Category Archives: NFL draft

Ready to Get a Job in NFL Scouting? Here Are a Few Tips

19 Friday Dec 2025

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Looking to be an NFL scout? Is this the year you want to make a big splash? Now’s the time to start getting your name out there.

Here are a few teams on which you should focus your efforts (or avoid altogether).

Teams with second-year GMs: Very often, GMs are forced to keep scouts (who are usually on two-year deals) for a year that they would rather replace with scouts who know their respective systems. Among second-year GMs are the Jaguars, Titans, Raiders and Jets.

Teams with shaky GMs: Obviously, teams that might be cleaning slate are likely to have more openings. Here are four possibilities, but there are always surprises, as well. Be ready.

Teams with second-year Scouting Assistants (also called Player Personnel Assistants): Like scouts, most scouting assistants get two years before a team decides to promote or terminate them. Teams that fit this description — there are a lot of them (19) — are the 49ers (2), Bears (3), Browns (4), Cardinals (1), Chiefs (1), Colts (1), Cowboys (1), Jaguars (3), Jets (1), Lions (2), Panthers (3), Patriots (1), Raiders (2), Ravens (1), Commanders (3), Saints (3), Steelers (2), Texans (1) and Vikings (2).

Some teams don’t carry Scouting Assistants at all: No use applying with them. Teams that don’t list scouting assistants or scouting interns are the Bengals, Broncos, Chargers, Dolphins, Eagles and Falcons.

Teams that have had Scouting Assistants in the past, but no longer: The Packers and Eagles don’t currently have any listed on the team website, but last year, they had two each. The Rams had two Scouting Apprentices in 2024 who have each been elevated to full-time positions; they currently have none listed on the team website.

Teams with Area Scouts who’ve been in the league for 10+ years: The simple fact is that modern NFL teams don’t want veteran evaluators running the roads (as counterintuitive as that sounds). They’re too expensive. Instead, they want to be young when it comes to their area/college scouts. The only way to determine which teams have such scouts is by studying all the teams. Start with our Know Your Scouts feature, which breaks down the complete evaluation staff for all 32 teams.

Really want to be aggressive? Visit the more established all-star games. You’ll see scouts at a lot of all-star games, but the only place you’re consistently going to see director-level scouts (i.e., decision-makers) is at the top two games, the East-West Shrine Bowl and Senior Bowl. You might get lucky at the other games, but the Big Two are really where you could meet someone who might be in a position to help you.

Best of luck. See you out on the trail.

Want To Work in Scouting? Here Are a Few Tips

12 Friday Dec 2025

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This time of year, with the off-season at hand and the draft getting closer by the day, I hear from a lot of people who aspire to work in scouting. Here are a few observations for those people (some of this is review).

Is scouting a relationship business? Sure, but there’s a caveat. On the college side, for example, there are a lot of technological force multipliers, software that makes the job manageable. So you’d better be comfortable with technology. On the NFL side, new-guard owners are literally every day trying to come up with new ways to evaluate players (using analytics and AI) without having to employ scouts. So yes, of course, cultivate relationships, but realize that there’s more to it than just that.

College or pro?: If this week has shown anything, it’s how valuable college personnel staffers have become to winning on Saturday. As coaches have crisscrossed the nation taking new posts, we’re seeing DPPs, Directors of Scouting and GMs being towed right behind them (we’ve even begun tracking all the moves on our site). That was almost unheard of 10 years ago, but these are new days. For this reason, it’s much more attractive (and even profitable) to work on the college side. That’s especially true when you compare it to the vagabond lifestyle and relatively low pay of an NFL area scout.

Reversing course: For people going to Mobile to meet scouts and maybe do some networking, the “book” was to stay near the team hotel and stake out the downtown bars for an opportunity to mingle with NFL evaluators. However, now that practices are held at Hancock Whitney Stadium, more and more scouts are staying closer to the airport, making Mobile a ghost town. That’s especially true now that the official hotel is mostly off-limits unless you work for an NFL team. If you’re looking to make contacts, consider booking something closer to the South Alabama campus.

Making way with no pay: If you’re truly serious about clawing your way to the top of the college personnel world, you might have to find a school where you can volunteer while finding work elsewhere. This might sound a little unorthodox, but schools are actively seeking people willing to do just this. There are success stories, too. I know a lot of people might never consider this, but this is exactly why, maybe, you should.

