Feb. 19-25

We’re less than a week away from the biggest event of the year for us – no, not the combine, but our 13th annual seminar – but before we discuss that, we have some business we must first address. 
As we have done the past four years, we surveyed seven top draft services immediately before the NFL Combine to see where they had the top prospects before everything starts changing post-Indy. We posted it here. Here are a few observations.

  • There are 20 players slated as first-rounders by all seven services we reviewed. They are, in order of average draft selection, Alabama OT Evan Neal; Michigan DE Aidan Hutchinson; Oregon DE Kayvon Thibodeaux; Notre Dame SS Kyle Hamilton; NC State OG Ikem Ekwonu; Cincinnati DC Ahmad Gardner; LSU DC Derek Stingley; Mississippi St. OT Charles Cross; USC WO Drake London; Ohio St. WO Garrett Wilson; Washington DC Trent McDuffie; Purdue DT George Karlaftis III; Michigan OB David Ojabo; Iowa OG Tyler Linderbaum; Florida St. DE Jermaine Johnson; Northern Iowa OT Trevor Penning; Arkansas WO Treylon Burks; Alabama WO Jameson Williams; and Ohio St. WO Chris Olave.

  • There's a well-worn narrative around this draft that there are no franchise quarterback prospects, and that's certainly reflected in this round of mock drafts. For the first time since we started tracking mocks, there are no QBs -- not one -- rated as a top-32 pick by all seven services we polled. That's crazy in a league that has rules so slanted toward the passer. Closest consensus first-rounders are Liberty’s Malik Willis (three services have him as a top-10 pick, but PFF sees him as a second-rounder) and Pittsburgh’s Kenny Pickett (No. 6 on Walter Football’s board and No. 11 to three services, but also snubbed by PFF). Ole Miss’ Matt Corral is just off the pace with five first-round votes; once again, PFF says he’s not, as does Walter Football. North Carolina’s Sam Howell gets three nods.

  • One unusual aspect of this draft class has been its volatility. Though Oregon’s Thibodeaux held the top spot in our first four looks at mock drafts, there have now been different consensus No. 1 picks in our last two surveys. In our pre-Christmas look, Hutchinson edged out Thibodeaux (Hutchinson got the nod in four mocks, with Thibodeaux the pick in the other three). Then, today, the leader is Neal, though it’s a very, very tight race, so much so that his average selection is actually No. 2. Hutchinson is just behind him with an average draft slot of 2.57, while Thibodeaux is hanging tough in third place at 4.29. 

  • More indication of the uncertainty at the top: Neal is No. 1 on five boards, but as low as No. 4 (Pro Football Focus) and No. 5 (Walter Football) by the other services we surveyed. Meanwhile, none of the services call Hutchinson the top pick, but none have him lower than No. 3. Then there’s Thibodeaux, who remains No. 1 to Walter Football, but who is as low as 7 on another board (CBS’ Chris Trapasso) and 8 on a third (Pro Football Focus).

  • While no one is certain which player will go first, there’s far more certainty about the players who’ll be selected on Day 1. As we noted in today’s blog at Succeed in Football, the 20 players named on all seven boards is the highest since at least 2018. When you consider that four other players are on six of seven boards, the main suspense this year will be not if a player goes on Day 1, but at which slot.

  • Today, for the first time ever, we noted the last time each player on our board was rated as a first-rounder (we always list every single player who appeared in the first round of any of our seven services going back to our first mock immediately following the 2021 draft). With 25 players who appeared once on May 28 and then never since, it just emphasizes how much of a dart throw the draft is when you’re trying to predict things a year out. 

  • The new faces in the mocks include Minnesota DE Boye Mafe (two boards), Tulsa OT Tyler Smith (two boards), Washington DC Kyler Gordon (one board) and Boise St. WO Khalil Shakir (one board). Fourteen players who showed up on at least one board on Christmas Eve have since disappeared. 

There’s so much to learn by sifting through the 49 players on mock drafts this month, and you can make your own observations by checking out our matrix here. Now, here’s a look at what else we saw, heard, read and said in the business of college and pro football this week.

It’s here! It’s here!: After weeks of preparation, the 13th annual ITL Combine Seminar presented by TEST Football Academy and Dynamic Talent will be Wednesday in Room 125 of the Indiana Convention Center at 6:30 p.m. Open bar starts at 6 p.m., and we hope to see you there. Here are a few things to know.

  • We’ll be handing out the fifth annual Best Draft Award, the fourth annual Eugene E. Parker Award, our third annual C.O. Brocato Award, and our inaugural BART List Award to 10 winners in each conference. All 20 BART List winners are listed here, but to find out the other winners, you’ll have to be at the seminar. 
  • Our BART List Awards are brought to you by Curley Wealth Management Group of Wells Fargo Advisors, an Oneonta, NY-based firm.
  • Open bar starts at 6 p.m. and lasts until 7 p.m. Beer, soda and water will be complimentary. 
  • Assorted media will be on hand to report on the awards, and we also expect several scouts and executives to join us to salute their friends. 
  • We’ll live-stream the event on our Twitter channel (@Insidetheleague). 
  • Seminar will start at 6:30 p.m. sharp and we expect to go about an hour. We’ll move quickly so as to get scouts and executives on their way for Wednesday night’s interviews. 
  • Though the event will be live and in-person, we’ll also be joined by presenters and award-winners on tape.
  • We’ll present the results of the 2022 Scouting Salary Survey, which will also be presented on our blog at Succeed in Football on Thursday.
  • We’ll have special guests and brief presentations throughout the program, and our co-sponsor, Trevor Swenson of Dynamic Talent, will close the show with a brief discussion of the future of NIL. ITL’s Neil Stratton will interview him on the topic. Got questions? Send them over.
  • If you miss the show, don’t worry. We’ll be announcing the winners on Twitter and we’ll get you up to date on everything in next week’s Friday Wrap.

