Author Archives: itlneil

The NIL Conundrum: Three Popular Questions

07 Thursday Jul 2022

Posted by in Getting started, NIL

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This week, we continue our conversation with Vantage Management Group’s Sammy Spina, who has a unique perspective on name, image and likeness due to his extensive work in the space. He also heads a popular sports management course called Breaking Into Sports that has helped many young people get a foothold in the industry. I asked him the answers to three questions I get most often from agents on how to achieve NIL success, and here are his responses.

What’s the best mix between “self-generated” income (apparel and branded merchandise) and sponsored income (appearances, endorsements and social media)? 

I will use the famous lawyer answer here: “it depends.” Social media following is probably the main driving force behind self-generated income, but not every athlete will have the requisite number of followers to really build a strong presence. My goal has always been to generate the most money and/or best-case scenario for my clients without causing them to do too much work. Obviously, his school and his sport come first; NIL is a byproduct of that success. As a result, I would say most of my athlete NIL deals have come from sponsored income, and I have done very little “self-generated income” for my clients because it typically takes more time, effort, and energy.

One thing to keep in mind with self-generated income is that everyone wants to start their own clothing line! If that’s your goal, make sure you do something different that does more than simply having your client’s name on a T-shirt. Create a story, vision, movement, or charitable donation to help drive more customers for recurring revenue. No “story” usually means no legitimate self-generated income. There has to be something that separates your client from all the other student-athletes out there.

What’s the minimum number of social media followers one needs to make money in NIL? And does it matter which platform? 

Instagram and TikTok are the two driving forces behind most social media influencers, probably because they’re visual platforms. I wouldn’t say there is a minimum number of followers, because I have been able to secure paid social media and personal appearance deals for clients who have fewer than 2,000 followers; despite their limited followings, respectively, each was were paid more than $1,000 per opportunity.  Of course, it certainly helps when you have a strong following and, even more importantly, strong engagement! Remember, the most important factor is showing companies why such an appearance makes sense! What is unique about this deal that will generate headlines for the company and for the athlete?

I have seen a shift to LinkedIn as well, which also helps your athlete clients showcase their unique partnerships to business professionals in industries across the world. However, LinkedIn is still in its growing phase, so it’s easier to use other platforms (like TikTok) to gain exposure on posts that align with your audiences’ interests.

How much of NIL income is totally dependent on a player’s school? Geographic location? Position he plays?

A lot of it. It has been a lot more difficult to generate significant dollars and deals in smaller towns – such as Stillwater, OK where the majority of businesses are family-owned – than, say, in a larger city like Pittsburgh. Don’t get me wrong: fans and business owners will always want to support their college athletes. However, not every school is equal in that regard.

Quarterbacks will almost always make the most money. That is a given. However, there are opportunities for everyone. You have to get creative and you have to work! For example, I took an offensive lineman with fewer than 5,000 Instagram followers and got him paid appearances (without signing autographs), a custom suit deal, a restaurant deal, a meal prep company endorsement and other deals. I even got him an appearance as an ambassador for a cruise ship. I give this example to showcase the importance of relationships, how to be creative and how to show the value and impact your client will bring to the company.

 

Ask the Scout: Highlights of our Zoom with Rick Spielman

01 Friday Jul 2022

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Thursday night, former Vikings and Dolphins GM Rick Spielman graciously agreed to join me for a one-hour Zoom session. Joined by about 40 NFL scouts and executives, we took a deep dive into team-building and player evaluation as I asked him 10 questions about the game. We opened it up only to NFL personnel eager to develop professionally and willing to give up an evening during their vacation to do it.

It was a riveting hour and he had some very interesting things to say. Here are four takeaways you might find helpful if your aim is to be an NFL scout someday.

