Tag Archives: NFL Scouting

Examining NFL Hiring and Firing Trends In Scouting

25 Friday May 2018

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There are still a few teams — the Saints, Patriots, Chargers and possibly Browns come to mind — that have openings in their respective scouting departments. At the same time, Memorial Day weekend signals the traditional end of hiring and firing season in NFL personnel departments.

With that in mind, we thought we’d take a look at the trends for 2018, and compare this year’s post-draft period to last year and previous seasons. All our information is culled from the Scouting Changes Grid we compile each season. This year’s grid is here. You can find all of the grids we’ve compiled since 2014 here.

  • With new full-time GMs in New York, Charlotte, Cleveland, Houston and Green Bay, it was expected that this would be an incredibly busy offseason. So far, not so. Last year, we tracked a whopping 170 moves — hirings and firings, promotions and reassignments — and 126 in 2016. To date, we’ve tracked 89 moves.
  • For a while, it looked like colleges would become the logical landing spot for ex-scouts, but we’ve only tracked two such hires (Tampa Bay’s Pat Perles to Kansas as an analyst and Atlanta’s Kevin Simon to Tennessee in a player development role) this offseason. Why? A new rule allowing a 10th coach on the field in college football is credited with pulling money away from the personnel side and into the coaching side.
  • It’s getting harder and harder to get back into the league. We counted 30 members of scouting and personnel who got let go between the end of the ’16 season and start of the ’17 season, most of them last spring. Of that 30, only 10 are back in football as of this week. And only eight of them are back in the NFL (former Chiefs exec Will Lewis and ex-Titans scout Tim Ruskell are now GMs in the Alliance of American Football).
  • Area scouts seem as disposable as ever, and maybe more so. Nine area scouts were let go after the ’17 draft. Only one — former Bills scout Shawn Heinlen, who was hired by the Eagles — is back in the league.
  • The reason is that teams seem to be elevating their own people. We counted 11 area scouts hired this spring (though they have various specific titles), and of the 11, five — about half — were in-house hires as either promotions or reassignments.
  • Staying in-house is actually part of a larger trend. Sixty people got hired to new jobs this spring. Of those 60, 24 didn’t have to change addresses. Again, almost half.
  • At the same time that it’s hard to get a second job in scouting, loyalty isn’t always valued, either. Of the 23 scouts and executives dumped this offseason, eight had never worked for another team.
  • Looking over the course of the last five years we’ve been tracking scouting changes, about 20 men get fired every year and don’t return. Those scouts vary in experience, time with team, and success of the team firing them. With about 250 jobs across the league in scouting and evaluation, that’s around 10 percent.

I wish I knew what to make of these numbers, but it’s hard to find trends, and our research and scope are still limited (five years and counting). At the end of the day, the only things to know are that it’s a volatile business; loyalty and personal relationships are critical; and once you get in, work as hard as you can not to get out.

Who’s Next at the Senior Bowl? Here Are A Few Names

11 Friday May 2018

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This week, the pro and college football world was stunned by Senior Bowl Executive Director Phil Savage’s resignation. Angus R. Cooper II, the Chairman of the Mobile Arts and Sports Association, immediately launched a search committee and is actively engaged in accepting applications and seeking to fill the vacancy.

Savage was an inspired hire. Not only had he been an NFL GM (with Cleveland 2005-08), but he is a Mobile native and Alabama grad. Since assuming the reins of the game in May 2012, he’s consistently kept the number of draftees at around 90 players while introducing innovations like adding underclassmen and bringing the game’s production and promotion into the 21st century. He had other ideas, like a Junior Showcase, that looked promising and exciting but never came to fruition, unfortunately.

Savage will be a hard act to follow. Though we don’t yet know who’s shown, or will show, interest, let’s have a little fun and look at some names that might make sense (in no certain order).