Get in early: I always get asked, when should I send out my resume to NFL teams? I recommend doing it now. It may be a little on the early side, but especially if you’re going to be on the all-star circuit or at the Combine, you might be able to make your case with scouts you meet along the way. A lot of people send them out in March. That’s way too late. Don’t make that mistake.

If the business of scouting interests you, it might be worth it to get our newsletter. It’s free. Register here.

Reviewing Best Draft Winners and their Best Bets as Future GMs

28 Friday Nov 2025

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This week, I joined my podcast partner, Rodrik David, to discuss what’s ahead this offseason on the NFL side. Rodrik’s assignment for me was to give him at least one person who’s a legitimate GM candidate from each of the Best Draft Award winners, going back to our first one for the 2017 draft.

The complete recording is here, but in case you’re in a bit of a hurry, here’s a recap of the Best Draft Award winners, the names I came up with, and why.

Jeff Ireland, Assistant GM, Saints (2017) — The results don’t show it lately, but Jeff is still respected. Architect of one of the best drafts in the last decade, he’s slowly restocking the Saints. The 2025 draft class is a step in the right direction.

Ed Dodds, Assistant GM, Colts (2018) — Has been a member of the BART List every year since we started polling in 2022. With the Colts surprising this season, he could have the momentum to land a GM position this offseason. Director of College Scouting Matt Terpening has also been honored four times on the BART List, and there are a number of other Colts staffers who’ve been recognized. Talented staff.

Tariq Ahmad, VP of Player Personnel, 49ers (2019) — A three-time BART List Award winner, Ahmad is universally admired. I get unsolicited praise of Tariq from rival executives all the time. But the 49ers are another team with a front office full of talented people. Assistant GM R.J. Gillen and Director of College Scouting Dom DeCicco are others at the director level in San Francisco who are on the rise. Both have gotten previous BART List recognition.

Mike Biehl, VP of Player Personnel, Buccaneers (2020) — When the Bucs won the Best Draft Award, GM Jason Licht chose John Spytek and Biehl to join him on the “virtual dais” in accepting the trophy. Spytek got his GM title last offseason. It’s Biehl’s turn. The Bucs are quietly one of the best-drafting teams in the league.

Cody Rager, VP of Player Personnel, Broncos (2021) — When Broncos head coach Sean Payton couldn’t lure Ireland to Denver, he settled for Rager, who has quickly climbed the ladder for the Broncos. No BART List Awards yet, but he’s a consistent vote-getter.

Matt Berry, VP of Player Acquisition, Seahawks (2022) — Berry won his first BART List Award last offseason, but he may be starting a string. He’s a lot like Ahmad in that other teams recognize his talent. Also, don’t forget about VP of Player Personnel Trent Kirchner and Director of College Scouting Aaron Hineline, who have also been honored in the past.

Ray Agnew, Assistant GM, Lions (2023) — Why doesn’t he get more consideration, given the job the Lions have done in the draft and on the field? I don’t get it. The Lions impress me because they are one of the few teams consistently drafting for production and not promise, and the results have been there.

John McKay, Assistant GM, Rams (2024) — The Rams have won plaudits for their drafting, but McKay’s roots are on the pro side. That’s OK, however, because more and more teams are seeking pro experience in their GM candidates. The Jaguars stole much of Los Angeles’ front office talent last offseason, but McKay is still around for anyone seeking to steal some of the Rams’ thunder. Also worthy of consideration: Senior Personnel Executive Taylor Morton, who has no ego, and Senior Advisor to the GM Ray Farmer, who deserves another shot.

As always, we’ll discuss these topics and plenty more in today’s Friday Wrap, which is free. Register for it here.

Honoring the Best in College Football, My Dilemma, and My Thinking (So Far)

21 Friday Nov 2025

Posted by in Media, NFL draft, NIL, Scouts, Transfer portal

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Today, permit me to think out loud on a topic that’s been tying me up in knots for the past several weeks. It’s the ITL All-22, my way of honoring the college executives and teams doing the best jobs, and I’m trying to figure out how to attack it. I’m planning on introducing it at our annual NIL symposium in February at the Combine. I’m also going to solicit your opinion on it, especially if you think I’m way off track.

The original idea: Recognize the top executives in a college football world that is becoming more NFL-like in its model, yet at the same time more independent of the league (few college GMs, scouting directors and DPPs aspire to work in the league anymore) and growing more professional all the time.