  • Regarding analytics, Rick gave a lengthy, nuanced answer. One thing I found interesting is that the team was able to find some metrics for players who continually failed (i.e., defensive linemen without a minimum arm length, height and 40 time). They were able to rule them out as draftees. The other area they found analytics helpful was in sorting through the hundreds of players in the late Day 3/UDFA range. Again, the analytics team was able to find players with certain height/weight/speed combinations who had a better chance of success than others. He gave and return specialists Marcus Sherels, whom the team picked up as a UDFA in 2010, and WO Adam Thielen, whom the team signed out of Mankato State in 2013, as examples of players the analytics squad helped identify as possible success stories.
  • When asked how a young scout can get past the party line when trying to get sensitive information from a school’s NFL liaison, Rick didn’t sugarcoat things: it only comes with relationships and years of building trust. That’s a problem today with NFL teams hiring younger and younger scouts and sending them out on the road with very limited networks and contacts. It’s inevitable that these less-seasoned evaluators get fewer details until they become more familiar around the campuses they cover.
  • When asked about the worst thing you can do in an interview for an NFL job, he said that failing to do research was the easy answer. He gave as examples any correspondence that asked for a job from “Chris” Spielman, his brother (a former Lions player and current team executive). However, it was more about how much homework a job applicant had done. One dead giveaway: if Rick concluded the interview and asked for questions, but the interviewee had none, that was a dead giveaway that the applicant wasn’t prepared, and wouldn’t be hired.
  • He expressed concern about how elite prospects might approach pro days and the combine in the wake of David Ojabo’s injury at Michigan’s pro day last spring. He said the league has been focused on the player experience, especially at the combine, and could even see the league providing incentives to work out or making the combine less of a pure workout and more of a competition, though he didn’t expand on how that might be accomplished. Food for thought.

We’ll be talking plenty about the scouting industry, as we do every week, in tomorrow’s Friday Wrap. You can register for it here.

Ask the Agent: Where Do You Start with NIL?

24 Friday Jun 2022

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Vantage Management Group’s Sammy Spina got certified as an NFLPA contract advisor in 2017, but he wasn’t your typical aspiring sports professional. As told in the interview I did with him in June 2018 for the Rising Contract Advisors Newsletter, the story of his success includes total resolve and iron will. Hear it in his own words at this link (I highly recommend it). His background also includes a deep well of experience in sports marketing, so when the NIL era kicked off about a year ago, it was a natural fit for him.

Sam has since begun working with young people who aim to follow in his footsteps — more on that in the coming weeks — and he’s got a lot to say about how he’s supplemented his traditional NFL agent work with his endorsement and marketing talents. This week, I asked him to help out by providing a few words of wisdom for agents young and old who want to take advantage of the new name, image and likeness rules. I expected 500 words, but he gave me almost 1,500.

One of the questions I asked him was this: The most common question I get from agents is, where do I start? What would you tell them?

Here’s how he responded:

Start with relationships. The common misconception is that NIL is brand new. That’s false! NIL is simply a way to phrase “athlete marketing” as it relates to college athletes in the NCAA who have eligibility remaining. I have had success in this realm because I have a marketing background and lean heavily on those relationships and approaches to put my clients in the best opportunity for success.

If I had to provide a step-by-step guideline as to “how to start” – I suggest the following:

  • Look: Find student-athletes that you have relationships with and offer to help with finding endorsement opportunities.
  • Be transparent: Report and acknowledge this new working relationship to the school’s compliance department. Seek the school’s guidance on next steps.
  • Set reasonable expectations for your clients!: We all read headlines and believe that all college athletes are making millions of dollars. Well, the student-athletes see these same headlines. Thus, make sure you set reasonable expectations for your clients and explain how, according to your research, not many athletes actually make large sums of money. The majority of deals are product exchanges for social media or small payments for services.
  • Understand your client: Remind yourself that not every athlete is marketable. There are several factors to marketability, but in essence, it comes down to supply, demand, return on investment, and how much of an impact you can make to increase the local and national exposure for a company.
  • Is it the right deal?: Additionally, you must always ask yourself: what does this deal do for my client? Does it help? If so, in what ways? What are some negative implications that could occur if we enter into this deal?
  • Get creative!: Think outside of the box. One of my favorite deals is the one we did for Kenny Pickett when he was at the University of Pittsburgh last year, partnering him with a fancy restaurant in Pittsburgh to treat his offensive linemen to weekly dinners. The partnership received national attention because it was innovative and different. It was Kenny using NIL to help his teammates before helping himself.
  • Develop business: Don’t be afraid to cold-call and cold email once you have a unique idea. Show companies that you have something so unique that it is bound to help generate exposure for their brand. Since most college athletes don’t have a million Instagram followers, you need to rely on media exposure to increase the company’s visibility. Once you do one or two, then you have a proof of concept to take to other companies.
  • Think before signing: Make sure the deals make sense for your client. Don’t just accept something to say you did it! Make sure that it is beneficial for your client. You cannot be afraid to say the word, “no.”
  • Do your research!: Know the community, know the fanbase, meet the collective. What does the fanbase enjoy? What are some major sponsors in the area for local events, team functions, etc.? Who are notable alumni that own companies and may want to help out? Utilize the knowledge that you generate to create a best-case-scenario for your clients.

