Feb. 5-11

While fans have been obsessing over whether Joe Burrow will lead the upstart Bengals over Matt Stafford and the host Rams Sunday, we – and many of you – have been asking yourself a different question: will I go to the NFL Combine, set for March 1-7, this year? 

There are plenty of reasons not to go, especially if you’re an NFLPA-contract advisor without an invitee or a free agent next month. The Players Association announced weeks ago that it will holds its annual meeting virtually the week before players descend on Indianapolis, so there’s no reason to come out of pocket for a touch-and-go in Indianapolis. If you’re an aspiring scout hoping to network with scouts, this year might be a tough one, too, with the players rumored to be all bubbled up and scouts, as always, following the players. 

We did our own share of chewing on the stay-or-go question before finally landing definitively on the “go” option. If you’re one of the many who’ve asked if we’ll be in Indy for perhaps the last combine in the Hoosier State, the answer is a resounding, “yes.” That’s due in no small part to our desire to make the 13th ITL Combine Seminar an in-person, rather than virtual, affair. While last year was fun and necessary (and we appreciate Tampa Bay’s Jason Licht, John Spytek and Mike Biehl for bearing with us), we prefer to make our annual event a place where people can get together, network and assemble in one place in the spirit of collegiality and passion for the game.

If you’re in town and you can make it – and if you’re reading this, or you’re part of the NFL business community, you’re invited – we’d love to have you. Still on the fence? Here are a few things that might help convince you.

  • This year, we’ll be honoring the 10 winners in each conference of the inaugural BART List Awards, our attempt to recognize the best scouts in the AFC and NFC as voted on by their peers. Each winner will be presented a plaque honoring his selection. Though combine schedules are notoriously fluid, we are confident that at least half the winners will accept their awards in person. We’re excited about adding a new way to honor some of the best in an underappreciated business.

  • We’ll be handing out the Best Draft Award to the team voted to have performed best on the last weekend in April 2021; the C.O. Brocato Award to one long-time NFL evaluator who’s labored exceptionally but anonymously for decades, earning respect but not fame; and the Eugene Parker Award to a contract advisor who was esteemed for his fairness, honor and work ethic while serving NFL players as a tireless advocate.

  • The XFL’s Doug Whaley will be on hand to give all the particulars about the league, which kicks off in Spring 2023. With the USFL draft less than two weeks away, we’re still fielding questions about length of contract, pay, ability to opt out for the NFL and other topics. Join us in Indy and get your questions answered in person. 

Once again, the event will be produced by Ric and Sam Serritella and their team at NFL Draft Bible. Sponsorship opportunities are still available. 

Note: If you were one of the 20 winners of the inaugural BART List in recognition of the best scouts in the league as voted on by scouts, and we’ve reached out to you, please respond. It’s an important part of our planning for our biggest event of the year, going back to 2010. We’ve heard from most of you, but there are still a few stragglers, and we want to honor you if you’ll be available in Indy.

Here’s a look at what else we saw, heard, read and said in the business of college and pro football this week.

Catching Up: Clyde Powers, 70, spent 31 years in NFL scouting, with more than 20 years with the Colts franchise followed by several more years with the Panthers. We caught up with him last month. 

  • Where are you living and what are you doing now?: “In May 2020, my contract was not extended, and they got a new coach and he brought in his own people, so after the draft, they let us all go. I’ve been in Bluffton, SC, ever since. I got a condo when I was in Charlotte, but kept my place here, but this was my retirement home anyway. I bought this in ’08, and this would be my summer getaway place. I’m about 20 minutes from Savannah. I’m kinda a southern boy anyway. I was born in the south, and always had a respect and admiration for the lay of the land, the magnolias, the Spanish moss, the water, and I do like the water. They’ve got some good golf courses down here as well. I used to fish when I was younger, and I have talked to a couple people about getting back into it. When I was a kid, we’d go out in a row boat and catch trout. I’m pretty much done (as far as football). Dave Gettleman called me yesterday and we had a nice long conversation. If I were gonna get back in, it would have to be something where if I could do it at home, that would be great. I’m not gonna go cross-country. I’m beyond that. I was asked to do that HBCU game (in New Orleans), but for me, I’m a computer illiterate, and they were trying to get me hooked up with tapes and videos and this and that, and I just recused myself and said, ‘guys, I’d love to, thank you, but I’m gonna recuse myself because I’m computer stupid.’” 

