The NFLPA has been successful in not only increasing the number of practice squad slots available to NFL teams, but also taking off any limitations meant to give younger (i.e., cheaper) players opportunities. 

It’s not that teams have dumped the idea of growing and improving players. We’re still seeing youth and development prized across the league as 48.6 percent of all members of practice squads are from the 2022 and 2023 draft classes. However, there’s no doubt we’re seeing the PS go from “pool of developmental players” to “old-school taxi squad.” But how much? Here’s what we found out based on the opening-week makeup of all 32 teams’ practice squads.

• The Giants are carrying a 13-year veteran, RB Taiwan Jones, on their practice squad, but they’re not the only team with a 10-year vet on the PS. The Bengals opened the season with SS Michael Thomas (2012 draft class) and the Rams had PK Brett Maher (2013) on the practice squad. Four teams had members of the 2014 draft class around for practice. Sixteen players with nine years of NFL experience are also on squads around the league.
• NFL teams may have up to six players on their practice squads with no limitations on experience; they could all be 20-year veterans, and no one can say a word. The Jets are the only team to take full advantage of that provision; they have six players who are entering at least their sixth seasons, respectively, in the league. The Bills, Panthers and Niners each have five such players. The Broncos, Chargers, Dolphins and Eagles have four each. It’s no surprise to see that most of these teams are veteran-heavy on the practice squad — they’re all Super-Bowl-or-bust teams trying to hoard injury replacements — but it’s interesting that the Panthers and Broncos aren’t holding more spots for rising players.
• By the way, the Cowboys, Packers, Texans, Jaguars and Steelers have just one player with five-plus NFL seasons on their respective practice squads. 
• Of the 31 NFL teams’ practice squads (we aren’t counting Dallas, which only lists two members of its PS), the Bucs have the youngest at an average draft class of 2021.43, followed closely by the Packers at 2021.41. Rounding out the five youngest are Jaguars, Raiders, Titans and Bears.
• The Bills have the oldest at 2019.75, with the Panthers just behind at 2019.93. That’s really interesting and, to me, shows that the Panthers see the NFC South as wide open and winnable. The Niners, Rams and Patriots, in order, are the next three oldest.

If you enjoy digging into the numbers to learn how teams develop their strategies, or you want to know more about which teams are best on draft day, make sure to check out today’s Friday Wrap. In it, we look at which teams have the highest percentage of their draft picks still on rosters since 2014; which teams have the most former draftees on 53-man rosters across the league; and which ones have the most former picks that are active, on practice squad, or otherwise stashed on a list somewhere in the league. You can register for it here.

Here’s something I’m told pretty frequently: “Hey Neil, you post a lot of good stuff about scouting on your Twitter account, but I don’t know if your site would benefit me.” Fair enough. We’re at the height of scout hiring-and-firing season, so I thought this would be a good time to explain why I think our site is especially useful for people hoping to start a career in NFL player evaluation.

The most important aids are our Rep Rumblings posts. Most of the year, we’re talking about the agent world, all-star game developments, rookie mini-camp dates, NFL pro day dates, NIL stuff, etc. However, from the end of April pretty much until the end of June, we’re talking about how NFL teams are staffing their front offices. For example, last week, we posted information on the teams that have had scouting assistants for at least two years; most SA terms last two years, so it’s likely those teams will have turnover. If you’re looking to break into the game, this kind of info is vital.

On the other hand, if you’re a little further along in your journey and have made a few contacts, you need to know where key people are headed. We predicted two moves the day after the draft that came true (or, at least, mostly true) by the end of the week. 

So, anyway, our Rep Rumblings are positively vital. But there’s more that’s pretty much equally helpful.

• Our Know Your Scouts series is where you need to start unless your plan for employment is simply casting resumes aimlessly at every team’s general email address. Getting hired is always about personal connections and your network, and you can’t build a network until you know which people have a similar story to yours, or an alma mater, a fraternity, etc. We break down year hired, years in the league, alma mater, official title and more for every member of every NFL scouting department.
• Don’t know how to contact a scout? Start with our email frames, which give you the email structure for all 32 teams.
• For the last 12 years, we’ve tracked every move — hires, dismissals, reassignments, retirements, etc. — in every NFL front office in our Scouting Changes Grid. If you want to study how teams build their staffs, this is need-to-know information.
• If you’re really aggressive, knowing when NFL teams hold their rookie mini-camps is important. Most teams wait until after camp to start pruning their staff and making changes. We always post our list before anyone else; this year, we had it up the Monday of draft week. It’s the kind of thing that can make a difference if you know how to take advantage of it.