The bumps in the road: Honoring the top executives and scouts in the league is much easier than doing the same on the college level. We’re talking 32 teams with, on average, about 20 members of the scouting department. Though NFL front offices are far from homogeneous, you still have three basic strata on the college side: scouting assistants and coordinators; area and national scouts; and director-level scouts who are managing things and making the big decisions. On the pro side, it’s usually two evaluators and a director. However, when it comes to college, it’s almost like no two GMs have the same job description, and while some teams (like Oklahoma) are building almost an exact replica of an NFL team, others are much more traditional, letting the coaches do much or most of the scouting. That’s to say nothing of the fact there are:

  • 136 college football teams on the FBS level
  • Four “power conferences” and five more who have far fewer resources
  • Despite the acceptance of revenue-sharing, there’s a wide variety of funding among schools (even within the P4)

The thinking on how to arrive at the winners: After two weeks of presenting my thoughts to GMs and scouting directors across college football (P4 and G5), via text and in-person visits, it seems there are three groups that could offer help. They are:

  • The agents who do business in the transfer portal and get an up-close (if adversarial) look at schools, big and small, on an annual basis
  • The GMs themselves, who at least have a handle on the job and what it takes to have success
  • The media that follow the transfer portal and the business of college football the closest.

Of course, all three come with drawbacks.

  • Who even are the agents doing the most business in the portal? There isn’t a list anywhere. Talk to members of college personnel departments and they tell you the number of people texting them a list of “their guys for the portal” seems to double every day.
  • In speaking to college GMs — and make no mistake, they are just a small part of the people making the portal work at their respective schools — and they say they don’t have enough of a handle on college football at large. Most are familiar with schools in their area, or schools in their respective conferences, but not the whole country.
  • We’re still at a point, media-wise, where there is a very, very small number of people covering the business of college football as it relates, specifically, to the portal and roster management. What’s more, the temptation would be there to give preference to the GMs who gave them the most access.

Here’s where I am: I need to come to some kind of decision, really, by Dec. 1, so this is what I’m thinking.

  • There are just too many key people making decisions to recognize just GMs. So I think I’m going to make it a team award and ask GMs to accept on their respective teams’ behalf at our symposium at the NFL Combine in February.
  • I have to cut the numbers some, so I am thinking the only teams eligible would be those that are bowl-eligible. It’s not a perfect metric, but hopefully, the teams doing the best job will rise to the top next year or soon after.
  • I think I have to break it down 14:8, P4 to G5. It’s only fair. Otherwise, it’s going to be 22 big schools.
  • Again, maybe not the best way of doing things, but I think I’m going to survey the GMs (or the GM-equivalent) on each draft-eligible team and see what we come up with. Hopefully it won’t be mission impossible finding their emails. Schools tend to publish a general football email on the team website, but hopefully I can get past that.
  • My guess is that I’d provide ballots to them via email and solicit their votes most of December, then count the ballots, determine the winners (and notify them), and hope the lion’s share of them can make it to Indy in a few months.

Anyway, that’s where I am right now. Am I off base? DM me (@insidetheleague) or email me (nstratton at insidetheleague dot com) and let me know. Thanks for your help, and thanks for reading.

The NFL in November: A Look at the Numbers

07 Friday Nov 2025

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Every year, we try to really drill down into NFL rosters, listing every player by his hometown and high school, college and conference, and a number of other categories. Once that’s done (it took us a little longer than expected this year), it’s interesting to take a look at the state of the league by finding out which schools and conferences are the leaders in different categories.

Here are a few things I found interesting.

Which state do most NFL players come from?: No surprise, it’s Texas with 285. Also no surprise — the two closest states are Florida (253) and California (232). Fourth-highest? Maybe it’s not that surprising that it’s Georgia (194). After that, there’s a pretty big drop-off to fifth-place North Carolina (106). By the way, Louisiana was tied for sixth. Not bad for a pretty small state.

Which school has the most NFL players?: It’s Ohio State (71), followed by Alabama (66), Georgia (61), Notre Dame (58) and LSU (53). You look at the preponderance of NFL talent in the Bayou State, along with the number who went to LSU, and you begin to see why Brian Kelly is no longer the Tigers’ head coach.

