March 28-April 3

We’re now just 20 days from the 2026 NFL Draft, which means we’re 20 days, plus just a few, from the first changes on NFL scouting staffs. It’s a fact of life that teams typically make their front office trims starting in May and continuing, sometimes, through June (usually, but not always, scouts who see July are around for the coming season).

With that in mind, we decided to trace the careers of several scouts who joined the league a decade ago to sift out a typical career path in today’s NFL. We looked back at the nine scouts we identified as joining the league in the weeks and months leading up to the 2016 season. Where are they now? Here’s what we found out. 

• Collin Dotterer (Bills): He spent two seasons with Buffalo, leaving in May 2018. He’s now out of football, per his LinkedIn account.
• Eloy Ledesma (Lions): Ledesma spent a year as a scouting assistant before being elevated to BLESTO Scout in 2017, where he spent four years. He achieved Area Scout in 2021 and has been there ever since.
• Denzel Martin (Steelers): Martin spent two months as a scouting intern before switching to the coaching side. Since then, over almost 10 years, he moved up steadily on the Steelers coaching staff before moving over to the Chargers in February. 
• Brian McLaughlin (Bucs): McLaughlin spent two-plus years as a Scouting Assistant before moving up to NFS Scout in 2018, spending four years there until being elevated to College Scout in May 2022. He’s served with distinction there since, winning a BART List Award in February.
• Drew Morris (Jets): Morris spent two years as a Player Personnel Assistant with the Jets before being promoted to College Scout after just two seasons (he had come to the Jets after almost four years as a National Scout at Winnipeg). He’s been in his current role almost exactly 10 years. 
• Antwon Murray (Bucs): Murray spent two seasons as a Scouting Assistant while also performing NFS duties, then got bumped up to Area Scout in 2018. He was elevated to National Scout in 2022, then left the team voluntarily last summer to become Executive Director of Player Personnel at Michigan State. 
• Bird Sherrill (Lions): Sherrill spent two years as a Scouting Assistant, followed by the better part of four years as a Scout with the Lions. Then he took an off-ramp, joining the Florida Gators personnel department, until last summer, when he returned to the NFL as a College Scout with the Jets.
• John Syty (Bears): Syty’s journey has probably been the most straightforward. Two years as a Scouting Assistant, six as an Area Scout, then almost two as a National Scout, all with the Bears. 
• Adrian Wilson (Cardinals): Maybe because of his tenure as a player in Arizona, Wilson shot like a rocket through the organization, going from Scout (prior to 2016 season) to Director of Pro Scouting (2019) to VP of Pro Scouting in six years. He landed as VP of Player Personnel in Carolina, just one rung from GM, in 2023, spending a year-plus there until things took an unfortunate turn.

It’s a limited sample size, granted, but it’s what we have. So what can be learned from the nine men who entered scouting prior to the 2016 season? Here are our observations. 

• Two years as Scouting Assistant seems pretty standard. Sometimes that term includes work as a Combine Scout, though usually that’s a distinct role that’s held 1-2 years. 
• It’s much harder to gauge your stay as an Area/College Scout, the standard period seems to be 4-6 years before promotion to National Scout takes place.
• It stands to reason that you make National Scout sooner if you’ve got prior experience in player evaluation. Syty and Morris, who each made National Scout rather quickly, were each on their second pro teams (though Morris came from the CFL).
• We continue to see a small number of NFL coaches breaking into the league in scouting roles before switching over at first opportunity, as Martin did. We don’t expect that to change.
• As always, it’s much harder to break in than it is to stay in. Only Dotterer and Wilson are no longer in football in any capacity. That’s seven of nine who are still going strong.
• College personnel has been a viable path for longer than just the past year or so. Sherrill and Murray both spent (or are spending) time at the P4 level voluntarily. The money is probably better, all things being equal, though it’s too early to know if it’s a more stable position. Personnel roles are always subject to change at GM or head coach.

Based on what we found, we can expect several teams with Scouting Assistants with two years on the job to have vacancies this offseason. We can also expect to see numerous Area/College Scouts with 4-6 seasons moving up to National Scout. Unfortunately, many scouts with similar experience levels will be forced out, mostly due to budgetary reasons. 