Our annual seminar has become the biggest circle-the-date event on our calendar and we’re honored to bring recognition to the hard-working agents and scouts who serve the world’s best players, mostly in the shadows. We hope you can help us celebrate the best in the business. Remember: Wednesday, 6:30 p.m., Room 125 of the Indiana Convention Center. Join us!

Catching Up: Oscar Lofton has been a friend of ITL for a long time, and even interviewed with ITL’s Neil Stratton in 2011. Here’s a great story he told about Deion Sanders during his pre-draft days at Florida State. Oscar, who spent seven-and-a-half years with National and 15 with the 49ers, will be 84 in April. We caught up with him earlier this month.

  • Where are you living and what are you doing now?: “I’m in Baton Rouge, and I’m retired and I’m doing whatever my wife tells me to do. We get up every day, and we have a new dog who doesn’t want to go outside to do her business, and we are training her. She has a bladder infection, so for another 8-10 days, we have to tolerate it. But I live in Baton Rouge, just south of LSU, and my daughter-in-law is one of the coaches’ secretaries. He was (former head coach Ed) Orgeron’s executive assistant, and she’s been there a long time, five years. So I’m pretty involved in LSU. Coach Orgeron asked me to come to practice, so I went to practices some last season.”

  • Do you miss the job? What do you miss most?: “I miss being out on the road with all them guys. There’s some characters out there that you meet, and some you like and some you don’t like. When I worked for the combine, I think we stated out with 14 teams, then we got to 19, and when I left we had 22 of them, maybe. Of course, I also miss going to training camp, because I would always get to work with (offensive line coach) Bobb McKittrik or whoever was coaching the tight ends.” 

  • Do you keep in touch with any of your former colleagues?: “I did for a while, but they moved on to other teams, and life gets complicated when you move up, and most of them moved up. A lot of guys are playing golf, and they don’t want you to call when they’re getting ready to putt (laughs). (Seahawks college scout) Todd Brunner went to Seattle. (Raiders Director of College Scouting) Jim Abrams was in Tampa Bay for a while, and of course, (Titans Director of Pro Scouting) Brian (Gardner) went to the Texans and then I think he went to the Titans. Those were good guys to work with, I can tell you that. (Former Niners scout) Billy Wilson has passed on, and losing (former 49ers executive) Dwight Clark . . . he let me have the last pick in the ’93 draft, and we took QB Elvis Grbac in the final round.” 

  • Do you go to any live games (HS/college/pro)?: “I still go back to Southeastern Louisiana. I was working with Lion athletic department when I lived there, and we lived there 36 years. We’re in our 8th year here (in Baton Rouge) now. But I go back to Southeastern. I have season tickets in the Touchdown Club so my wife can go up there and talk to the other ladies, and she watches the band. We still go back for that, and I’m pretty active with the guys. I still have a lot of teammates that come back.” 

  • Are there any players you love to watch and/or feel close to due to your work in the game?: “That Joe Burrow, I tell you what, he is a cool customer. I had him at the Manning Passing Academy. My second to last year, I had him in the 7-on-7 drills at night, and his team was pretty sorry, and he didn’t have anyone that can catch it, and they got clobbered a few times. With Joe’s attitude, he got tired of getting beat, and by the next year, he was coming on. (His success this season) couldn’t happen to a nicer kid. He studies the game. He’s just eat up with it. He’s a learner. He makes people around him better, which Steve Young and Joe Montana and Elvis Grbac used to do.” 

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.

2022 Pro Day Grid: This week, we did a little catching up on our list of workouts with the first pro days of 2022 about a week-and-a-half away. As of now, we have 139 schools listed, and we hope to get close to 200 before everything gets started. Looking for a school that might have an opening for your client? Click here.

2022 Combine Grid: We entered the week way behind on training locations and pro days for the 300-plus players invited to Indianapolis. We close the week with several blanks still to fill, but in a much better place. We’ll keep working. In the meantime, go here to see how much progress we’ve made.

2022 Agent Exam Prep Zoom (February): If you are taking the NFL agent exam this summer, and you’re looking for a little help on passing it, make sure you don’t miss our new monthly Zoom sessions with Chicago-based Ian Greengross. Thursday night, 20 of this summer’s test-takers gathered on Zoom. Ian meticulously broke down one of the questions that gave last summer’s agent hopefuls the most trouble, looking at it from all angles and providing tools and tips on how to make it clearer. Along the way, he discussed the 25 percent rule, cap numbers, signing bonuses and Paragraph 5 salaries, figuring out how to work back from a Year 3 salary to a player’s rookie salary. We also looked at how to calculate agent fees for a player who fires his contract advisor mid-contract, looking at newly negotiated deals that are bigger and smaller than the previous one. Next month, we’ll be working on accrued vs. credited seasons, benefits and grievances. Make sure not to miss it. Interested in more details? Email us.

This week: Well, it should be a pretty quiet, rather routine week . . . KIDDING! It’s NFL Combine Week! And our 13th annual seminar is WEDNESDAY!! Obviously, it will make for a pretty busy few days. Team ITL hits Indy – hopefully not for the last time – late Monday night, then departs Thursday after our seminar. Don’t forget – Wednesday, 6:30 p.m., Room 125 of the Indiana Convention Center! We want to see you there! Come help us salute some of the best in the business. As for the week, we’ll have everything we normally have (Rep Rumblings, the Succeed in Football blog) plus we’ll update our Combine Grid, Pro Days Grid and maybe our Scouting Changes Grid. We just might be a little more irregular with our content than normal (thanks for bearing with us). We hope to see you this week. Safe travels to Indy!