  • Ozzie Newsome, GM, Ravens: Newsome is in his final season in Baltimore, and this might be his golden opportunity to return to Alabama (he’s from Muscle Shoals) and stay involved in a more relaxed role. As a former Tide player (and a member of the Senior Bowl Hall of Fame, Class of ’89, as well as Savage’s former boss in Baltimore, he checks all the boxes. He’s respected, connected and proven. The only negative is that he wouldn’t be able to assume the reins until after Baltimore’s season ends.
  • Tony Softli, Executive Director, NFLPA Collegiate Bowl: Tony has one of the things Savage had when he arrived: plenty of NFL experience, including 15 years spent with the Rams and Panthers (four of those as the Rams’ Director of Player Personnel). He also has something Savage didn’t have: extensive all-star game experience. Though the 2018 roster wasn’t the best of his five-year run, Tony has given the game stability and a sharp eye for talent since he arrived on the scene in 2013.
  • Marc Ross, former V.P., Player Evaluation, for the Giants: Like Tony, Ross has an impressive NFL pedigree, having worked for the Bills and Eagles along with the Giants. He’s also Ivy League-educated as a Princeton grad. At 45, he’s plenty young enough to continue Savage’s innovations and expand them. Energy shouldn’t be a problem. And speaking of Ross, his former boss, ex-Giants GM Jerry Reese, wouldn’t be such a bad candidate, either, though we expect to see him in an NFL front office role again soon.
  • Jeff Foster, President, National Football Scouting: This would probably be a step down in station and money for Jeff, but the job might involve less pressure and  almost as much football. He’s done a great job at National, though with the NFL threatening to start moving the combine from its Indy home, maybe it’s a good time for him to look around.
  • Ryan Grigson, former GM, Colts: Though he doesn’t have Southeast roots, this might be the right opportunity. He’s coming off a tough tenure with the Colts, followed by a short stint with the Browns, so the Senior Bowl could restore momentum to his career. And like Ross, he’s between jobs right now, so he could start immediately.
  • Blake Beddingfield, former Director of College Scouting, Titans: An Alabama grad and native of Huntsville, Beddingfield would be coming home. He’s well-regarded across the league and highly organized, and he knows talent. He’s also well-liked and polished. Blake is another one who might not be as sexy as other candidates, but he could be an excellent pick who sticks around for a long time in Mobile.
  • Doug Whaley, former GM, Bills: Like other ex-GMs on this list, Whaley has football connections by the bushel, knows evaluation and is highly regarded. The only negative would be his lack of ties to the area and his possible reluctance to relocate to South Alabama.

Do these names make sense? Want a few more? In today’s Friday Wrap, we’ll look at some candidates that might be home-run hires if the powers that be (and the candidates themselves) are willing to take a few risks. It comes out this evening (6:30 p.m. CT), it’s totally free, and you can register here. And if there are any we’re missing, let us know on Twitter.

2018 NFL Scouting Salaries: Our Survey Breakdown

04 Friday May 2018

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This spring, we took on the tough task of asking active NFL scouts and evaluators to fill out a completely anonymous survey asking them about their respective salaries and benefit packages. Our aim was simple: we respect the job scouts do, we were curious, we thought it would be helpful, and shoot, no one else was doing it.

Before we presented our results, we wanted to look at what assistant coaches make. Though no one is comparing the heat head coaches and GMs have to take to what scouts face, assistant coaches typically work in greater anonymity and deal a lot more with pure football than others. For that reason, they seemed like the closest parallel.

Figuring out what they make isn’t easy. This article seems to set the floor for assistant coaches at around $300,000, or about double what most senior area scouts make. That seems about right, though we’ve not been able to research it thoroughly.

Here’s what our survey told us about today’s area scouts.

  • 6-10 years’ experience: We got 13 responses from scouts who’ve been in the league between six and 10 years. All but one were on two-year deals, the de rigeur contract length for most evaluators. Only one reported having served or presently serving in a director-level role (Director of College Scouting, Pro Director, Director of Player Personnel or AGM/GM). There was a wide variety of salaries: one made less than $50K last year; one made less than $65,000; two others were between $65,000 and $80,000; three made between $80K and $100K; two were between $100,000 and $125,000; and four made $125,000 or more despite having a decade or less in the game. More than half (seven) are employed by a team with a pension plan; all have at least some form of 401(k) match, with most (four each) either having a five percent team match or a match up to an unknown amount. Standard per diem (10 of 13 surveyed) was between $50-$59 while on the road, and car allowances were all over the map, ranging from none to a company car to various car allowances ranging mostly between $500-$700.
  • 11-15 years’ experience: Ten scouts with 11-15 years in the business responded. Their respective lengths of contract were divided pretty evenly between one (3), two (4) and three years (3), and none had served in an executive role. One, surprisingly, made less than $50,000 in the last year. Three made between $100,000 and $125,000 per year, and the rest (6) were at $125K or more. Six of 10 had no pension plan; five of 10 made 3-5 percent match on their 401(k); and six made $50-$59 on per diem. Six of 10 had a car allowance of $600 or more.
  • 16 years or more: We had 14 respondents to our survey in this bracket. Eleven of 13 are on two-year deals. Most (8) had some director-level experience on their resume. When it comes to salaries, there was surprising diversity. Though nine of 14 are making $125,000 or more and three are in the $100K-$125K range, one scout fell in the $65,000-$80,000 range and another was in the $80,000-$100,000 range. Eleven of 14 have some form of pension; seven of 14 have a 401(k) match up to an unspecified match (four have basic match, while one each have 3 percent, 5 percent and ‘other). Nine of 12 make a per diem rate of $50-$59 (the others, $49 or less) and most (8) make $600 and up for a car allowance.