So here’s the big news – if you’re trying to get a Scouting Assistant job this year, you’re in luck. We’ve never recorded as many Scouting Assistants as were hired in 2024. The 49ers (Ryan Carter and Casey Filkins), Bears (Ryan Brosnan, Patrick Holly and James O’Shaughnessy), Bills (Kellyn Gerenstein), Browns (Will Black, Elisha Guidry and Sam Secrest), Commanders (Chuck Brensinger, Albert De La Guardia andMiles Turner), Jaguars (Mimi Bolden Morris, Austin Leake and Max Rosenthal), Panthers (Chris Smith and Gabby Weinrich), Patriots (AJ Richardson), Saints (Brandon Tamres), Titans (Keenan Agnew) and Vikings (Dabness Atkins) are teams that hired a Scouting Assistant for the 2024 season who is still with the team. 

That’s 21 potential openings. Wow. There were only 20 Scouting Assistants total hired last offseason.

Also worth noting – Jeremiah Bogan was hired in 2024 by the Bucs, but he’s already an Area Scout with the team, while Jordan Morrow has already progressed to NFS Scout; Indy’s Tanner Chastain has already been promoted to NFS Scout; Cami Pasqualoni has advanced to Personnel and Coaching Assistant, while Kevin Weisman is now Football Administration and Personnel Assistant in Atlanta; Tyler Habursky has already earned NFS Scout with the Browns; Duke Tobin is Midlands Area Scout in Philadelphia; Sam Fleming has been promoted to Pro Scout by the Packers; Mitch Sterner is BLESTO Scout in Washington; Bryson Speasis Northeast Area Scout in New England; Landon Simpson is West Coast Area Scout with the Patriots; Ryan Schutta has been elevated to Area Scout in San Francisco; and Dallas’ Kane Doyle-Durde has already been promoted to Pro and College Scout. Obviously, with the scouting profession getting ever younger, two years is not a hard and fast rule.

We’ll check out career paths for scouts in more executive roles in the coming weeks. In the meantime, on Tuesday, we dug into what scouts told us about coming moves this summer in Tuesday’s report. Make sure to read it if you’re hoping to break into the league this offseason.

Now let’s take a look at this week’s biggest stories in the business of college and pro football, courtesy of Ric Serritella of All Access Football.

A new order from owners: The 2026 NFL Annual League Meeting was held in Phoenix this week as NFL owners huddled up to discuss what the future of the NFL looks like. Once considered a dream, an 18-game NFL regular season and weekly slate of international contests now seem like a distinct possibility. An additional change would be a reduction in preseason games to two. "I like it long term for the growth and development of the league because, to keep our league healthy and grow revenue, I think preseason games have not been what it used to be when we owned the team,” Patriots owner Robert Kraft told the media in Phoenix. “Changing to 18 games and having that real content and being mindful of player safety, I'd personally like to see us have a second bye week.” Colts owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon echoed Kraft’s comments. "If we can make it work, I do think that it would be good," Irsay-Gordon said. "Preseason is, as far as the fan product goes, the commissioner has openly said that it's not the best product that we have.” Regarding overseas play, Vikings owner Mark Wilf – whose team played consecutive weeks in Dublin and London last season -- is a big advocate of international expansion. "It's been proven out in terms of the viewership," he said. "The engagement has grown dramatically in all the countries we've been in." Kraft said participation by all 32 organizations would be required. “Every team in the league would play a game overseas,” he said. “I think it would be a lot more exciting for the fans to have an extra game rather than the way our preseason games stack up.”  Of course, these changes would likely be met with opposition from the NFLPA, which would have to approve an proposals. The NFL hopes to make the package enticing by significantly increasing the salary cap, raising the minimum salary, expanding rosters and beefing up post-retirement benefits. "I think, as long as the players want it – which I think they would, because it would mean more revenue and ultimately, a better product – I think it's reasonable and something we would work toward," Irsay-Gordon told the Indianapolis Star.

