Feb. 11-17
Here at ITL HQ, our sole focus is on the big event we’ll be hosting in Indianapolis in less than two weeks. More on that later. While we keep our eye on the ball, however, we know there’s plenty more to discuss related to the NFL’s biggest offseason event.
One of our traditions is to look at the mock drafts of seven top services before and after the NFL Combine, to see how the popular prognosticators see things shaping up. The biggest story, at least as it relates to the top draft services, is the confusion at No. 1: five different players sit atop the seven first-round projections we surveyed. Those players are Alabama QB Bryce Young (ESPN’s Todd McShay/PFF’s Mike Renner), Ohio State QB C.J. Stroud (PFN’s Joe Broback), Florida QB Anthony Richardson (CBS’ Chris Trapasso), Georgia DT Jalen Carter (The Athletic’s Dane Brugler) and Alabama DE Will Anderson (The Draft Scout’s Matt Miller and Walter Football).
You can view the full results here. We will have a follow-up on our NFL Mock Draft tracker post-combine in March, so stay tuned. In the meantime, here's a look at what else we found to be of interest.
Everybody wants some: It would appear that we now have a firm grip on at least half of the first-round picks with 16 players receiving unanimous inclusion across the board amongst the seven outlets, including eight that averaged out to be top-ten overall selections. To no one's surprise, quarterbacks rule the roost with Young (2.42), Stroud (5.43), Kentucky QB Will Levis (6.0) and Richardson (9.71) all averaging out to be top-ten choices. For what it’s worth, Draft Twitter has no such indecision. In the poll we ran today, Young captured 68 percent of the vote when we asked which of four passers (Stroud, Levis and Richardson in addition to Young) was QB1.
Other consensus top-ten selections include Anderson (2.71), Carter (3.57), Texas Tech DE Tyree Wilson (6.96) and Ohio State OT Paris Johnson (10.71). The remaining players all averaged out inside the top 20 except one. They were Illinois DC Devon Witherspoon (11.14), Oregon DC Christian Gonzalez (13), Penn State DC Joey Porter Jr. (15.14), TCU WO Quentin Johnston (16.29), Alabama SS Brian Branch (16.86), Texas OH Bijan Robinson (19.29) and USC WO Jordan Addison (19.43). Ohio State WO Jaxon Smith-Njigba just missed (23.0).
RIchardson, Witherspoon, Branch and Smith-Njigba were new to the unanimous group this time around.
Happy trails: Falling just out of unanimous agreement was Northwestern OT Peter Skoronski (omitted by PFN’s Broback) and Clemson DE Myles Murphy (omitted by CBS’ Trapasso). It was an interesting omission by PFN, as no other service had Skoronski lasting past 13 (CBS) and The Athletic’s Dane Brugler listing him as No. 4 on his board. As for Murphy, four services had him going in the top eight picks.
Dreams: In addition to Skoronski and Murphy, two players missed the boat by one vote; Georgia OT Broderick Jones and Clemson DT Bryan Bresee both were omitted by Walter Football. Four others were listed in five mocks, including Boston College WO Zay Flowers, Notre Dame TE Michael Mayer, Florida OG O'Cyrus Torrence and Iowa DE Lukas Van Ness.
On fire: Two first time vote-getters made a splash in a big way. Both Utah TE Dalton Kincaid (four votes) and Georgia Tech DE Keion White (three votes) seem to have garnered attention coming off strong Reese's Senior Bowl appearances. Another Senior Bowler, Minnesota OC John Michael-Schmitz (three votes), also made his return to the board post-Mobile. He last showed up as a top-32 pick in September.
Others who returned to first-round consideration after an absence included Mississippi St. DC Emmanuel Forbes and Pittsburgh DT Calijah Kancey (three votes each); Maryland DC Deonte Banks (two votes); and Auburn DE Derick Hall, Ohio St. OT Dawand Jones, Boise St. SS JL Skinner and Miami (Fla.) DC Tyrique Stevenson (one vote each). It was Hall’s first appearance since July.