This is just a taste of the advice Sammy provided. He also touched on the balance between merchandising and endorsements, appearances and paid posts; the mistakes not to make; the minimum number of social media followers to make a client viable financially; how much school, geographic location and position play in NIL (and how to exploit each or work around them if your client’s situation is not favorable); and plenty more. If you enjoyed Peter Schoenthal’s excellent presentation on NIL a few weeks back, stay tuned in the coming weeks as we continue giving Sammy the floor. Check out more of Sammy’s work here.

Also, as always, make sure you’re reading our newsletter, the Friday Wrap, which comes out later today. Register for it here. 

 

Ask the Scouts: Did the ’22 Draft Truly Have Day 3 Depth?

17 Friday Jun 2022

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Scouts, agents, players and media have pointed to the 2022 NFL Draft to be special in a way that few have been, historically. The reason? Hundreds of players took advantage of their Covid year to skip the 2021 NFL Draft and enter the ’22 draft instead. Some scouts I’ve spoken to even feared that numerous players would slip through the cracks entirely due to the talent logjam.

So that’s the theory, but was it really true on draft weekend? I asked several NFL evaluators this week, and a couple were emphatic that the late talent pool was better than normal. “I would say that you had a bigger UDFA pool than you ever had, so it wouldn’t shock me if you see more UDFAs make teams this year,” said one scout. “You might have had 20 guys left on your draftable board in previous years. You probably had 30-35 guys left on your draftable board this year.” Said another, “Yes, heavier than normal talented player pool in 6th/7th and UDFA’s!, and a third added, “We signed a couple of guys that would have gotten drafted last year.”

However, others were just as adamant that it was a false narrative.

  • “I think the initial thought a lot of people had going into the year was the draft would be really strong because of all the players going back to school for an extra year, but in reality, most were late round-to-(free agent) players. . . I think it was a little stronger Day 3 compared to the year before, but not like I think a lot of people thought it would be initially.”
  • “I think the narrative was that, for sure, but once it came down to the end, it seemed like a regular amount of guys left after the draft. For sure, more names, but wouldn’t say more talent than years past.”

  • “Only time will tell, but no, I don’t think (that was) true. I thought the high picks, three-quarters of the first round was light, weak. QB, RB, TE and DL (were below standard). The second round thru the end of Round 4 was stronger. . . I did not think it was over-stocked. Here and there, a few players might have got pushed (down).“

It’s one of those things we won’t know for sure for 3-4 years, but it’s interesting that there are mixed opinions on something that seemed so certain a year ago, when only 716 players signed with agents (about a third of the number who signed this year). 

We’ll talk more about scouting and player evaluation, including a roundup of the week’s hirings and firings, in this week’s Friday Wrap, which comes out (you guessed it) Friday. Go here to sign up if you don’t already receive it.  
 
  

Questions and Answers on XFL Player Acquisition

09 Thursday Jun 2022

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In the last few weeks, I’ve gotten plenty of questions on how to get players into the XFL. I found myself without many answers, so I deferred to Senior VP of Player Personnel Doug Whaley, who graciously agreed to answer some of the questions I’ve gotten.

Without further ado, here are the questions, with Doug’s answers following.

Are the Showcases the only way to the Player Draft Pool?

No. With the help of our scouting consultants, Inside the League and FBXChange, we are able to identify the top free agent players for inclusion into the Player Draft Pool.  XFL league and team personnel executives have been evaluating players for months via college/pro game video. Our personnel team will also attend NFL training camps to evaluate players who may be released in early September.  Furthermore, as is customary in football scouting, our personnel team monitors the waiver wire of other leagues as players are released. With all that being said, in-person evaluations at the Showcases remain a critical component of building a robust Player Draft Pool.

About how many players are in the Player Draft Pool so far?

The Player Draft Pool has been growing every day. As our personnel team identifies players who may have the potential to play in the XFL, we contact the players and/or their agents to extend an invitation (via email) for the players to opt-in for inclusion in the XFL Draft.  This is the first step towards building the draft pool. The players who opt-in must comply with a background check and requests for their medical history.

Will there be showcases beyond what has been announced so far?

We have not planned additional Showcases in 2022. However, we will allow our personnel staff and coaches to evaluate players in their cities of residence in accordance with league policies.

When is the XFL Draft?

November 2022.

When will the player pool be completed?

The Player Draft Pool will be completed a week before the Draft.  We are planning to hold a Supplemental Draft(s) as more players become available in December and January.