  • Do you miss the job? What do you miss most?: “Yeah. I think about it a lot, and I think what I miss the most is just going in and doing your job, evaluating and watching tapes and players and teams. I was pro personnel director for most of my scouting career. I’ve done college scouting where you go out on the road for a month and you drive your area, but when we moved to Indianapolis from Baltimore, I spent maybe 5-6 years when I was doing both. Then when they started free agency in the early 90s, you had to concentrate more on the player movement within the league, and once the season was over with, I’d start with the combine and the college kids, but I had to keep up with the movement within the league and also the advance scouting for our coaches. I just miss that routine. You still have a fellowship that you had when you played. There’s a camaraderie, everybody coming together and making this thing work. That’s always been a joy of mine, taking the challenge, things happen and you have to make a move, get this guy, who’s who? Who’s where? Get him in here. We need to check this guy out, and that atmosphere is probably what I miss the most. To me, it motivates you. It’s that competitiveness as a player. When you’re playing, when I was at Oklahoma, we were pretty good almost to the point of being cocky. You know, ‘I want to go out there and whip you,’ and when you’re in the front office, you want to do something that’s to your advantage and you want to try to keep the edge on the other teams that give you the best advantage, It’s that competitive fire, and it’s still there even when you’re in the front office. You feel it.”

  • Do you keep in touch with any of your former colleagues?: “Yeah. Not a lot, but I get calls. Jack Bushofsky, different scouts I worked with, but not on a regular basis, and I’ll give them a call or they’ll give me a call, and it was just like we were together a couple days ago. It’s good to know they think about you and you think about them. I had the 50th anniversary of the game of the century, Oklahoma vs. Nebraska (in 1971), and I saw guys I hadn’t seen in 50 years, and I was talking to them like we were on the field yesterday.” 

  • Do you go to any live games (HS/college/pro)?: “No, and that’s something I’ve wanted to do. I’ve never been to a tailgate, college or pro. Other than that Oklahoma vs. Nebraska celebration, no, I haven’t been to games, and I don’t know why, I just haven’t. I don’t know how I would watch a game as a spectator. The Oklahoma vs. Nebraska game, that would be a given, but I’d really like to go to Oklahoma vs. Texas. That’s a hated rivalry. The Oklahoma-Nebraska game is friendly but there is no love lost in (Oklahoma-Texas). But that’s the main one I’d like to see, or just spend the weekend in that adventure. But no, I can’t remember the last game I’ve been to other than Oklahoma-Nebraska this past year. I think about (going), but I sit around here and play golf, and I’ve got some neighbors I gave tickets to, but as far as going with them and attending a game, I haven’t done that. It would be different, and I don’t know how I would like it. I watch it on TV, and I get too critical. I’m watching something very different from the fans. They’re watching a completely different game from what I’m watching.” 

  • Are there any players you love to watch and/or feel close to due to your work in the game?: “I like a good running game. I like watching quarterbacks. I even like watching the offensive line at times. But I really like the running back (Titans’ Derrick) Henry. He’s a beast. Once he gets going north-south, you’re taking your own life in your hands as a defensive back taking this guy on. With some of the rule changes, you can’t lead with the head, so how do you address this guy? How do you attack him? And you’re being attacked by him. Do you go low and hope he jumps over you, or do you jump on his back and hope someone comes and helps you? The league is in great shape because there are a lot of good young QBs out there. I’ve seen a lot of good QBs, going back to Marino and Elway, but the last 2-3 years, there have been a lot of good young QBs that are playing. And Aaron Rodgers, I like to watch him. But I like to see a good RB, I’m kinda disappointed that (Christian) McCaffrey got hurt. The kid at New York, the Giants, Saquon Barkley, he was special. You like to see guys like that. And I like seeing great catches. Some of the great things receivers are doing is unbelievable. But I get frustrated because they changed the rules, and as an ex-DB, it’s almost becoming a little bit, especially in the secondary, you gotta grab the guy, because they won’t let you leverage offensive players anymore. I’m still adjusting to some of the rules. The officials are not very well thought-of in this house (laughs).” 

Review the latest from other former NFL scouts and executives by accessing our Catching Up archive here. Want to hear from a former scout, or know someone who may be interested in being interviewed? Let us know.

Thank you!: This year, our interview prep specialist, former Bears GM Jerry Angelo, worked with 33 top prospects, including several who are projected to be first-rounders based on our last review of seven top draft forecasters. By way of comparison, we worked with only 16 last year, so our numbers are clearly growing. We are honored to be trusted by so many players and their agencies, and we look forward to expanding our numbers even more next year. To those of you who worked with us this year, we offer our sincerest gratitude.

2022 Combine Grid: This week, the NFL announced the 324 invitees to Indianapolis next month. It’s up one player from last year (323 invitees) but down from 336 in 2020 and 338 in 2019. Anyway, we gridded up the names, and this week, we began filling in the blanks on their agent and training selections. So far, we are in the dark on the agent choice of just one player, but we’ve got a long way to go on training facilities. We’ll also be plugging in pro days for all 324 players, as well, so there’s plenty of work ahead. In the meantime, check out the players and their agencies here.