Good enough: Walter Football – who else? – went farthest out on a limb, as usual. No one else had Notre Dame DE Isaiah Foskey (10); Alabama OT Tyler Steen (15); USC DT Tuli Tuipulotu (20); Michigan DT Mazi Smith (21); Baylor DT Siaki Ika (26); Stevenson (24); or Utah DC Clark Phillips (30) in the first round. Only Miller had as many as three who went outside of everyone else’s top 32 (Texas A&M DC Antonio Johnson was 17, Tennessee OT Darnell Wright was 28 and Hall was 31). Brugler had two, PFN and ESPN had one each and PFF and CBS had none.
Here’s a look at what else we saw, heard, read and said in the business of college and pro football this week.
The Big Show: If you’re going to the 2023 NFL Combine (as a non-participant), and you do one thing, go to the 2023 USI Insurance Holdings ITL Combine Seminar presented by American Tens, which will be Wednesday, March 1, at 6:30 p.m. in Room 125 of the Indiana Convention Center.
Actually, that’s a little dramatic. However, we would really, really, really be happy to see you there. Our annual seminar has become our love letter to the industry, a time to celebrate the best in the business while joining together with scouts, agents, marketing professionals, trainers and everyone else associated with the business we love.
You already know this, but let us remind you, that we’ll be handing out the following honors, all of them decided by the vote of scouts:
· The Best Draft Award to the team that had the best picks in ’22.
· All the BART List award winners as voted on last fall; this year, we added a “pro scout” tier while breaking the other 10 college scouting honoree classes into “executive” and “scout” categories. It makes for 26 honorees in all.
· For the first time, the 2022 NFL Liaison of the Year Award to one deserving member of a college personnel department.
· We’ll also present the Eugene E. Parker Memorial Award for Lifetime Service to the agent industry as well as the and the C.O. Brocato Memorial Award for Lifetime Service to NFL Scouting (scouts don’t vote on these awards; we at ITL picked them).
We’ll also present the results of our annual scouting salary survey. This year, we separated our polling into four tiers to get more precise results, and we’re excited about the information we gathered.
We’ll also have several special guests. Agent Live 360 will be around to discuss their outstanding software especially for player representatives, and Ed from Curley Wealth Management Group will help hand out the BART List plaques. We’re excited about USI Insurance Holdings, American 10s, Curley Wealth Management Group, AL360 and all our partners. We’ve got a few more honored guests from the industry we’ll announce the night of our seminar.
Registration is not required, so just show up and enjoy, and get there early – open bar starts at 6 p.m. Unlike at all-star games, there aren’t many places at the combine you can go – without a badge – and see people from around the industry. We hope you’ll be one of them. See you in less than two weeks.
What else is there to do?: Sometimes, determining when and where to be at the NFL Combine can be tricky. Besides being at Room 125 Wednesday evening, what else is there to do? When are the best days to be in Indianapolis if you’re going mainly to renew acquaintances and maybe make a few new friends? We took our best shot at answering those questions in this week’s post at Succeed in Football. One size doesn’t fit all, so a lot depends on who you are and what you’re looking to do, but, hopefully, we’ve given you a few good ideas if you’re arriving with no set agenda.
Catching Up: Joe Bushofsky, 84, spent almost 30 years in scouting, working for BLESTO as well as for the Steelers, Lions, Dolphins and Panthers. We caught up with him this week.
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Where are you living and what are you doing now? “At 84 years old, I’m not doing a hell of a lot. I’m lucky if I can get out of bed (laughs). We’re living in Pinehurst, N.C. We came down here when I was still scouting and enjoyed playing golf when I had some time, but I was always close enough to my area that I could get to where I needed to be.”
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Do you miss the job? What do you miss most? “I do not miss the traveling. I do not miss living in hotels. I enjoyed evaluating players, and recommending them and having them go and make the team, just like I told the team. If I told them he was going to be a good player, and he was, then I’m happy.”
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Do you keep in touch with any of your former colleagues? “Well, one of them was my brother who was also in scouting, Jack. He’s a year older than I am, but . . . we grew up together, when we were young we fought together, and as we got older, we shared a lot of our stuff together, like scouting and information and stuff. He was the personnel director with Charlotte, and so he ended up being my boss, though I had started scouting before he did. But he had good jobs and he works hard. He deserved everything he got. I’m happy with my career. It was a close fraternity and we normally stood by each other, unless we got some wild ass who did things his way and then we didn’t mess with them. It’s been an interesting career and I’ve had a nice life.”