Do any players ever withdraw from the Showcases? Is “full” always final?

Players may sign up for the waitlist on showcases.xfl.com. If/when a player withdraws from a Showcase, the next player on the waitlist will be alerted that he is able to attend a Showcase.

My client has NFL experience and I believe he has a strong case for the XFL. Is there any means of submitting his info for expedited review outside of the Showcases and the info@xfl.comemail address?

Prospective players and their agents may submit information to FBO@xfl.com.  Information that has been submitted to info@xfl.com will continue to be forwarded to the Player Personnel department for review.

If my player played college ball in South Florida, will he still be considered by teams on the West Coast, for example? Does geography matter? If so, can an agent apply directly to teams that are geographically congruent with a player’s college team?

There are no territorial or college rights in the XFL. Agents may contact team personnel and coaches directly to discuss their players. 

What about players without agents? Are their only avenues the info email and the Showcases?

A player does not need an agent to play in the XFL. If he has performed well at the college and/or pro level, our personnel team will be able to find him. With that being said, the Showcases are another venue for our personnel team to discover talented football players.

Will player evaluation be centralized? How much latitude will each team Director of Player Personnel have?

The Head Coaches and Directors of Player Personnel will be making all roster decisions for their respective teams. The XFL league office receives player recommendations from team personnel, and we properly vet each player’s background to ensure his eligibility for inclusion in the Player Draft Pool.

If a player is in another league (CFL) during the initial XFL showcases, can he still be considered in XFL player pool if he is released from the CFL after the XFL showcases are completed?

Yes. As mentioned above, it is customary in football scouting to monitor other leagues’ waiver wires. The best available players will be engaged by XFL league and team personnel.

What is the plan for specialists? 

From the press release: The XFL announced it has partnered with Nick Novak, founder of Novak Kicking & Consulting and former professional football placekicker, to run a specialist showcase in San Diego, California on October 23, 2022. This event will focus specifically on kickers, punters and long snappers, and provide a dedicated forum for players to exhibit their skillset exclusively for the XFL’s player personnel departments.

A Preview of Thursday’s Podcast with SIS

01 Wednesday Jun 2022

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Thursday, I’ll join my friend Matt Manocherian of Sports Information Systems on his excellent Off the Charts podcast. Matt’s a former NFL scout, which is one of the reasons I love chopping it up with his team. The topics we discuss are a little more “inside football” than your garden variety podcast.

If you’re reading this blog, that’s probably your bag, so I encourage you to look for it when it’s published Friday morning. Matt will publish the link on his Twitter page probably Thursday night.

Here’s a list of some of the thing we might discuss.

  • There are new GMs in New York, Minnesota, Chicago, Pittsburgh and Las Vegas. Each has put his stamp on his new team in different ways. We’ll look at each, and what their hirings and firings mean about their team-building philosophies.
  • We almost saw Josh McCown go from the field to the head coach of the Texans this past offseason. You never see that in scouting, where things are much more ordered. For example, you’ll never, ever see an area scout jump straight to the GM seat. We’ll talk a little about the scouts who made it to the director and national levels this offseason and what it means for their respective futures.
  • On the other hand, the Giants have chosen (so far) not to name a Director of College Scouting. Why is this? Does this harm them?
  • The NFL’s new rule giving teams third-round picks for staffers of color who get hired as GMs has been a game-changer. I’m starting to hear of teams that are hoarding talented mid-level minority executives in hopes that they’ll land a future draft pick. I’ve even heard of a team blocking one such executive’s opportunity because he wasn’t leaving for a GM post. It’s an interesting and multi-layered topic.
  • Lots of teams have remodeled their front offices but haven’t made official announcements yet. Part of that can be chalked up to a desire to wait until after rookie mini-camps; most teams wait until the second weekend post-draft to have their draftees, UDFAs and tryout players in, and they want their scouts around until the players leave. Part of this is also because some teams write their scouts’ contracts to run from June 1 to May 31. But I think there’s more to it.

What am I missing? What are you curious about? I’d love to hear more ideas besides what Matt and I can come up with. Please tweet me if you have something else in mind.

As we’ve done all month, we’ll be running down all the moves and telling you what they mean in our Friday Wrap. If you’re not already registered for it, I highly recommend it. Register here.