We’ll compile the answers to our other questions regarding playoff shares, Super Bowl tickets and contracts with lockout stipulations (among others) in the pages of ITL, or here, soon. In the meantime, we hope this provides a snapshot of scouting salaries that may not be comprehensive, but at least better than nothing.

 

Here’s What Several Former NFL Scouts Would Do at No. 1

26 Thursday Apr 2018

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Though the chatter on Draft Twitter seems to indicate that Oklahoma QB Baker Mayfield will be the top pick in the draft, there’s still a fair amount of uncertainty about what the Browns will do at No. 1. With that in mind, we asked several former scouts what they would do. Here’s what they told us:

Jeff Bauer (Jets): “Obviously, there is not a consensus of who the best QB is, if you should take the sure thing in (Penn State OH Saquon) Barkley, or even the best DE in (N.C. State DE Bradley) Chubb. Here is what I know: without a high-caliber QB, it is very unlikely you will win a Super Bowl. There have been exceptions, but you can count those times on one hand. Now, which QB? Do you draft the least ideal physical specimen who won more than the other ‘physically preferred QBs?’ That is what every GM, coach, owner is asking today who has a top 10 pick. For my money, you have to go with your gut on who is the smartest, best leader type that will win games. (Seahawks QB) Russell Wilson and (Saints QB) Drew Brees have proven you do not have to be 6’4 to win championships. I have not sat in a room for hours with these QBs like the guys making the decisions today have, but I would think when it comes time for me to turn in that card, it is going to be the guy they felt best about with leadership, smarts, and resilience to come back from mistakes.”

Danton Barto (Rams): “I would take Barkley the RB and grab the QB with the 4th.”

Ryan Hollern (Saints, Bills): “Has to be a quarterback. It’s a quarterback/head coach-driven league. You need to have a franchise guy in the building. Plus, they pick the guy they want from this talented class.”

Bruce Kebric (Raiders): “I would take the best player (Barkley) unless my team was a talented one.  An excellent running back can take a lot of pressure off of a quarterback, particularly an inexperienced one who the Browns can select at No. 4. I always use my experience of what Earl Campbell did for the Oilers and Dan Pastorini.  Of recent note is Dallas with Ezekiel Elliott and Dak Prescott.”

Matt Manocherian (Browns, Saints): “It depends on how you feel about the quarterbacks, and since I’m not 100 percent in love with any of them, I would try to trade out and hope to land Chubb at 4. He’s my favorite player in the draft, and I’d feel comfortable taking him at 1 if I couldn’t get good trade value. If you love one of the QBs, that has to be your move. For me, I like Mayfield and Rosen over the other top prospects. And even though I now often get pegged as an ‘analytics’ guy, I’m not in the camp that’s vehemently opposed to taking Barkley high. He’s a good football player who changed Penn State’s offense as soon as he saw the field, he creates matchups, and he has obvious value on all four downs. I wouldn’t want a team in my division to draft him.”

Bob Morris (49ers, Browns): “The consensus best player in the draft is Barkley from Penn State. I would take him with the first pick if I did not have a consensus on which QB is the best. Browns can still come back and get one of top 3 QBs at #4. The RB will help, whoever is the QB.”

Josh Washburn (Redskins): “As far as Cleveland goes, they’re in a pretty good spot. I would look into trading down. They’re still in a good position at #4 to get a pretty good player whether it be their franchise QB or someone else to make them better. Plus, they’d pick up more picks to go with their surplus in the first two rounds and help recover some of what they lost by picking up (WO Jarvis) Landry and (QB Tyrod) Taylor.”

