It’s been 22 years this weekend since I launched Inside the League. I didn’t really know for sure where ITL would end up, or if I’d ever make a penny, but I really had only one goal: I wanted to know why teams picked (and didn’t pick) the players they chose. The NFL Draft just had so much intrigue then.

More than two decades later, I still know nothing. However, I’ve gotten at least some insights on it over the past four years as I’ve written my next book, which (I hope) comes out around Draft Day 2025. It’s tentatively called “Crazy Eight,” and though that’s a working title, I think it’s fitting. It’s about eight players selected in the 2016 draft — Jared Goff, Carson Wentz, Dak Prescott, Laremy Tunsil, Jakeem Grant, Michael Thomas, Derrick Henry and Tyreek Hill — and their draft stories, but told from the perspective of the scouts and executives who drafted them. I’m not sure if you’re familiar with Bob McGinn, a beat writer for the Packers for four decades, but he’s very good at telling the back stories on the draft. That’s what I do in Crazy Eight.

I chose these eight because, No. 1, they’ve all been successful players. Every single one of them has been to at least one Pro Bowl and most have even been All-Pro. But I also chose them because, except in the cases of Goff and Wentz, they were all drafted later than they should have, given what they’ve accomplished in the league. It’s a testament to all of them that they are all (except Thomas, for now), still part of the league almost a decade after being drafted. That’s a real achievement, I don’t care where you were drafted or what kind of impact you had as a player.

How is this book different from my last book? Well, Scout Speak was more-or-less a love letter to the professional player evaluator. If you read it, I hope you learned a little more about how NFL scouts do their jobs and how an NFL scouting department works. For my next book, I hope you’ll learn more about what matters when it comes to evaluating players, how teams differ in their priorities, and maybe even the blind spots for NFL teams and even the limits on what they can even know. There’s a temptation to think that NFL teams know all and see all, but scouts are people, too, and they have to clear multiple obstacles to get the real truth about players. Sometimes, even when they get that information, it’s hard to know what to do about it. Again, scouts are human.

Anyway, the way the book is set up is, the first seven chapters are about the players themselves (Goff and Wentz, who went 1-2 that year, share a chapter). I try to go pretty deep on their backstories and the things that scouts knew, but maybe the general public didn’t know. If you know me, you know I don’t rip people or criticize them for doing their jobs in good faith, and this book is the same way. Hopefully you don’t find that boring. My goal, as always, is to tell stories and inform without embracing the crass trashing of people, even when they come up short, for entertainment purposes.

The last part of the book is dedicated to scouts’ stories about the way a handful of teams approached the draft. This is basically the “war stories” part of the book, and probably what I enjoy most about talking to scouts. There are so many facets to why a team takes the players it takes, and that’s what we dig into. So far, Tom Ciskowski (Cowboys), Don Gregory (Panthers), Matt Lindsey (Eagles), Tom McConnaughey (Chargers), Trey Scott (Raiders), Josh Washburn (Redskins), Steven Price (Vikings) and Chris Prescott (Bears) have shared their draft-day experiences from 2016 with me. I’ve also reached out to other friends to give their recollections, and in some cases, they differ from what I’d heard previously. At any rate, I’m still crafting their responses into narratives. Some of the stories I’ve heard so far have been fascinating, and I look forward to sharing them with you. These are all my friends, and they’ve told me a lot with the understanding that their recollections will be shared in the most positive light. Obviously, I will honor that. They’ve still got some fascinating stories to tell.

Anyway, I hope to have the manuscript done by the end of September, and then I’ll get to work on the audio file, the cover, having it proofread, and all the other vagaries of publishing a book. I look forward to sharing it with people who love scouting and the draft as much as I do. 

This week, Alabama’s Courtney Morgan made news with his most recent contract as General Manager of one of college football’s blue blood programs. It prompted some chatter on social media and within college football circles. A big part of that chatter had to do not with Morgan’s new money, but with the title and role itself. Do college football programs really need GMs?

It’s one of the questions I asked longtime NFL executive Eric Stokes, who joined us on the Scouting the League Podcast this week. He, like me, struggles to see how such an over-arching, all-encompassing title is necessary in the college game, given the differences with the pro game.

“I think it’s a completely different animal,” Eric said when comparing the jobs at the college and pro level. “The role of the General Manager at the NFL level is far more complex than the role of the GM at the collegiate level. It doesn’t even compare in terms of the day-to-day operations and the nuances you have to deal with as an NFL GM, because you’re in charge of the entire football operation. You’re dealing with everybody: the trainers, doctors, obviously you have to work with the coaching staff, the college scouting staff, your pro staff. In this day and age you’re working with analytics, you’re working with sports psychologists, obviously you are working very closely with your media department every day.

“There’s just so many different aspects of being a GM at the NFL level. It’s far more complex than at the college (level). Now, I do guess working off that platform at the college level in terms of recruiting and how it works in terms of NIL, the transfer portal, I could see why some of those structures are in place and how they may be implemented, but again, you’re just not dealing with the complexity, also with the salary cap. NIL, you don’t have bonuses, you don’t have accelerators, you don’t have a lot of the things that you’re working with at the pro level. I think they’re two different animals.”