 

An Update on XFL Player Acquisition

27 Friday May 2022

Posted by in Agents, Coaches, Scouts

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We’re starting to get a lot of questions about the XFL player pool and how an agent (or anyone, for that matter) gets a client into the league player pool. XFL officials want to make sure agents and players are aware that its showcases are around the corner and that spots are filling up quickly, with some dates already at capacity.

Here are a few things XFL officials want to make sure are clear to players and their representatives.

  • The XFL will have a comprehensive player pool.
  • The league will announce its team-by-team personnel directors next month, though we’ve heard that timetable might be moved up so as not to miss out on any talented players from the ’22 draft class.
  • Though we don’t have any definitive info, it’s our understanding that players need not have participated in one of this summer’s engagement camps to be signed.
  • All players interested in demonstrating their skills in front of XFL personnel and coaches are asked to visit showcases.XFL.com or to email info@XFL.com.
  • The HBCU camp and the engagement camp in Hawaii are by invitation only because the league is trying to tightly control participants, limiting them to only those of Pacific Islander heritage for the event held in Honolulu and to players from historically black schools for the HBCU workout.
  • XFL head coaches and personnel directors will select players for the exclusive XFL draft pool based on the following criteria:
        1. XFL Showcase evaluations
        2. College/pro film evaluations
        3. XFL staff evaluations at NFL training camps. Invites to the draft pool will be sent to players in early June.

Only players invited to the draft pool will be eligible to be drafted. Visit Info@XFL.com and check out the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section for more information.

Another Chance to Grow: Mueller Scout Camp

19 Thursday May 2022

Posted by in Getting started, Scouts

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Scouting (and specifically, getting jobs in scouting) is on the minds of many these days  with teams hiring and firing as part of the usual post-draft phase. I can’t count the number of members of NCAA personnel and recruiting departments who’ve reached out to me over the past 2-3 weeks, asking for tips on how to interview.

I try to respond to all of them, and do the best I can to give them good advice. However, there are those who have actually done the hiring that can do way better. One of those people is former NFL GM Randy Mueller, who’s spent time in the front offices in New Orleans, Miami, Seattle and San Diego in various roles (serving as GM of the Saints, Dolphins and Seahawks). These days, Randy writes a must-read blog on his personal web page, but next month, you don’t have to get your advise and counsel through via the Web.

Randy will host a two-day workshop in Coeur D’Alene, Idaho, that will be the first-ever Mueller Scout Camp. Included in the event will be five individual sessions, including a resume review and a mock GM interview with Randy. Sessions will included pointers on film evaluation, the dynamics of team-building, how to gather character information on recruits and prospects, how to build a consensus without encouraging groupthink, building your board and more. 

“A couple of bigger-program head coaches asked me if I could coach up some of their people on the art of identifying and evaluating players,” Mueller said. “Everyone, coaches included, needs a refresher, so think of a coaching clinic, but this is an evaluator’s clinic. 

“People who do this for a living have got to be able to identify what most don’t see when looking for talent.”

Randy said his goal is to “give (attendees) some tools and a process to build fundamentals as an evaluator as they progress in the business.”

It’s a pretty exciting opportunity when you consider that he’s only taking 12 students. As someone who loves to see professionals invest in the next generation, I’m pretty enthusiastic about Randy’s camp, as well as the one I’ll be attending this weekend in Las Vegas, the 2022 Personnel/Recruiting Spring Clinic in Las Vegas. That one is being run by UNLV’s Gaizka Crowley and Colorado State’s Lucas Gauthier. Hope to see you there.

For more information on Mueller Scout Camp, including pricing, email Randy at info@muellerfootball.com. 

Turnover in NFL Front Offices, Why It Happens and What it Means

12 Thursday May 2022

Posted by in NFL draft, Scouts

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In the last two weeks, scouts with decades of experience in player evaluation have been sent packing by their respective teams. How is this so, you might ask? Don’t you want seasoned people helping you pick the players for your team?

I admit it’s hard to understand. Let me try to make sense of it.