 

 

Reviewing Some Top 2018 Mock Drafts with One Week to Go

20 Friday Apr 2018

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As you know, last month, we took a look at seven reputable draft services — Tony Pauline of Draft Expert; Pro Football Focus’ Steve Palazzolo; NFL Draft Scout’s Dane Brugler; Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller; ESPN’s Todd McShay (this month’s mock is behind the pay wall); Chris Burke, then of Sports Illustrated, now of The Athletic (sorry, it’s behind the pay wall, though their rate is pretty affordable); and Charlie Campbell of Walter Football — and compared their mock drafts published in May 2017 with their updated mocks in March.

It wasn’t a straight apples-to-apples comparison, as some writers moved around and some services combined prognosticators’ picks into one mock, but we did the best we could. As you can imagine, there were plenty of changes over 10 months.

With one week to go until the ’18 draft (actually, less than a week), we thought we’d take one last look before things get real. Here’s what we found.

  • Last May, 11 players were listed in the first round by all seven services. This month, predictably, things have tightened: 20 players are now across-the-board first-rounders.
  • In the last month, the number of players rated as first-rounders by at least one service has dropped from 56 to 49.
  • Remarkably, five of the seven services see Georgia OB Roquan Smith as the No. 10 pick in the draft. The other two, The Athletic and Walter Football, have him as the 11th pick.
  •  After Smith, the three players with the greatest consensus in one place, all by virtue of four services, are USC QB Sam Darnold, the top pick in four mock drafts; Alabama WO Calvin Ridley, who goes No. 19; and UTEP OG Will Hernandez, who’s No. 30.
  • Florida State DC Tarvarus McFadden is Exhibit A of the fickle nature of the draft process. In May, he was rated as a first-rounder by all seven services, one of just 11 player so rated. This month, no one has him in the first round.
  • LSU DE Arden Key is Exhibit B. In May 2017, he was a first-rounder on all seven boards with an average selection at No. 6. As of this month, only one service, The Athletic, has him going in the top 32, and just barely (31).
  • Speaking of LSU, Derrius Guice was a first-rounder in the eyes of six services last May. Today, the running back is first round in the eyes of just two services, Draft Analyst (Tony Pauline) and NFL Draft Scout (Dane Brugler), and No. 32 for both.
  • Pauline was the only prognosticator to have Iowa IB Josey Jewell in his first round last May, and he stuck to his guns last month, but he’s removed him from the top 32 as of this month.

We’ll have more analysis in today’s Friday Wrap, which comes out this evening. If you’re into the draft — and I figure you are — you won’t want to miss our further breakdown of the services and who they like. As always, the Friday Wrap is free and is read by people across the industry, and you can register for it here.

Three Reasons It’s Bad to be a Scout During Pro Days

06 Friday Apr 2018

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I remember one of my first pro days. It was at Texas A&M, probably sometime in the early 00s. This was during the Slocum era, before the school had built its luxurious athletic complex, and it was held in the weight room. Yes, they even ran 40s there, right between the benches and the squat racks.

The strength coach, while eyeing me the whole time and suspecting I was an agent, never threw me out. But then again, it was a pretty intimate affair — no crowds, no pushing to see the players, no cameras. It was me, about a half-dozen scouts, and 6-7 players. Those were the days. You could get some work done in relative peace.

Those days are gone. Even at the smallest schools and the coziest venues, it’s way different running a pro day in 2018. Here are a few things scouts have to deal with now that just a few years ago were unheard of.

Families: I was watching a sitcom last week, and the opening scene involves a man going to meet a potential investor in a big, fancy office, and he has his kid with him (he couldn’t find a babysitter). It was done for a laugh on television, yet every pro day you go to today involves extended families showing up, and yes, that often involves little kids. At the very least, a young man’s parents are there, and at the bigger schools, they’re allowed to bring about anyone they want, within reason. But that’s even true at the smaller schools these days.

I was at Prairie View A&M last week, and crowded into a big room waiting for the players to work out were several men that looked like players’ dads to me (which is to be expected) but also moms, brothers and sisters, and yes, girlfriends and kids. That not only makes scouts’ jobs harder, but also the pro liaison on staff at the school who now has dozens of people he has to manage. Here’s another thing: many of the parents come dressed up, wearing long dresses and ties. Others will show up wearing themed shirts. I don’t mean to minimize the event, and I respect that this is a big day and they want to look their best, but geez, that has no impact on a scout. Having generations of families there just tends to slow things down.