Tech world gets smaller: There was major news in football media this week with the official announcement that TeamWorks had acquired Pro Football Focus (PFF), including its proprietary game event data and analytics platform that NFL teams and collegiate football programs rely on daily. Previous owner Cris Collinsworth and PFF’s minority investors will continue as Teamworks shareholders, supporting the company’s ongoing football efforts. However, this transaction has ripple effects, specifically when it comes to the scouting community. Per Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports, the NFL sent a memo to teams informing them that the league is requesting proposals from scouting data vendors that can best serve "the priorities of club alignment, economic efficiency and competitive equity." The technology explosion around the league has led to rising costs for data and software, which has raised complaints amongst multiple franchises. In the memo, the NFL states that it seeks "the ability to support a centralized, league-wide scouting data collection and distribution model;" "the opportunity to integrate with emerging league data initiatives" like Next Gen Stats and Hawk-Eye Skeletal Tracking; and the "flexibility and scalability to meet club football operations needs now … and in the future … leveraging custom machine learning and AI analytics tools." The Park Avenue office is said to be vetting potential vendors who would be able to work exclusively with all 32 organizations, starting in 2027. Companies such as Pro Football Focus, the 33rd Team, Sumer Sports and Sports Info Solutions were amongst the companies mentioned as possibilities in the article. Until then, NFL teams have been instructed not to enter any new scouting data vendor agreements. 

NCAA Set To Shake Up Rules?: In a move that many would call long overdue, the NCAA Division I Cabinet will review a proposed change to eligibility rules, including one that would ban athletes who have entered and remained in a professional sports draft from competing in college, according to ESPN. We at Inside the League have highlighted numerous instances of players who have entered the 2026 NFL Draft despite having (and continuing to have) eligibility battles with the NCAA in court. The new rule would end the confusion. More importantly, it would prevent players chosen in the draft from challenging NCAA eligibility rules in an attempt to return to school. While such an instance has yet to occur in football, on the hardwood, two players Charles Bediako (Alabama) and James Nnahi (Baylor), played college basketball this past season after entering the 2023 NBA Draft. According to the article, The Academics and Eligibility Committee is also prepared to review a proposal that could shake up the entire agent industry, allowing players to sign for league representation prior to enrolling in college. Previously, players were solely permitted to sign with agents for NIL purposes. In addition, athletes would be allowed to accept prize money without impacting eligibility. If passed, the rules would be enacted this fall.

Rallying round the flags: The Big 12 is taking steps toward becoming the first FBS conference to sponsor women’s flag football, beginning in 2028 with a minimum of six teams, according to Sports Business Journal. The news comes the same week that the NFL announced the launch of a professional FLAG Football League and coincides with the Big 12-NFL partnership. “We think this is a natural extension of what we’re currently doing to grow in the Big 12, then the partnership with the NFL comes into play,” Big 12 Chief Football & Competition Officer Scott Draper stated. “It’s well-documented what they’re doing around flag ... It really helps with their help and focus on flag. With our focus on flag, we’ll be able to really accelerate the growth of the sport, not only at the collegiate level, but at the high school level.” The Big 12 and NFL announced a partnership back in December that included collaborations around technology, officiating and of course, flag play. This puts the Big 12 at the forefront of P4 conferences in terms of being able to go from college to pro in flag football. It also positions the conferences schools as feeders for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, when men’s and women’s flag football will become an official sport for the first time. 

Boock knowledge: The Scouting the League Podcast is the place to find credible scouting voices with a wealth of experiences in the game. Such was the case this week as former NFL, CFL, USFL and UFL and Arena League evaluator Matt Boockmeier joined the podcast. With co-host Neil Stratton flying solo this week, Matt ran down the people who taught him the most, the players who made the biggest impression, and the winding road that’s taken him back home as the new Director of Player Personnel and NFL Liaison at his alma mater, FCS St. Thomas in Minneapolis-St. Paul. Here are a few highlights.