I’d agree with Eric, though in fairness, there’s no general job description for the college GM. Because the college game is so much more coach-driven, with far fewer official “scouts” on staff at the lower level, there’s probably less of a need for someone running the whole football operation. You could argue that even in the SEC, that’s a common sentiment. Only half the schools in arguably the best football conference — Alabama, Auburn, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt — actually have general managers, and their job descriptions don’t line up. 

For now, at least, it doesn’t appear that these teams are seeking someone to build the NFL model given that none of those teams’ GMs have extensive pro football experience. The only college GM that comes to mind with that level of NFL acumen is West Virginia’s Drew Fabianich. In fact, we haven’t seen the mass influx of NFL scouts and executives into the college ranks that many (including myself) expected. Not yet, at least. 

For example, Jake Rosenberg of The Athlete Group assisted in Oklahoma’s selection of Curtis Lofton as the school’s first-ever GM, and is currently working with another conference school as it searches for its first GM. He readily admits that the GM position is a bit of a work in progress and an anticipation of where college football is going.

“The profile or job description of college GM is in the early stages of transition,” he texted. “While it seems like it’ll be a while before the profile exactly matches that of NFL decision maker, the schools looking to function more optimally in this world are moving in that direction.

“That job can be more of a leadership and strategic position and less narrowly as an evaluator or recruiter. There is so much currently on the Head Coach’s plate that bringing in a strong and diverse skill set can appreciably have a broad benefit across the entire operation. And don’t forget the importance of mentorship and skill development to which a GM can/ should be at the heart of.“

Fair enough. I guess so much is in flux that it’s hard to pin down exactly where the GM position is going, as with so many other aspects of college football. How long until we see a million-dollars-per-year GM? Hard to say. I guess we won’t know for a while the true value of a college GM, and it will depend on how the job evolves. In the meantime, it will be interesting to see how many more are hired and how high the dollars go.

 

It’s only been since the week after Thanksgiving that Rodrik David, who was already running his own podcast, The Scouting Report, invited me to partner with him on it. Since then, we’ve rebranded it Scouting the League, and though it took a while to really establish a rhythm, I think we’ve gotten a lot more comfortable with what we want the podcast to be.

Based on the feedback I’ve gotten from friends in the scouting and agent communities, we’ve been able to establish a space where we dig into the finer points of player representation and evaluation on the NFL level. I’m certainly no expert on things, and I doubt Rodrik would call himself one, either, but we both bring enough to the table to, hopefully, make it a lively weekly show with interesting insights and opinions.

I feel like our shows have gotten better and better, and the guests we’ve been privileged to have always bring their ‘A’ games. At the same time, obviously, some shows are better than others. With that in mind, here are the seven best episodes of Scouting the League, in my humble opinion, along with links in which you can listen for yourself.

1.David Canter, President of Football, GSM Worldwide: David is colorful bordering on outrageous, and this episode is an hour-plus of pure adrenaline. From the story of the chance encounter that led to his start in the industry, to the decision to sell his firm, to his thoughts on several issues facing the industry, David spits fire the entire time. Fair warning — we aren’t at the point where we can bleep out language, and there’s some language in this edition. Aug. 7, 2024

2. Mike McCartney, Head of Football, Vayner Sports: Once again, we got real candor and all the behind-the-scenes intrigue — in a classy, high-road way — from Mike on the drafting of Washington’s Michael Penix after the team had already signed Mike’s client, Kirk Cousins, to start at QB. There’s much more to the hour, but Mike’s discussion of their shock at the pick, plus what happened afterwards, is a must-listen. July 10, 2024

3. Mark Gorscak, former National Scout, Steelers: Mark is a friend of nearly everyone in the scouting community because of his love for the game and for its people. Mark is a great story-teller and thinks about the industry 24-7, which is why his episode was not only insightful but entertaining, as well. This is a great episode if you’re an aspiring scout wanting to learn the fundamentals of the biz and how to get in. March 20, 2024

4. Tom McConnaughey, former National Scout, Chargers & Jaguars: Rodrik and I are still trying to hit our stride on digging into the players and the picks that each guest can discuss, and I think we did our best job yet in this edition. Tom was in the war room for some truly special players; in the last half-hour, we run through several top former Chargers and Tom gives his thoughts on their selection. It’s really, really good.

5. Tony Vilani, Owner, XPE Sports: Tony is one of the top 3-4 speed trainers in the combine prep space, but that’s not why this was such a great episode. He’s also convinced the NFL cooks the books on the official 40 times posted during NFL Combine broadcasts, and he’s very specific about why he thinks what he does. He doesn’t pull any punches in his session with us. April 3, 2024

6. Dru Grigson, former scouting executive, Cardinals: We asked Dru to join us because the Cardinals have been at the forefront in grading and rewarding their scouts for good work, and he gave us plenty of insight into their process. However, he also gave us great background on how the Cards have developed, assigned, and evaluated their own evaluators. July 17, 2024

7. T.J. McCreight, former scouting executive, multiple teams: Having worked for the Eagles, Colts, Ravens and Cardinals, T.J. has seen how a lot of successful teams do things, and he brought that know-how to the podcast. He addresses a lot of the issues associated with the changing game and how to react to them, from a scouting standpoint. July 31, 2024

This week’s Friday Wrap, which comes out tomorrow, will feature my podcast partner Rodrik’s five favorite episodes. Make sure to check it out. Haven’t registered for the Friday Wrap? You can do that here.