  • There was a time when old coaches in the fourth quarter of their respective careers became NFL scouts for a number of reasons: they primarily scouted regions where they’d worked; NFL teams had healthy pension programs; and it gave them a chance to get away from the weekly grind of trying to win on Saturday. In many cases, these scouts weren’t career-minded. They were looking to wind down their careers but weren’t on a GM path. A big percentage of younger people who came into the industry had connections to owners and others in the business; there has always been a lot of nepotism in the NFL.  However, there was not a substantial number of young up-and-comers because teams were mostly hiring scouts based on their experience.
  • During this time, team ownership was dominated by the Maras, Rooneys, Wilsons and others who saw teams (at least partially) as part of a city’s profile and heritage rather than as an investment. Obviously, given the financial strength of the league and its teams, this attracted a new class of owners who were attracted to the game, but also were attracted to what teams would add to their respective portfolios. Think Dallas’ Jerry Jones when he first entered the league, or more recently, David Tepper in Carolina. As those new owners have gained power, they are less constrained by the traditions of the game. They have been willing to expand the size of scouting departments — in the last 30 years, most teams have gone from 5-10 scouts/advisors to an average of 20 — and, slowly, improve pay. At the same time, however, most are dumping pensions and other long-term investments in scouts. This has led to a tendency to make shorter-term commitments to scouts and evaluators.
  • These new owners are also open to new ways of doing things, and have themselves often used technology and analytics-driven methods to accomplish business success. They are therefore prone to wanting to apply those ideas to football. Sometimes this translates, sometimes it doesn’t. However, it lends itself to the idea that intelligence can be gathered without the human element. This is exacerbated by the distinctly “human” aspect of scouting. Football evaluation has never been solely about what happens between the lines; injuries, personalities, the money involved in the game and other factors greatly impact a player’s NFL success. New-guard owners are also more prone to looking at their teams as a form of entertainment more so than a sport. A sport imparts values and a culture, whereas forms of entertainment are eminently disposable and agnostic.
  • While all of this was happening, fantasy football was taking off across the sports landscape, giving rank-and-file fans a taste of team-building. Simultaneously, colleges were rolling out sport management programs to capitalize on this, promising undergrads a chance to live their dreams of working in pro sports. This led to a swell of candidates looking to break into the industry. Anyone on Twitter can sift through and find hundreds, if not thousands, of aspiring scouts and evaluators. Just check their bios.

Bottom line, you have a business model where success is hard to measure, with people at the top of the pyramid lacking experience in hiring, and thousands of young professionals — many of them very talented — aiming to get in. Simultaneously, owners and executives are under relentless pressure from the media and social media on how to do things. It makes for a difficult path to getting hired. Good luck.

A Few Things to Remember During ‘Scout Jobs Season’

06 Friday May 2022

Posted by in NFL draft, Scouts

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If you follow me on Twitter, and you’re new, welcome! I’m glad you’re here. 

Anyway, you might have started following ITL due to the scouting news we’ve posted over the past week, and there’s more where that came from. At the same time, there are a few things you need to know that might make the next few weeks a little smoother, especially if your favorite team pops up in one of my tweets.

Changes announced this week have been in the works for weeks, maybe months: I bumped into one of the scouts released this week last fall, at a college football game. He told me then he would probably be out right after the draft. It had nothing to do with his performance, by the way. It was something else entirely, which brings me to my next point.

Scout terminations, more often than not, are related to relationships, not performance: Partly because scouting is so subjective, it’s very hard to measure a scout’s effectiveness. That leads to scouts and executives being hired and fired primarily due to their relationships with the GM or others in leadership positions. 

Scouts usually work on two-year contracts: That’s why, sometimes, a new GM will come in and not make many (or any) changes. If all or most of his scouts have a year left on their deals, they might as well spend the year and see who’s good and not so good, then release them with no further obligations. 

It takes a while for a scouting department to come together: Scouting departments are a little like an offensive line. They take a little while to mesh, especially if they are working for a first-time GM. This time next year, you might be really, really excited about the players your favorite team has picked. On the other hand, maybe you won’t. If you aren’t, be patient. Things will probably improve. 

A good QB can really cover for a struggling scouting staff (and a bad one can mask a good scouting staff): Going back the last 10 years, the Patriots didn’t pick in the first round four seasons (2013, 2016, 2017 and 2020), and none of their six picks have gone to the Pro Bowl (according to Wikipedia). It’s been a bit of a rough patch, but because their QBs have been Brady and Jones, they’ve remained a pretty successful franchise. Bottom line, your team’s scouts are probably not as bad (or as good) as you think they are. 

At the end of the day, getting to understand why some teams draft well and others don’t takes time. If you’d rather learn more, I recommend my book, Scout Speak, which is loaded with war stories, insights and weighty quotes from dozens of scouts, active and former. It’s a quick read and, I think, a fun one, too. It’s also under $13. Check it out. If you’re not a big reader, it’s also available on Audible.

Still not sold? Register for our newsletter, the Friday Wrap. It’s free, and chock full of information on scouts, agents and the business of football. I think you’ll like it.