Agent Changes: We tracked only five players who switched representation from November to December. That’s not particularly surprising, with fewer players entering the league as the season winds down; players signed off the street are most apt to have changed agents since their last stay with a team. Last year, at the same time, we counted only eight changes, though things were substantially busier in 2019 when we identified 19 during the same period. Make sure to sift through all our reports, going back to 2005, here.

Last chance to vote: We’re now entering Week 6 of our NFL scout salary survey, as well as voting on the Best Draft Award. For some of you, that’s great news. However, if you haven’t already, and you’re an active NFL scout, won’t you consider filling out our survey? It’s the best way we know to get a thorough review of what today’s professional evaluators make, and the last chance to do it before 2023. As always, we will post our results during NFL Combine week. OK – we’ll beg. Please fill it out. The link is in the email that went out at the same time as today’s Wrap. As you know, it’s completely anonymous. Thanks in advance. 

Who is Dave Ziegler?: It’s a question we had, so we asked several friends in the game to tell us, anonymously, their thoughts on the new Raiders GM. This week, in our Ask the Scouts feature (we actually spoke to five scouts and one agent), we gathered comments on the longtime Patriots executive. Participants painted a picture of a man who’s respectful of people across the game, from agent to coach to scout, from rookie to long-established member of the NFL community. “Very relatable guy,” said one scout. “Easy to get to know.” “Very knowledgeable, very courteous at all times,” said another source. There’s plenty more to know, of course. Get a better idea of the new face of the Raiders’ front office by checking out this week’s post at Succeed in Football. 

Scouting changes: Speaking of Ziegler, in the past week-plus, we’ve seen four new general managers take the helm, and it didn’t take them long to start retooling their respective front offices. Consider:


There’s plenty more ahead. Make sure you’re getting a big-picture look at what’s happening in NFL front offices by checking out our Scouting Changes Grid. We’ve got all the changes, year by year, going back to 2012 here.

2022 NFL Combine by Agency: We’ve always considered an agency-by-agency run-down of total players invited to the combine, but never have published one. That ends today. Check out our report here. By the way, congratulations to New York City-based Sportstars for having almost 30 players headed to Indy. Second place goes to Irvine, Calif.-based Athletes First (23) and third place to Atlanta-based Sportstrust Advisors (14). By the way, our grid also includes each firm’s standing in our total draft value points tabulation since 2007, which you can access here.

New Agent Zoom: If you’re a member of the NFLPA Class of 2021, you may have questions. You’re probably wondering about how to increase your client’s pro day options; what to tell him if he gets antsy about his combine prep training; what the month before the draft will look like; how to answer parents who aren’t hearing much buzz about their sons; and many other topics. On Thursday, Feb. 17 (this coming Thursday) at 8 p.m. ET, we’ll get on Zoom and discuss. If you’re an ITL client and you are less than a year certified, we’ll be sending you the Zoom link next week. If you’re not an ITL client, but you want in, we’d love to have you. All you have to do is register for iTL. Do that here.

Next week: Whew, there’s a lot of work to do between now and the NFL Combine in less than three weeks. Though we did a little catching up on our Agent Changes this week, we’ve still got a report to go (December to January) before we’re up to speed; we’re shooting to have it Tuesday. Same goes for our Agents by Total Clients; our January report will be out this week (here’s December’s) and our aim is to have it Wednesday. We also will launch our Pro Day Grid this week. We’ll be rounding up all the dates that start March 8, once the combine is over. We’ll be at or near 200 schools by the time we’re done. It’s a great way to look for alternative schools in a player’s area if another workout is what you seek. We’ll also update our Signings Grid, the Scouting Changes Grid and our Combine Gridwith the latest information as we race toward March 1 and the first day of the 2022 National Invitational Combine, i.e., the Combine. As for our Rep Rumblings, we’ll take a longer look at the 2022 Combine list, plus we’ll be tracking all the scouting changes, the agent terminations, and anything else that breaks as we near the USFL Draft Feb. 22-23. We’ll also be working on the final details for our seminar, which is just over the horizon. Of course, we’ll also have another edition of the Succeed in Football blog. Will the Steelers name Kevin Colbert’s successor as GM before next week? If so, we’ll talk to those who know him best and put it all in our weekly post. Finally, this is the last week of voting on the Best Draft Award and our NFL scout salary survey, so we’ll be reminding a few friends, just in case it’s on their agenda but not actually completed yet. That’s a lot of work before next week. Guess we better get started. If you haven’t already, go here to join us and keep up with everything we’re working on. Happy Super Sunday!