If you’re in pro football, and especially personnel, there is no time for hot dogs and relaxing by the pool this weekend. In fact, Labor Day weekend is one of the busiest weekends of the year in the NFL from every side.

• If you’re a college scout, this was the first big weekend of college football. All 32 teams took their college scouts, who had spent camp evaluating their own players as well as taking a peek at other teams’ personnel for practice squad purposes, and sent them to schools to do what they’re paid (mostly) to do.
• If you’re a pro scout, you spent this weekend sifting through the 600-plus cuts in the league, figuring out who might work for your team’s 53 (for example, the Saints cut both placekickers they had in camp) and racing to contact their agents. You’re also working with the coaches to assemble your practice squad.
• If you’re an agent, you’ve probably got at least one client (and maybe several) who got cut Friday or Saturday, and is looking for a new opportunity. Unfortunately, those opportunities are few and far between after a summer of evaluating talent. Most teams are playing a pat hand as they roll into Week 1.
• If you work with the upstart FXFL, a first-year football league with four teams, you’re poring over the cuts list. As you do, you’re taking phone calls from agents marketing their players to you, while you’re trying to figure out which players are deserving of a tryout invite. It’s head-spinning work.
• If you’re a CFL team, you’re working with the scouts you sent to NFL camps this summer to review players that may be able to help immediately. It’s a little trickier for CFL scouts, as they have to make sure the players don’t have any outstanding legal issues that may prevent them from going north. They also have to make sure the player has a passport, which isn’t a given.

This is a very cursory look at things, but for people who are considering a life in the football profession, it’s food for thought. People in the world of football don’t just work weekends; they work holidays, nights, and every other time most people are just sitting back and enjoying the game.