Media: As recently as 10 years ago, most people in the media didn’t know what a pro day was, or at least, acted like they didn’t. These days, a scout has to often weave his way through writers and dodge cameras simply to get heights, weights and times. What also cracks me up is how so often reporters try to ask scouts about specific players and their draft chances. Come on, man. This is proprietary information. You think a lowly area scout will risk his job to give you a few comments for your story? I totally recognize that members of the media have a job to do, but it’s asking a lot to expect scouts to give up morsels during a pro day so a writer has something to toss onto Twitter. I asked one scout last week at Texas A&M if he’d be at Texas the following day. His response? He was headed to another state entirely, presumably by air, but I wouldn’t rule out his driving it. The point is, most scouts have a plane to catch afterward or another pro day to drive to. They just want to get their jobs done and move on.

Greater and greater numbers: Again, I think that it wasn’t long ago (maybe a decade) when players realized that playing in the NFL was for the privileged few. The seniors got workouts, and there might be a handful of players from smaller schools that worked out, but these kids were highly decorated, all-conference types. Now, the drill is that if a kid isn’t signed by an agent, he calls around until he finds one. There are always agents willing to sign a small-school kid, hoping they get lucky, as long as there are no costs involved. The kid then expects the agent to call around and try to get him into a pro day. Sometimes, a big school relents, though most of the time, these kids are just not NFL material. I’ve seen the looks on the faces of scouts that show up at some of these workouts, hoping to see a half-dozen kids, but seeing 10-15, and knowing that their 90 minutes of work just turned into three hours, and they’re hoping to get home before 9 p.m. that night. Fat chance.

 

Ask The Scouts: Does Lamar Jackson Risk Falling Out of the First Round?

30 Friday Mar 2018

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There’s no question Louisville QB Lamar Jackson is an exciting player with a spectacular blend of athleticism and play-making ability. On the other hand, in the wake of his decision not to run the 40 at his pro day Thursday — coming on the heels of skipping it at the combine — there are other questions.

Just how fast is Jackson? And also, how advanced is he regarding reading defenses, making decisions and directing a modern NFL defense? There are reports suggesting he’s been hard to reach and evasive with NFL teams.

But is all of this just media hype? Will any of it have any real impact on his draft standing? We asked several scouts and this is what they had to say.

  • “Last I heard he had just ‘risen’ into the first round, so I find it interesting that we are already talking about him potentially ‘dropping out.’ I think his grade should mostly be what it was on December 1. The area scouts should know best.”
  • “He’s probably not running a 40 because he doesn’t want to run fast and people think he’s a WR automatically. But he also probably hasn’t prepared for everything else.”
  • “(He won’t slip in the draft) due to 40. (i) can’t imagine any team questions his speed or (athletic ability). He’s too dynamic, (and) some team will take him in (the) 1st. (Tim) Tebow and (Johnny) Manziel went in (the) 1st.”
  • “Definitely think all of those things have and will affect his draft status. Should’ve had a legitimate QB guy and organized workout. Should communicate better with teams…he and his mom. And Lamar should never make apologies for his speed and athleticism. Adds to the ‘wow factor’ that is Lamar.”
  • “His build and style of play make him a long ways from being a sure thing at QB. There (have) not been 4 QBs drafted in the first round since 2012. Last time 5 QBs in first round was ‘99. I think he will be drafted first as a QB, but first-round QB?”

Want more feedback from NFL scouts? We’ve got plenty of it. In fact, some of the responses we got from our friends in the business was as nuanced and lengthy as any question we’ve posed in the past.

You can read what we heard from people across the league in today’s Friday Wrap. As you know, it’s free, and it’s read by people across the NFL (agents, scouts and executives, financial advisors, trainers, the works) every week, and if you care about the game inside the game, you should, too. Sign up here. You won’t be sorry.

Grading the Graders: Comparing May ’17 and March ’18 mocks

16 Friday Mar 2018

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Every spring, the NFL draft captures the attention of football fans virtually from bowl season through April. One reason for the draft’s popularity is the mock draft, which gives everyone a snapshot of the biggest impact-makers of the new crop. Mock drafts were practically made for the Web, and indeed, many draft gurus have made quite a name due to the popularity of their mocks.

But how accurate are they, really? Sure, they’re fun to look at and argue over, but without accountability, what’s the point? Which of the draft experts seem to be the most accurate? It’s a question we’ve asked for ages, but not until last spring did we start to take steps toward measuring it.