Still not sold? Maybe an unsolicited testimonial from a current NFL scout is in order.

“I think the scouting movement was extremely valuable for me trying to get in. . . I saw your (tweet) on (an NFL scout) leaving (his team) last year. I got a hold of (their GM) and the rest was history. Wouldn’t be in this position if it wasn’t for you work and it’s greatly appreciated!”

We provide free trials and we have a special rate for people hoping to be in the Next Wave of NFL scout hires. Hit us up if you’d like to know more. DMs are always open. If you want to be the next Howie Roseman, John Lynch, John Schneider or Brandon Beane, we want to help.

May is about new commencement exercises and big life changes, so when my friend Mark Gorscak texted me Thursday telling me, “I’m going to graduate tomorrow from the Steelers,” it was perfect for a man who has been so influential, even a teacher, for so many people.

If you’re a fan of the game, you know Mark as the guy sitting at the start of the 40 on timing day at the NFL Combine. He’s been doing that for as long as I remember, and definitely for as long as the NFL Network has broadcast the 40. At the same time, if you work for a school’s personnel department and you aspired to work in the league, you know him a different way. I can’t tell you how many budding evaluators I know on the college side who talk about how much time Mark was willing to give them, the tips he provided, or the doors he opened.

In February of 2022, I was lucky enough to present Mark with the C.O. Brocato Memorial Award for Lifetime Service to NFL Scouting. I have to admit that of all the awards we hand out at our annual ITL Combine Seminar, the Brocato Award is my favorite, mainly because it gives me a chance to give some good, humble men a little recognition. Mark certainly fits that description. I remember when he accepted the award a little over a year ago. It was touching to see the whole Steelers scouting department show up, mobbing him shortly before the seminar as they took pictures in the hallway. Even GM Kevin Colbert, in one of his last acts with the team, showed up for Mark. Once the ceremony was under way and I’d presented Mark with his plaque, his remarks were just perfect. He talked about how scouting, and so much of football, is not about the game itself but about people. I mean, chef’s kiss. If there’s anyone in this game who’s constantly selfless, it’s Mark. Of course, I could say that about all the Brocato Award winners so far (Chicago’s Jeff Shiver, Miami Hurricanes executive Alonzo Highsmith and the Giants’ Jeremiah Davis), but Mark has always been that kind of person.

I think the first time I met Mark was in January 2008, when I was running the Hula Bowl, but I didn’t really befriend him until maybe four or five years later, when I reached out, hoping to expand ITL’s work with scouts. I needed to know more about the job, the life, the goods and bads, so he suggested we had lunch at the combine. I mean, here’s an accomplished NFL evaluator offering to spend an hour with some idiot website guy. I felt like I had arrived — I would have been no more honored to have been invited to lunch by Roger Goodell himself. Mark was totally legit, established, loved and accepted by people across the game, but there we were at Weber Grill that day several years ago, discussing the game. He treated me like an equal, though I’m far from that.

Of course, Mark is more than just a good guy. In his 28 years evaluating for the Steelers, there have been few organizations more successful, and it all goes back to scouts like Mark. I mean, the Steelers enter the 2023 season having won at least as many as it lost for 19 straight years. That’s remarkable, and though Bill Cowher and Mike Tomlin deserve a lot of credit for that (as well as hundreds of great players, of course), Pittsburgh doesn’t go to eight Super Bowls, winning six, without guys like Mark roaming the roads every fall.

There are probably hundreds of people who could write a blog like this, telling stories of what Mark has done for them. Those people, like myself, will miss Mark and the impact he has had on the game. Mark is not unique in being a good scout and a great man, but any time someone like that “graduates,” it creates a vacancy, a void. It’s a noticeable loss.

Mark has made it clear he’s not done with football, and my guess is that he’ll get a little more time to spend checking out blues and jazz acts around the Pittsburgh area and beyond. At least I hope he does. Music has always been a passion for him. At any rate, I hope I can, in some way, help people the way Mark has. 

As you know, serving the NFL scouting industry is something we take seriously at ITL. This time of year, there’s a lot of change, and though informing the Twitterverse of job changes gets us a lot of exposure, it’s not something we take any joy in. When a scout is dismissed, it’s hard on not just the scout, but his family, as well.