Which conference has the most NFL players?: Again, no surprises that the SEC (579) and Big Ten (560) rule the roost, followed by the ACC (364) and Big 12 (261). Actually, I’m a little surprised that the ACC is so far ahead of the Big 12, but I guess that’s a reflection of the exits of Texas and Oklahoma. The more interesting thing is that the American (formerly American Athletic) Conference is way out front among the G5 schools (90). The Mountain West is next (76), then the MAC (70), Sun Belt (66) and Conference USA (63).

Where’s the best place to go to find offensive linemen?: The O-line is the hardest position to stock in the NFL these days, so we keep a pretty close eye on where the guys up front come from. We found out Ohio State (duh) leads the way with 15 tackles, guards and centers, followed by Georgia (13); LSU, Michigan, Notre Dame and Oklahoma (12); Alabama (11); and Oregon and Penn State (10).

As far as conferences, the Big Ten edges the SEC, 113-106. After that, it’s the ACC (60) and Big 12 (50) on the P4 level. As for G5 conferences, it’s the American (21); MAC (15); Mountain West (14); and CUSA and Sun Belt (13). Once again, the American comes out in front of the rest of the G5 by a pretty wide margin, relatively speaking. It will probably stay that way until Memphis and South Florida get admitted into a P4 conference, as they both hope to do.

Which school has the most wide receivers?: After counting the pure power players (i.e., offensive linemen), I wanted to get a measure of which schools were home to most pure speed players. I chose wide receivers to be the gauge. Once again, Ohio State came out on top, tying with Ole Miss (9). Pretty crazy that one team has such a wealth of talent across the board. After the Buckeyes and Rebels, it’s Alabama, LSU and Texas (7); then Georgia, Stanford, TCU, Tennessee and USC (6); then Clemson, Florida, North Carolina, Notre Dame, USC and Texas A&M (5); and eight teams that tied with four.

As far as conferences, the SEC (69) comes out pretty well ahead of the Big Ten (58). Then it’s the ACC (42) and the Big 12 (36). Among the G5, it’s the Mountain West (13).

If you dig this kind of thing, make sure to check out our Friday Wrap newsletter, in which we look at which NFL teams did the best at evaluating talent, based on current NFL rosters. You can register for it here.

Are NFL Front Offices Getting Smaller?

17 Friday Oct 2025

Posted by in Getting started, NFL draft, Scouts

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Today in the Friday Wrap, we’ll conduct our annual fall breakdown of NFL front offices. We’ll look at how their respective college scouting staffs stack up against their pro scouting and analytics staffs, track growth (or reduction) of each, look at where teams are directing their budgets, and otherwise try to sift out the trends.

Based on my observations over the last 24-48 hours, here’s the takeaway: NFL teams are trying to do more with less, at least as it relates to actual, traditional members of the front office. I’ll get into why this is in a minute, but this shouldn’t catch you off-guard if you’ve been following the league for the last few years. Consider:

  • More and more owners are coming from non-football backgrounds.
  • They’re business first, and less about the game for its sports value and more for its entertainment value (there’s a difference).
  • They want to see a return on investment, and that’s probably defensible given how leveraged most of them have to be simply to buy a team.
  • Making money depends on spending less, and generally speaking, that means spending less on your workforce. This is one reason only 10 teams are still in the pension program, as of earlier this year. If you think about it, it’s incredible that 32 companies that are printing money are too cheap to provide a lasting financial commitment to the 20-or-so employees they have in their respective front offices.
  • There’s also the Covid effect. When lockdowns closed the country in the spring of 2020, the NFL changed how it did its evolution, but football didn’t grind to a halt. I think a lot of teams (especially owners and bean-counters) did a lot of thinking after that.

So why do I say the “human element” of scouting is in decline?

  • Let’s start with the average size of an NFL scouting staff. For the first time since we started tracking things in 2021, the mean size of NFL scouting staffs decreased slightly (from 23.81 in 2024 to 23.47). It’s not much, but it’s significant after staffs were growing by about a scout a year in 2022-23.
  • In 2024, only three teams (Chiefs, Bengals and Dolphins) had fewer than four area scouts. This year, there are four (the Rams, with just one staffer designated as an “area scout,” have just one). Granted, titles aren’t uniform across the league, and teams break up duties in different ways, but this is still notable.
  • It’s anecdotal, but in my work gathering the information to put together our Scouts by Area Grid (an annual board listing the specific scouts each of the 32 teams uses to cover areas of the country), I found out that a handful of teams still haven’t made even one visit to some of the bigger schools in the country. It’s mid-October. That’s amazing.