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Do you go to any live games (HS/college/pro)? “If I go to a live game, I hope somebody shoots me (laughs). I traveled to so many game for so many years that I really have no great interest in it now. There are some teams like the Steelers where I had many friends, I might go to one. I’ve gone and scouted some players for some teams, but that was about it.”
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Are there any players you love to watch and/or feel close to due to your work in the game? “Well, there are some, there really are. Like in the (Super Bowl), (Chiefs QB Patrick) Mahomes is interesting and I would go and watch him play anytime. He can get out of trouble when most people can’t. He can throw the ball sideways or sidearm or overhead. He’s a very good athlete. And the QB he played against the other night is pretty damn good, too, (Philadelphia’s) Jalen Hurts. He was a starter at Alabama, they bench him, he transfers to Oklahoma, and he takes them to the championship, and next thing you know he’s being drafted high. I would say he’s not an overachiever. He has ability, but all the people (in scouting), we have a certain size we look for in players, especially quarterbacks, and he didn’t have that. But he has one thing that some of them don’t have: he can run. They can’t play and cover everybody and leave him free, because he will get 20 yards in a second.”
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.
Scouting Changes Grid: It was a rather busy week in NFL front offices this week. Here’s a rundown of what happened.
Make sure to keep up with all the offseason moves in NFL scouting staffs by checking out our Scouting Changes Grid.
Let’s get it on: The rate of passage for the NFL agent exam, especially for first-time test-takers, numbers in the 20s, maybe even in the teens. While some pass the test with little trouble, most struggle mightily. That’s why, with time still on your side, it’s probably a good idea to get started. We can help. Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET, Chicago-based Ian Greengross (who’s been certified since 2003, who’s negotiated multiple first-round deals, and who teaches sports law) will host his first of our monthly classes leading up to July’s exam. Each session is $50 plus tax, and you can register for it here.Everyone who participates will not only be able to ask Ian questions, but will get the video recording afterwards. We’ll acknowledge receipt of your payment, then send out the Zoom link Wednesday afternoon. On the docket: Given a signing bonus and Year 4 cap number, calculate rookie salary; calculation of problems re: June 1 rule; and calculation of agent fees, including split between two agents after one has been terminated (plus whatever questions fit into the hour). If you’re gearing up for this summer’s exam, we hope to see you Wednesday.
Agent Changes: This week, we began catching up on a few features that get left behind in a busy December and January. One of them was our Agent Changes list for the November-to-December period. We identified seven changes in representation for the last month of the regular season. It was very comfortable to 2021, when only five players made changes. We saw lots of positional diversity in December as two of the seven were wide receivers, but no other position was represented more than once. Make sure to check out all our reports, going back 10+ years, here.
Agents by Total Clients: One other feature that’s lapsed is our list of contract advisors and their active client totals. In December, we found 120 player reps who had at least 10 active NFL clients, per NFLPA totals. We ran them all down on Tuesday. Though there weren’t a lot of surprises, make sure to check them out.
Next week: It’s the last full week before the NFL Combine. Here’s what we have in store:
· We’ll continue to stock our Pro Days Grid. We hope to move past 150 dates by this time next week. We’re working on it.
· Also, we’ll continue hammering away at our NFL Combine Grid. We’ve still got a lot of pro days and training locations to add, so there’s work to do there, as well.
· We hope to bring you the Agents by Total Clients and Agent Changes for the December-to-January period, too.
· The story of Andrew Weidinger, who scouted briefly for the Falcons ahead of the 2008 NFL Draft, has some ups and downs and lots of laughs. We interviewed the engaging Weidinger and we’ll have his take on an interesting life in football as our Catching Up feature.
· Whatever doesn’t fit into a grid or on a board will go into our Rep Rumblings, the place where people around the industry keep up with the latest buzz.
· We’ll continue churning out content on how to break into the industry on our free blog, Succeed in Football.
· Wednesday night, we’ll have our first online Zoom study session with Chicago-based Ian Greengross. If you’re taking the agent exam this summer, you’re in for a real challenge. Make sure to join us. Register here. We’ll send out the Zoom link Wednesday afternoon.
OK. That’s the week. The 319 players invited won’t be the only ones putting the finishing touches on their preparation for Indianapolis. Maybe you need to get a little sharper before the event starts, too. May we suggest a service that can help?
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