Dane Brugler was a young teenager when he decided he wanted to be a scout. His prowess showed early on, having managed to secure a spot in the front office of Mount Union Athletics. But before he became the credible name he is as a draft analyst for The Athletic, Brugler had worked hard to eventually get an opportunity to work in an NFL team’s front office.

In 2015, after a few near-misses, he’d struck gold in an interview with the Kansas City Chiefs. However, it just wasn’t the right time.

“Mid to late June of 2015, I have to make this decision. My wife’s about to have a baby in a month and a half, and I can’t leave her by herself obviously, in North Texas,” Brugler told Ari Meirov on NF Spotlight. “She didn’t really want to go back to Ohio by herself, where she didn’t have her doctors and all, our house, and everything. We couldn’t move in that quick period, we couldn’t go to Kansas, it would have been hard. She would have went to Kansas City, but what would have been hard just to do that in such a short time period while she’s pregnant.

“And so, I made the tough decision, and I told [general manager John] Dorsey and [director of football operations Chris] Ballard, and I was heartbroken about it. This is what I had sacrificed for was to get this opportunity, but I had to tell them no because family comes first, and the timing wasn’t right.”

Brugler had interviewed for front office positions before this opportunity. He revealed that he’d found a position with the Las Vegas Raiders, but he turned them down because the timing didn’t work out. However, Brugler described the Chiefs’ job as “the fit, this is what I want.”

But the rest of his life was already in motion, and compromising on his family was never an option. On the show, he explained that his media endeavor had “really taken off” at the time. He could still stay in touch with scouts, and he could keep doing league-level evaluation without being locked into one team’s process. And all of it started very early.

Graduating in 2008, Brugler’s road to NFL analysis went through NFL Draft Scout and CBS Sports before The Athletic made him a household name. He joined the publication in 2018.

Brugler was watching 30-50 hours of film a week, going to the Senior Bowl, pro days, and the NFL Combine, treating the job like a scout would, and improving his network. Now, Brugler pens a 250,000-word annual draft guide every year for The Athletic. The Chiefs missed out on a good hire, but in return, the league got one of its most trusted draft experts. Brugler, now a father of four, got the family life he wouldn’t compromise.