• On his time with National Football Scouting early in his career (3:46): “As I look back on the entirety of my career, one of the greatest things I ever got to do was be a combine scout. To this day, I often tell people it’s one of the best jobs out there. I think it’s got a level of importance in today’s game that maybe is not equal somewhere else. . . the old adage was, you had to find somebody in Montana, whether there was a player or not, because that required fly fishing. . . so there were certain spots where you were gonna find a player, whether you wanted to or not.” 
• On his early days in Green Bay working under Ron Wolf (6:19): “I worked in that office with some amazing people and learned from some wonderful, brilliant minds, and a lot of them are still in the game today. Some are gone. . . I think there were four or five of us that shared offices and only one of us didn’t become an NFL general manager.”
• On stepping away from the game briefly to build a career in insurance (11:12): “What it gave me was a sense of security. I was able to be there for my daughters and my wife at the time, and that’s very uncharacteristic in this game. I did lose out on being able to go back to the NFL as an Area Scout, but . . . I often say that, I’ve said this to people that want to know why I would do what I do, and I said, ‘well, because it’s a great game. I just never did very well with the financial insecurity of it.’”
• On the value of “being there” that he learned while with the Packers (18:55): “You gotta see the player, right? . . . Tape is great but you got to go see the player. You got to talk to the player. You got to be able to interview the player and you got to be able to spend time with him.”
• On drafting Mississippi’s Deuce McAllister in 2001 two year after the Saints had traded their entire draft for Texas’ Ricky Williams in 1999 (26:27): “I don’t think it was as big a struggle as they thought, at the end, because Deuce was local, Deuce was SEC. I don’t know if there was a great rallying cry for Ricky after the first couple years. . . I think you just pick the best player at the spot that you think you really need.”
• On his new opportunity at St. Thomas (49:39): “I’m learning and I’m feeling a little overwhelmed and at the same time I’m super, super excited because I love to grind film. . . I got kind of a closet with no windows and one TV and I’m good.”

Don’t miss the stories and the memories Matt provides in his hour-long conversation with Stratton. Listen anywhere, watch here.

Who’s in? Who’s out?: On Thursday, we broke down the latest SRA report from the NFLPA (March 30) to see who’s signing whom in the 2026 draft. Here are a few observations.

• Twenty-five agents signed 10 or more players from the P4 ranks. As you might have expected, they’re a bit more experienced. Eighteen of the 25 have been certified at least 10 years. 
• You might think the agents who signed the most FCS-and-below prospects – statistically, the longest shots on draft day – are also the youngest agents. That’s not the case. Robert Walker of U.S. Sports (certified in 2004) has the most FCS clients this year (16). John Perez (certified in 2009) has the third-most (9). Lynn Lashbrook (certified in 1994) is fourth with eight FCS clients. Tyrone Barnes (2006) is tied with Lashbrook with eight.
• How many agents signed only FCS-and-below clients? 45. 
• In all, 434 agents skipped the draft entirely. That’s about 40 percent of the 1,070 certified agents. Also, 188 agents signed just one client.
• By the way, Walker has more clients in the 2026 draft (35) than any other agent. Damian Knight and Jeffrey Poe of Forever Athlete Management are tied for second with 29 each, followed by Ty Schwab and Martin Magid of TSMRM Sports with 22 each. 
• Seventy agents have at least 10 clients in the 2026 draft.
• Which agent class has signed the most members of the 2026 draft class? It’s probably no surprise that it’s the 2023 agent class (409 clients, many of whom are facing the three-year rule. 
• By the way, agents from the 2023 class have signed the most FCS clients (88). They’ve also signed the most P4 clients (189) and G5 clients, for that matter (132). 

Our grid makes for a fascinating look at how agents approach recruiting, their respective philosophies on player representation, and how the draft class is built. Make sure to check it out. 

Catching Up: After a storied college and pro playing career, Marcus Dupree, 62, spent two seasons scouting for the Redskins after a prior stint in player evaluation with the CFL’s Edmonton Eskimos. We caught up with him this week.

