice Clarett.

That being said, 4th & Goal Films, the makers of the 2005 Draft Preview DVD, should stick to scouting, and leave the draft-day guess-work to the NFL beat writers. They got zero team selection predictions correct in this DVD.

Sure, this was a tough year, but they didn't even luck out and get one pick right. They call Texas linebacker Derrick Johnson the best pick in the draft and say he'll go with the three pick to Cleveland (pick 15 by Kansas City); USC wideout Mike Williams is tabbed for pick 12 (pick 10); and they say Cal QB Aaron Rodgers was going to SF with the No. 1 (pick 24, Green Bay). Predicting the draft is guess-work, true, but the guys at 4th and Goal may be kicking themselves now … the only thing they came close on was Kansas State running back Darren Sproles going somewhere in the fourth round.

This DVD of course would have been more fun to watch before the 2005 draft. Other than the predictions, the 4th and Goal guys put together a pretty good preview DVD. Broken into three parts, this DVD profiles more than 50 players for the draft, broken into "Top 32 Prospects," "Promising, But …" and "Hidden Gems." The production is simple: a narrator scouts each college player to a collage of their highlight clips. That's it. One player to the next to the next, with no breaks, no back-and-forth between analysts, no interludes, other than a quick note that the next group is a different category. You can either choose to play the entire set of clips, or choose between the different categories.

The predictions may have been off base, but the scouting isn't. For any of the Big Ten or big team players I knew, the 4th and Goal crew was thorough and accurate about their skills and weaknesses. They know what type of value Williams has, they did a good job looking at Maryland defensive end Shawne Merriman (go Chargers), and they properly point out that Utah QB Alex Smith didn't run anything similar to a pro offense in college (but he won't be doing that in San Francisco for a few years either … Smith is gonna get smashed around come fall). The only complaint I had was that Clarett wasn't featured, and easily fit in the "Promising, But …" category. Chances are this was made around the time of his disastrous NFL combine showing, because Denver took him in the third round, and he was easily the most interesting story of the draft, what with losing his court challenge against the NFL draft age policy.

The DVD is well-edited, with limited replays (only when it needs the emphasis) and nice timing with narration and actual plays. The producers use arrows to point out a player in a scrum and zoom in on some plays. Without doing too much, the producers managed to offer video evidence of their scouting. The last bit on this DVD is a look at this past year's Senior Bowl.

This DVD is a good scouting presentation for the 2005 draft and the latest crop of NFL players, but now that the draft is over, it's worth only one look, unless you're a player featured on the DVD, an NFL opponent scout, or a really obsessed football fan. It may have been worth $30 before the draft. Now it's a $5 bargain-bin offering.

The fullscreen transfer looks fine, though the original video footage is a mixed bag. There's not much the DVD producers could do to eliminate poor crops or shadows. I noticed no digital problems, however.

Other than some background music (and it's no NFL Films track) and the narrator Steve Alic, there is no audio on this DVD. The sound from the actual games is not included. Alic does a decent job narrating, sounding matter-of-fact without being too opinionated.

There are no special features on this DVD.

For NFL draft and NCAA football hardcore fans only. The draft is ancient history now, and there's simply no replay value to this DVD. Rent it if you want to see some of the future stars of the NFL or buy it if you must own every NCAAF-related DVD out there.