So what other trends are apparent? We’ll be discussing it all in today’s Friday Wrap, which comes out this evening (7:30 p.m. EST). If scouting is your life goal, or if the business of the NFL is an interest, I hope you’ll check it out. Register here.

Studying the Draft (and Why One Team Does It Better Than Most)

10 Friday Oct 2025

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I try to keep a detailed breakdown of the entire league at all times, listing not just the players in the league with their positions and teams, but also which team drafted them, which schools they came from, that kind of thing. This week, as I cleaned up my files going back to 2021, I dug into the numbers a bit and found a few things to be of special interest.

  • Going back to the 2021 draft (1,664 players as of Week 3 of the 2025 season), of the 159 first-rounders since 2021, 154 are still active. That’s to be expected.
  • The top five among still-active former draftees is not a big surprise. Leading the way is Green Bay with 43, followed in second place by the Ravens, Jaguars and 49ers (40 each); third place, the Texans, Rams and Seahawks (38 each); fourth-place Patriots (37); and Cardinals, Cowboys, Colts and Eagles tied with 36 each. Obviously, a number of these teams are perennial Super Bowl contenders.
  • The leading position drafted since 2021 is also no surprise, and it’s not close: offensive lineman (200). That’s the one place, the offensive line, that’s especially hard to find in free agency. After that, it’s cornerbacks (139) and wide receivers (130), followed by linebackers (124), a generous majority of which would be edge rushers. No other position was drafted more than 100 times.

However, here’s what I found to be most interesting.

The least popular position on draft day is punters and kickers, but the second-least popular is quarterbacks (just 47 drafted since 2021). Of the 47, 17 went in the first round, more than a third. To me, that shows that modern teams (a) are looking for the quick fix that drafting a QB can sometimes bring, and (b) QB development is probably not a high priority.

In other words, when you draft a passer on Day 1, you’re hoping he pays off immediately without a lot of hand-holding. This is especially interesting when you consider what former Packers scout Brandian Ross said in this week’s edition of the Scouting the League Podcast (sorry, no video yet). One time, when Brandian was speaking to former Packers GM Ron Wolf, Wolf compared drafting quarterbacks to buying insurance: you do it before you need it. It’s that patience, that willingness to deal with the discomfort of having your starting QB on the roster as well as his successor, that make the Packers successful. The transition from Favre to Rodgers to Love has made plenty of headlines, but to always be in the Super Bowl conversation, it’s the price that must be paid.

We’ll look at the draft and everything else that makes the NFL special in today’s Friday Wrap, which comes out this evening. Make sure you’re registered for it, which you can do here.

On Mock Drafts in the Post-Shedeur Era

03 Friday Oct 2025

Posted by in Media, NFL draft, Scouts

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Since 2017, we have tracked seven of the more established draft services as they’ve provided first-round projections in the months leading up to the end of April. It’s a fun exercise if you don’t take it too seriously (though I’ve had a key member of one front office tell me he uses it to make sure he’s not missing anyone).

At any rate, the accuracy and, really, the basic validity of draft experts and their mocks was called into question last spring when we all watched Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders go from a consensus top-10 pick to a Day 3 guy. All seven services we surveyed the week before the draft (sorry, pay link) had him going inside the first 21 picks, and four had him in the top 10 (two had him at No. 3, two had him at 9). Now those of us who know Tom Brady’s story (or, for that matter, the stories of Kirk Cousins, Dak Prescott or Brock Purdy) also know that Day 3 selection is not an NFL death sentence. The point is, NFL decision-makers varied significantly with what the draft experts thought they thought last spring.

It’s with this in mind that I reached out to several friends in the league to get an in-season consensus on some of the players who were the top-rated prospects in our first way-too-early mock draft sweep in June (sorry, pay link again). In our first look at things, seven players — Ohio State’s Caleb Downs, Clemson’s T.J. Parker and Peter Woods, Alabama’s Kadyn Proctor, Texas’ Anthony Hill, LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier and Notre Dame’s Jeremiyah Love — showed up on all seven mocks. Before I compiled the seven services’ mocks this time, I decided to ask around about two of the players that everyone agreed was a first-rounder, Downs and Nussmeier. What I found out fascinated me.