• Where are you living and what are you doing now?: “I live in Biloxi, Miss., but I’ve been doing acting for the last two-and-a-half-years. I’ve been in 10 movies. Right now, I’m also working with the National High School Football Hall of Fame, and the founder, Lamont Robinson, is trying to move it to the South (from plans to build it in Ohio). New Orleans is looking at putting it there. So we’ve just been messing around with that, and then my grandson (Jackson State WO Janaylon Dupree), trying to keep him going for the draft and getting him the right training and all that. I also just signed a deal to do a movie about me. We just signed it in September. Now it’s about putting together the script. It’s the same people that own the 007 (James Bond) franchise, so it’s gonna be a pretty good movie.” 

• Do you miss the job? What do you miss most?: “Just being around the guys. It’s football, so it’s just being around the game, around the guys, getting to go to the games, getting to see what talent is out there. I’ve had thoughts about trying to get back in it. I might be too old, but I have at least 2-3 years I could still give to the game.”

• Do you keep in touch with any of your former colleagues?: “I do. (Senior Executive Advisor to the GM) Jimmy Raye III, who’s up in Cleveland, and (Broncos Senior Personnel Executive) Roman Phifer. We played together with the Rams. Fred McAfee, he’s my cousin, and he’s (VP of Player Engagement) with the Saints. (Saskatchewan Assistant GM) Paul Jones, he’s always on the road, but we stay in contact all the time. (Former NFL executive) Lionel Vitale, we talk all the time, too.”

• Do you go to any live games (HS/college/pro)?: “I go to my grandson’s games at Jackson State. I’ve been at his games the last two years. Every now and then, I’ll go to an Oklahoma game. (Former Sooners head coach Barry Switzer) has a thing called Coaches Cabana (in Norman), and we hang out with fans on Fridays (on game weekends).”

• Do you find yourself rooting for the NFL team in your region, the one you grew up rooting for, or the one with the most people you’ve worked with?: “Basically, the one with I grew up with, the Saints, all my life. (Saints legend) Archie Manning, his wife is from my hometown. Archie used to come to my high school when I was in eighth grade, and one day, he said, ‘y’all wanna catch some balls?’ We thought, ‘why not? You’re Archie Manning!’ A few years ago, I was talking to some of the guys, and I said, ‘you remember when Archie Manning was throwing that ball and it was whistling, and we’d catch the ball, and it was burning our hands?‘ . . . You could hear it coming. I was like, ‘Oh my God.’” 

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.

Next week: Less than three weeks until the draft and we still have so much to do. Here’s what’s ahead in the next seven days. 

• Our Profile Reports roll on with UAB, Appalachian State, Arizona State, Arizona and Arkansas. 
• It’s time to start putting together the rookie mini-camp schedule for all 32 teams (or at least the teams that still have them). We’ll roll that out this week. 
• There’s a lot to discuss when it comes to scouting and the turnover coming in a few weeks. We’ll chop it up about staffing changes and relevant tips in this week’s Succeed in Football blog.
• This time of year, our Rep Rumblings focus is on analyzing the 2026 draft class and how agents and players made their signing decisions, plus the hiring phase, especially as we transition from college hiring season to NFL hiring season. Make sure you’re reading regularly.
• The Scouting the League Podcast rolls on, as well. We’ll have an influential and thoughtful voice from the business of football in for good conversation. As always. 
• We’re inside of four months from the 2026 NFLPA Exam. If you haven’t started preparing yet, you should at least start putting together a plan. Our suggestion: start with our study guide. For $400 plus tax, you’ll have a 70-page PDF in your inbox, within an hour of purchase, that is the best thing you can buy to pass the exam, bar none. You won’t be sorry. 

Also, don’t forget about this weekend’s UFL slate. Things kick off tonight with the DC Defenders at Columbus Aviators (8 p.m. EDT, FOX), followed by Louisville-Orlando Saturday (8 p.m. EDT, ESPN), Birmingham-Houston on Easter Sunday (6 p.m. ET, NFL Network) and, on Tuesday, St. Louis-Dallas (8 p.m. EDT, FS1). 

It’s Friday, but Sunday’s coming. Consider worshipping at the church of your choice this weekend as we celebrate the most important date on the calendar. 

As always, there’s a lot of magic happening in the game this time of year. Join us! We won’t let you miss a trick.