In May, we logged the picks for each of seven of the biggest names in Draft Twitter. Then we perused their most recent drafts (most were published the first week of March). They are Tony Pauline of Draft Expert (the most recent we could find was from early February, pre-combine); Pro Football Focus’ Steve Palazzolo; NFL Draft Scout’s Dane Brugler; Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller; ESPN’s Todd McShay; Chris Burke, then of Sports Illustrated, now of The Athletic (sorry, it’s behind the pay wall, though their rate is pretty affordable; and Charlie Campbell of Walter Football.

We break down our finds in today’s Friday Wrap (shameless plug; you can register for it here, and it’s free). But first, here are a few tidbits.

  • Only 56 players showed up across the seven mocks this month, which is a pretty small number when you think about it. Of the 56, 15 show up in all seven mocks.
  • A total of 38 players received at least one first-round mention in March, but none this month. It’s more evidence of the pack mentality of Draft Twitter.
  • Here’s even more damning evidence of Draft Twitter groupthink: there were five players that were no-shows in May’s mocks, but showed up in every one of March’s mocks. They are Oklahoma QB Baker Mayfield, Iowa DC Josh Jackson, Georgia OB Roquan Smith, UTSA DE Marcus Davenport and Virginia Tech OB Tremaine Edmunds. Two other players, Boise St. IB Leighton Vander Esch and Alabama OB Rashaan Evans, make six of the seven mocks this month, but made none of them last May.
  • Mayfield is, on average, the No. 9 pick, and none of the experts has him later than 15, yet he wasn’t good enough for any of them last spring.
  • Of the 38, seven were juniors (Clemson DE Clelin Ferrell, Clemson OT Mitch Hyatt, Ohio St. DT Dre’Mont Jones, USC DC Iman Marshall, USC IB Cameron Smith, Auburn QB Jarrett Stidham and Clemson DT Christian Wilkins) who wound up skipping the draft.
  • Three others — Missouri DE Marcell Frazier, North Carolina SS Donnie Miles and Oklahoma DC Jordan Thomas — are draft-eligible, but were combine snubs. Chris Burke (then at SI, now at The Athletic) had Thomas at 25; Walter Football liked Frazier at 29; and Tony Pauline had Miles as the last pick in the first round.

We’ve got a lot more — who did the mocks like in March most vs. who they like best now; which experts really went out on a limb, then and now; which conferences, teams and the like dominate; and plenty more. I hope you’ll join us there. Everyone else from across the industry reads it, and I hope you will, too.

Three Scouting Takeaways from our 9th Annual Seminar

02 Friday Mar 2018

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As you know, this week, we at Inside the League, in conjunction with The Scouting Network, brought together people across the football industry for our the 9th annual Capital Preservation Partners ITL Combine Seminar Presented by SureSports. It was a special night for a lot of reasons and it was exciting to have coverage from some fine folks at The Advocate and Times-Picayune as well as the Saints media team.

However, we weren’t finished after New Orleans Assistant GM Jeff Ireland accepted the award for the NFL’s Best Draft Class in 2017. Our three-man panel of former NFL scouts, including James Kirkland (Browns, Titans, Falcons, Bears), Bob Morris (49ers, Browns) and Matt Manocherian (Saints, Browns) also had interesting stories, insights and other observations that they offered over the hour-plus remaining in the program.

As always, we’ll have complete video of our seminar on YouTube within a couple weeks. Here are three memorable moments to look for when we debut it.

Meat and potatoes: Morris told a story from the 2007 draft when he was on staff with Kirkland and the Browns were holding the third pick and unsure of what to do. They considered Oklahoma OH Adrian Peterson, while another local product, Notre Dame QB Brady Quinn, was also on the board. Either would have given the team a splashy playmaker, but Morris credited Kirkland for taking a strong stand for Wisconsin OT Joe Thomas, what’s known is “getting up on the table” in scouting parlance. Morris said Kirkland was a strong advocate for getting a solid, every-day player that would deliver Sunday after Sunday, a “meat and potatoes” player, Kirkland said. He was right. Though the Browns have struggled mightily over the past decade, it wasn’t because of Thomas, who has been arguably the finest offensive tackle of his generation.

