For today’s War Story Wednesday, we turn to longtime scout and coach (and my mentor) John Paul Young for a story about the drafting of a legendary linebacker.

Young was the Southwest area scout for the Chicago Bears in 1999, Brian Urlacher’s senior season at the University of New Mexico. Given the remoteness of Albuquerque, scouts didn’t come in droves to see the oversized box safety who looked like a ‘tweener.’ However, John Paul, who had coached such legendary linebackers as Robert Brazile (Oilers) and Rickey Jackson (Saints), knew Urlacher had what it takes to be the next great ‘monster of the midway’ in the Windy City.

“If it hadn’t had been for (Bears Vice President of Player Personnel) Mark Hatley, (the Bears wouldn’t have taken him). Nobody else wanted him. I had to get up on the table for them to draft him. Of course, now they all say they wanted him (chuckles), but they didn’t at the time, I tell you that. In fact, several (members of the personnel staff) were highly pissed at me until he got to camp.

“He was playing strong safety (in college) and (New Mexico) would bring him down in the box anytime it was a run situation, which made him like a ‘monster’ back (a free-lancer who moves to the strong side of the offensive formation), and even when he was in the secondary he was making plays at the line of scrimmage. On a lot of plays, (New Mexico) wasted his ability. He should have been in a positon at free safety because he had a better opportunity to get to more plays. Anyway, as you watched him, you would probably draft him in the middle of the draft as a defensive back. But after I watched him, I got fascinated by him, because I met him the first time I was there, and . . . we just connected. I probably spent a lot more time looking at him than anybody else did, and I just felt like he had a lot of the same characteristics that I looked for in linebackers. You can’t put it on paper what it is. It’s just a feeling that you get from watching hours and hours and games and games of film.”

“The big question was whether to go offense or defense, and we needed to draft a quarterback sometime, during that draft. Just like most clubs, offense is a lot dearer to them than defense, so there’s always that. If you’re going to draft a defensive player in the first round, there’s going to be some opposition. You’ve got those guys that are ‘take the best athlete available’ guys, they’re height/weight/speed, and then you have those guys that are position-oriented, and it’s good if you have a spread to cover all those areas. Myself, I’m a guy that looks for a player that can make a difference, a player you can build something around, whether it’s a running back or a tight end or a quarterback or a free safety or a linebacker. Remember, (former Chiefs linebacker) Dino Hackett out of Appalachian State, that was a similar (draft) situation, and there was a lot of opposition between second and third round (Hackett was drafted 35^th overall). And you know, Rickey Jackson was another one. But Urlacher, he just was a guy that the Good Lord blessed him with the ability to get to the football and diagnose plays, and that showed up when he was playing free safety.

“After we drafted (Urlacher), the coaches, when he came to camp, put him at Will linebacker, which is like safety, a hybrid safety position, and Mark Hatley called me and said, ‘You’d better get up here,’ so I went up there and we had a knockdown, drag-out fight, this time with the coaches. Me and Mark had to get film out and show them, and anyway, they said they’d try him there for a little while. He made Rookie of the Year and Pro Bowl the first year in the league. I’ve made plenty of bad choices, and had plenty that didn’t work out, just like anybody, but this is a team sport, and a guy’s got to fit in to the team, and has to bring something to the team, and has to enhance the team around him. You don’t hire a quarterback to win the ballgame, you hire him to help the other 22 win the ballgame. I don’t have all the answers but (I believe that).”

Here are several random thoughts rattling through my head after the first big weekend of the NFL and college season.

• If the scouts I talk to are right, Stanford will be hit hard by early exits in January. I’m told Cardinal WR Devon Carjuste, CB Alex Carter and OT Andrus Peat are all locks to join the draft early. Of course, if the team can’t get off the mat after last weekend’s setback and Coach David Shaw’s troops have a disappointing season, maybe some of them reconsider. It’s early, of course. To check out the others we listed, check out today’s report on ITL.
• So I watched the Saints’ upset loss to Atlanta yesterday, and after seeing QB Matt Ryan play without any interruptions by the vaunted Saints DL, I wondered how do you project a player’s success at handling a big contract? I ask this because the Saints’ last week before the Falcons game was almost a days-long party for DE Junior Galette, who came from very humble beginnings before being compensated quite nicely by the Saints. He had a great 2013 season, but will a young man who entered the league as an undrafted free agent be able to focus on getting better after having so many financial dreams come true? The NFL does all manner of psychological tests on players as they enter the league via the draft, but I’m not aware of such a battery for players as they weigh a star’s ability to deal with success. It was just one game, but Galette, DE Cameron Jordan and the rest of the team’s DL were supposed to zoom into the backfield like a hot knife through butter. It didn’t happen. Oh by the way: Jordan’s contract is up after this season.
• I’m always interested in looking at the makeup of the league after rosters are set (including practice squads, but kickers and punters omitted). Here’s the breakdown by position:

• Maybe there aren’t many conclusions you can draw from such a grid, but here’s what it means to me:

1. Teams aren’t doing as much development of passers on practice squads, maybe because QBs are so expensive that they can only afford to carry two.
2. Even though offensive linemen aren’t the guys you normally carry for special teams purposes, there are still more than 100 more OL than any other position. And even though teams use 5-6 defensive linemen in goal line packages, there are still 60 more OL than DL (499 vs. 439) in the league. So if you’re a big, heavy guy with potential, you’ve got an excellent chance to make a practice squad.
3. Tight end has become a glamor position, but that doesn’t mean there are just stacks and stacks of big, strong men that can also run. Teams may WANT a Graham/Gates/Gronkowski, but they aren’t necessarily finding them.

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

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

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

I wanted to wrap the week with a few last thoughts from former Jets West Coast area scout Joe Bommarito that didn’t fit neatly into one topic.

• We all know height, weight and 40 are critical for players seeking NFL careers, and of course, production on the field. However, three things (in order) that scouts also look for are “good character people, good work habits, and smart guys who can learn.”

I think not enough is said about a player’s ability to process the volume of information that goes into a modern NFL playbook, but it’s a thing former Dolphins scout Mike Murphy also referenced last week. I remember a SWAC running back that a client represented a couple years ago. This player had led the SWAC, no slouch among FBS conferences, in rushing, and could catch the ball, as well. However, he was snubbed in the draft as well as after the draft, and had to settle for a tryout. Once he arrived with the team, he was immediately intimidated by the playbook and didn’t last long. The ability to turn diagrams and terminology into instant comprehension is critical.

• Even in today’s hyper-media era, Joe said that doesn’t see the media as having a major impact on the draft process, simply because teams spend so much money and time on evaluation. “Scouts are focused every day on evaluating players at school visits, watching tape, going to practice, talking to coaches and staff, and interviewing players,” he said. “The scout is paid to form his own opinion on players.”

Interesting take. Scouts I’ve talked to are all over the map on this question. Some say their bosses are so sensitive to criticism that media influence creeps into the process. Others, like Joe, claim it’s much easier for decision-makers to focus on what a team’s evaluators have provided.

• Speaking of the media, Joe said that nothing that happens from January to April has as much impact on a player’s draft value as what he did in-season. “Each game that he plays is like an interview,” Joe said. “He has ten of them, plus any bowl games. The all-star games, combine, and pro days are all additional parts to a puzzle that at the end will show you what a player really is.”

This is something I’ve always wrestled with as draft gurus constantly claim that players have improved their ‘stock’ at an all-star game, the combine or his pro day. Fortunes definitely improve for some in the spring, but probably not as drastically as fans are led to believe.