This year, we don’t see as many changes coming. Why is that? There are a few reasons.

• In the 2020 offseason of Covid, teams pretty much froze their hiring and firing. Scouts, who normally have two-year deals, were either extended for a year or allowed to play out their contracts if they had a year left. Some were even extended two more years. That means that the last two years, many teams were clearing their decks of evaluators they may have released sooner. Last year, we saw a record amount of hiring and firing, at least since we started tracking scout employment in 2012. We counted just under 300 moves, whereas a standard, pre-Covid offseason is around 135-140. That means a lot of evaluators are pretty much in the clear until next year.
• There’s a kind of ‘spoils system’ when it comes to scouting hires. A new GM wants to bring in people he’s worked with before so the new staff can hit the ground running. Truth be told, there’s a loyalty element to that, as well, but that’s to be expected. At any rate, when there’s a new sheriff in town, there tends to be a ripple effect on the scouting staff. However, this offseason, we didn’t see as many heads rolling in the front office, so there are fewer scouts expected to be displaced.
• What’s more, the teams that did make GM changes (Arizona and Tennessee) are known as two of the more cost-conscious teams in the league. They’re less likely to want to dismiss scouts who are still under contract. 
• We’re seeing expansion of scouting departments, but most of it is taking place at the executive level. Over the past two years, we’ve seen growth in the number of teams that have assistant GMs, senior personnel executives and national scouts. Much of this growth has taken place from outside scouting departments, i.e., a GM gets let go somewhere else and comes in as a team’s senior personnel executive. That doesn’t affect the number of road scouts. The only area where we’re seeing low-level scout numbers change is on teams that still have only one national scout (or, in some cases, just two). The Giants, for example, went to three national scouts, promoting Marcus Cooper. That’s just not happening frequently enough to have a big impact for scouts at the lower levels. For example, though the Southeast is vast and deep with talented schools, we’re not seeing co-Southeast scouts named for teams.

We’ll run down all the changes we’ve seen so far in Week 1 of Scout Hiring/Firing Season in this week’s Friday Wrap, which comes out at 7:30 p.m. ET every week. If scouting interests you, make sure to register for it here.

With the first round wrapped up and Day 2 kicking off Friday, here are a few non-draft items for your reading pleasure.

• The two scouting departments where I expect the most change the soonest are in Nashville and Pittsburgh. I don’t expect top-to-bottom changes for the Titans, but I do expect new GM Ran Carthon to make some changes at the executive level; I’ve heard team ownership has even mandated it. It would make a lot of sense for him to bring in some future GMs from the Niners, though several sources tell me he’s close to Falcons Director of College Scouting Anthony Robinson and that Robinson could be headed north. As for Pittsburgh, the team is changing its scouting model to be more traditional, and is expected to continue moving in that direction, possibly through the retirements of one or more staffers.
• Others that could make changes, based on what I’ve heard this week, are the Raiders and the Vikings. Also, the Rams and the Browns have made changes at scouting assistant (though the Browns have already replaced the one they lost). Overall, I don’t expect this to be a very busy year. The 2021 and 2022 offseason were very, very busy, so I expect teams to slow down on releasing scouts who have time left on their contracts. We also saw a lot less turnover at GM this offseason than we have in previous years, so fewer front offices will be overhauled.
• Speaking of scouts, the week of the draft, we count the alma maters of active NFL evaluators. So which school has produced the most scouts and executives (based on undergrad degrees)? This will probably surprise you, but it’s Indiana. We counted 11 Hoosiers who are out scouring the nation for the best prospects. What’s more, it’s not even close. Three schools are tied for second place with eight grads in scouting each. They are Arizona State, Massachusetts and Temple.  
• We also count the alma maters of coaches across the league. When it comes to the ones calling the shots on the field, the schools make a lot more sense. Southern Cal comes in first with 12, while Alabama, North Carolina, UCLA and John Carroll University, a tiny school that punches way above its weight when it comes to landing scouts and coaches in the league, each have 10.

If the scouting profession interests you, consider joining us at Inside the League. The next three weeks will be filled with buzz on who’s hiring and who’s firing in NFL front offices. Our Rep Rumblings will be chock-full of good stuff.

If you’re not sure ITL is for you, at least register for our newsletter, the Friday Wrap, where you’ll get highlights from our weekly reports and an overview of the football business. It comes out at 7:30 p.m. ET each Friday.