Take a picture: Manocherian, who also knocked it out of the park as our keynote speaker last year, mentioned his desire, during his area scout days, to take a picture of the team’s draft board pre-combine every year. As a player who evaluated players on the field, he said it was always a revelation to see how drastically the team’s board changed after workout totals were added. Is that a good thing? Is it really more a reflection of how the media and a desire to cover one’s posterior influences team decision-making? I think you could make that argument. It was interesting candor and the kind of thing I find fascinating.

Making money: One of the more provocative questions of the evening, posed by moderator Shawn Zobel of Zobel Sports Consulting, was how much money each of the scouts made in his last year with a team. I was a bit surprised to find out Kirkland, in his final season in Cleveland (he left in the spring of 2016) as an area scout, made about $130,000. Morris, in his final season with the 49ers (he left in the winter of 2017), said he made about the same. That’s a little north of what I expected, though I’d love to see an hourly breakdown. With the time area scouts put in, it might look more like minimum wage. Manocherian, in his final season in Cleveland (he left in May 2014), said he made $60,000 in his last year, which is reasonable given he was much younger in the game at the time.

Of course, these are merely highlights of what we heard here on Wednesday. In a couple weeks, we’ll have the entire program online, so stay tuned.

 

Who Drafted Best in 2017?

27 Saturday Jan 2018

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If there’s one thing I think the sport has lacked, it’s an affinity group, a trade organization, a body for those in personnel. I’m not talking about some kind of fan-based organization, but a real society for people in the business akin to the Pro Football Writers of America, the Sports Lawyers Association or the AFCA.

I was discussing this on Wednesday at the Senior Bowl with a longtime friend, Shawn Zobel of Zobel Sports Consulting, and we decided we should do something about it. We’re working on ideas and trying to decide how to approach it. Along the way, we got to talking about what team had the best draft in 2017, and we came up with these five teams. I’ll list them alphabetically and try to state each team’s best case.

Bears: I think there was some thought the Bears might make big changes in their front office around this time of year going into the ’17 season, but you have to hand it to GM Ryan Pace. He had the courage to stand up to the naysayers and draft one-year wonder QB Mitch Trubisky, and based on one season, it looks like a great move.  But it wasn’t the only one. The Bears landed two big players in the fourth round in FS Eddie Jackson and OH/KR Tarik Cohen.

Jaguars: The Jags got instant starters out of their first-rounder (OH Leonard Fournette) and second-rounder (OT Cam Robinson), plus promising rotational pieces in the third round (DE D.J. Smoot) and fourth round (WO DeDe Westbrook). Oh, by the way, they went from 3-13 and last in the AFC South to the AFC Championship game this season.

Saints: Marshon Lattimore. Alvin Kamara. We maybe needn’t go on, but we will. The team also drafted starters OT Ryan Ramczyk and FS Marcus Williams, as well as key contributor DE Trey Hendrickson in turning a franchise that had gone 7-9 three straight seasons — with Drew Brees — into one answered prayer away from the NFC Championship Game. You could argue that the ’17 draft even saved the team from having to draft a starting QB in 2018.

Texans: It wouldn’t be a discussion of the draft if it didn’t involve some projection, right? Think about what happens if QB Deshaun Watson doesn’t go down after six starts. If the Texans only had that one pick, after rolling the dice to trade up, you could argue they had the best draft, especially if he continued his brilliance over a complete season. However, the team also hit on IB Zach Cunningham in the second round, as well as OH D’onta Foreman (another injury casualty) and several other picks. Houston’s won-loss record masks a tremendous draft class.

Vikings: If you read this blog regularly, you know that we hold Minnesota’s front office in pretty high regard, and the ’17 draft class was another good one, though, again, it requires projection. Would KC’s Kareem Hunt and Kamara have stolen all the rookie rusher glory if Dalvin Cook, whom the team got in the second round, doesn’t go down in Week 4? And that’s to say nothing of rookie OC Pat Elflein, who stepped right in and helped make the Vikes’ OL a strength throughout the season? They also drafted a starter at weak side LB, Ben Gedeon, in the fourth round.

Shawn and I will be putting these contenders to a vote with our friends in the scouting community as well as in college personnel departments across the land, and we’ll announce the results at the NFL combine in about a month.

In the meantime, who do you like? Who did we leave out? Let us know in the comments, hit me up on Twitter, and/or listen in today as Sirius XM Radio’s Orlando Alzugaray and I give our votes on Mad Dog Radio (channel 82) at 5:30 p.m. ET today. You can also vote in our poll.