In some ways, Downs matches up with what the draft experts said in June: supremely talented guy from a blue-blood program who would be a difference-maker in any system. On the other hand, the teams I spoke to were pretty adamant that he’s not a No. 1 overall guy, and probably not a top-five guy, either, mainly because of the position he plays. They like him in the top 10, but he’s far from a guy who’ll be the top pick (as one service predicted in June) or the second (as two other services predicted). Still, the draft services positively nailed Downs compared to how far off they were on Nussmeier.

When I started asking around about the LSU passer, scouts’ the enthusiasm in scouts’ voices immediately waned. They said things like “entitled,” “average arm,” “coach’s kid but doesn’t act like one,” and things of that nature. Not one of the teams I spoke to even had him in the first round, much less No. 1 overall. I don’t want to be overly critical of him, and there’s still time for things to change, but he’s trending much closer to Shedeur than Cam Ward at this point.

Look, I don’t want to beat up on these services too much. Obviously, things are evolving, and even NFL scouts have changed their minds about things they thought they thought this summer. Still, if you read today’s Friday Wrap to get a sample of who’s in the first-round conversation (and I hope you do — register here if you don’t already receive it), have fun with it, but take it all with a generous grain of salt. That’s not just because it’s Oct. 3, but because there are still secrets teams keep from the draft services. And that’s OK.

Remembering Bobby Grier

23 Tuesday Sep 2025

Posted by in Coaches, NFL draft, Scouts

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Longtime NFL scouting executive Bobby Grier passed away this week. I didn’t know him, but I was fortunate enough to meet him briefly when he kindly submitted to an interview for the Friday Wrap a few years back. The mere fact that he helped me out, when he didn’t know me (and when so many people who do know me decline to be interviewed), made me want to reach out to a few friends to get a better sense of who he was.

Over the last day, I’ve gathered quotes from a few friends. Here’s what they said about Coach Grier.

  • “I thought Bobby was a fine human being – a pleasant, quiet, mild-mannered person. With a good work ethic. When I first went to New England, I think It was ‘83, Bobby was the running backs coach, and when that staff was fired, and the pro guy retired, and Bill Parcells came in, Bobby had a couple years left on his contact as RB coach, (Patriots owner) Mr. (Robert) Kraft encouraged (Parcells) to keep him on, so he became the pro scout. He did one hell of a job. I worked with him for two years after that, and then I left for Chicago. . . My friend (who worked for the Texans) told me he did one hell of a job with the Houston Texans. He was a real fine fellow. . . Mild-mannered, hard worker, and he knew football players.” – Longtime NFL (Seahawks, Browns, Patriots, Bears and Vikings) scout Charles Garcia
  • “I first met Bobby while working out during summers at BC’s weight room with my high school teammate (Boston College All-American and All-Pro Bills NT Fred Smerlas). Although I played for an opponent, UMass, at that time, Bobby let it slide and just told me that I should pick better company (haha). Bobby was with the Patriots when I began representing players. He obviously knew the game well from his playing and coaching experience, and was excelling at personnel then, also. In addition to recognizing superior talent to survive in the NFL, Bobby always emphasized finding players with an inner drive, and valued the muscle above the shoulders, as well. His strong endorsement on Tom Brady was just one prime example. Were it not for Bobby, I never would have joined the Patriots, as it was his recommendation to the Krafts that opened the door for me. He was a great human being with a very strong devotion to family, fairness and integrity. He will be missed by all who knew him. My prayers and condolences to Chris, Mike and family.” — Former NFL agent and Patriots executive Jack Mula
  • “Really sorry to hear about Bobby’s passing. He was one of the best personnel guys I was around. Great judge of character — that he always said went hand in hand with a player’s ability and made the player a great teammate. He was a man that I always learned something (from) just sitting and talking with him, whether it was football or just life. When he addressed the staff, his voice carried and got the entire room’s attention. He will be missed.” — Former Texans and Broncos scout Bob Beers
  • “I’ve known Bobby for years. As a college coach, he was excellent. Excellent coach, excellent as a teacher at a very good level at Boston College, excellent as an evaluator of talent. Top-notch. Understood the big picture about building a team. He was a common-sense person, and he was always very thorough in his work. When he became available (for the Texans), I didn’t need to interview him. I knew him, and we just talked about the job. He said he came with us because I was the first one to call him. I actually tried to interview Chris a ways back, too, and didn’t get him. Bobby was very professional, and I thought he did a great job in New England. It’s a shame that they let him go, but I’m glad we had the opportunity to hire him.” — Former Redskins and Texans GM Charley Casserly
  • “The Texans scouting department was at one end of the team’s offices, basically a big square that had two large college and pro scouting rooms in the center with staff offices around it. My office was at one corner by the hallway that led to the rest of the corporate and coaches offices, and Bobby had an office in the opposite corner, in essence the farthest corner of all the Texans offices. During my time with the Texans, I along with a regular stream of GMs, head coaches, personnel directors, coordinators, coaches, scouts, administrative assistants, our travel agent, and especially interns, would go to Bobby’s office on what seemed to be a daily basis to visit with him, seek his counsel and wisdom (and enjoy) his friendship and company. It did not matter what position the person held on the team — he was always approachable, friendly, with a wealth of wisdom and knowledge that he would share freely. He had the rare gift in our profession of being so knowledgable, with such wisdom, while being objective and having perspective during stressful processes, while all the while being himself, a truly good and kind person with a great sense of humor. I have not met many people like Bobby in the many years I spent working in NFL front offices. He was special.” — Former Texans executive and Jets GM Mike Maccagnan
  • “As you are talking to people about Bobby, and they don’t mention him talking about his love for his family, you can question the source. We became closer when I left the NFL and he moved to Massachusetts. I got the pleasure of speaking to him for hours about life, football and the most important part of his life, his family. Every time I got off the phone, my soul just felt better. We talked about him raising his boys in the Boston area and how they were a real hockey family. His wife Wendy would take them from sun up to sun down around the city playing hockey and the lessons the ice and their competition taught the boys about life. Some lessons were difficult, but the boys always understood that no matter what, their family was going to be on their sides.” — Former head of Texans public relations Kevin Cooper

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Ask The Scouts: Which QB Has Surprised You Most?

19 Friday Sep 2025

Posted by in NFL draft, Scouts

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When we did our sweep of way-too-early first-round mock drafts in June, there were eight QBs who were given at least some first-round consideration by one of the seven services we monitor. Three months later, I bet there would be far less love for some of them. LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier, Clemson’s Cade Klubnik and Texas’ Arch Manning haven’t shone as brightly as many expected. On the other hand, Oklahoma’s John Mateer and Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia may not have entered the season with much acclaim, but they’re each building it these days.

I asked several of my former NFL scouting friends which QB has surprised them the most — good or bad — this season. This is what they told me.

“Biggest surprise would be Arch Manning’s mechanics. If the Mannings are known for anything, it is their fundamentals and mechanics. Arch is using different arm angles that are forcing him to spin the ball unnaturally, almost like a baseball pitcher would spin a slider or forkball.  This must change or the outcome of his throws won’t. He is not the most naturally gifted, arm-wise, but must rely on accuracy and ball placement to have ultimate success. A big revelation  is CJ Bailey from North Carolina State. I have watched Bailey three times now. He is a tall, athletic QB with an easy spin and delivery of the ball. He is completing over 70% of his passes and protecting the ball very well while leading his team to a 3-0 record over East Carolina, Wake Forest and Virginia. He hasn’t played a gimme game yet, but he’s having a lot of success for such a young signal-caller. Another QB I really like is Julian Sayin from Ohio State, a highly recruited player that first arrived at Alabama and transferred when Nick Saban retired.  Alabama will regret letting this one leave. Sayin has a very good arm; he’s a very talented passer with a catchable ball and easy spin. Good athlete in the pocket. With the talent around him he will shine.” — Blake Beddingfield, former Titans scouting executive  

“Diego Pavia for his leadership. He has limitations, but he’s got the “it factor” and presence that teammates will follow. Sometimes belief carries a team past their limitations.” — Mark Gorscak, scout (retired), Steelers

“When you consider the hype and expectations, there is not a more disappointing player in college football right now than Arch Manning. It hasn’t been pretty and there has been much speculation about Arch playing through an injury. I’m not sure Sark’s press conferences are doing him any favors in terms of fanning the flames. Will be one of the more interesting storylines to watch this year.” — Ric Serritella, former CFL and all-star executive and founder, All Access Football

“Arch Manning for me. I expected Sark’s offense to really fit him well and lead to a good season. Overall, they have been a disappointing team. Offensively, just unable to do a ton, and that starts with the QB.” — Rodrik David, former scout, Falcons & Titans

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