June 4-10
With the draft over and NFL and college stadiums silent, June is usually the month when most people across the pro football business landscape rest. Even scouting movement slows and, but for OTAs, there’s really not a lot of activity, at least not to the public. However, for those people still keeping up with developments that could affect what happens this fall, there’s often more than meets the eye. That was definitely true this week, when we saw a fair amount of information shared of particular relevancy to people in the industry.
Let’s take a look at what you might have missed this week.
A new look at NIL: Last night, Peter Schoenthal of Athliance hosted a Zoom detailing everything agents (in particular, but really anybody) should know about this new, undiscovered era. He discussed marketplaces and collectives, how to close a potential NIL client on your first visit, how to pitch vendors on your client’s positives, what kind of metrics potential advertisers are seeking, and what every NIL clients needs (but many don’t have). He also told stories about situations players face and warned participants about trouble areas. It was an action-packed hour with lots of good questions from those gathered on Zoom, and if you missed it, you missed a real opportunity to learn more about this exciting but volatile new space. We’re working on providing the video to those who couldn’t join us live. In the meantime, if you have questions, you can contact Peter on Twitter (DMs are open) or on his company’s website.
Clearing things up: After weeks of questions from agents that we couldn’t answer, we gathered them all up, and XFL Senior VP of Player Personnel Doug Whaley provided responses, in writing, to all of them, on our blog. For example:
· Will the XFL have a draft? Yes, he wrote, and it will be in November (along with possible supplemental drafts afterwards).
· How long will the league be populating its player pool? Up until one week before the draft.
· Is info@xfl.com the only way to submit player information? No, there’s another email address you can use, as well.
· Will the XFL divide the country regionally for the purposes of populating rosters? No -- there are no territorial or college rights in the XFL.
There’s much more on our blog, which has 12 questions in all, with Doug’s answers. Check it out if you have a client who hopes to take the field next spring.
Calling the shots: This week, the XFL announced the names of the men who will be working with their head coaches to build the rosters for the 2023 season. It turns out that most of them are friends of ITL, as we outlined in Thursday’s report; we’ve worked with some of them on podcasts, pro days and other projects. We congratulate the league and each of its Directors of Player Personnel, all of whom have extensive experience in player evaluation.
Up-and-coming: It was another busy week of shuffling in NFL front offices (more on that later). While it’s never good news when scouts lose their jobs, we saw one positive development: good scouts are being rewarded. After this week’s scouting moves, as of today, seven members of the 2021 ITL BART List have gotten a promotion this offseason (including Miami’s Matt Winston, Baltimore’s David Blackburn, Buffalo’s Alonzo Dotson and Terrance Gray, Indianapolis’ Jamie Moore and Matt Terpening, New England’s Eliot Wolf and Chicago’s Breck Ackley). Figure in that another one, Seattle’s Alonzo Highsmith, is off to Miami to fix the Hurricanes, and it’s been quite a year. Hats off to all of them.
We can’t expect next week to be as eventful as this one, but who knows? Maybe it will be. We’ll know at this time next week. In the meantime, here’s a look at what else we saw, heard, read and said in the business of college and pro football this week.
Special note: We will have intermittent service interruptions next week. Though we’ll still post all our regular features promptly and fill all orders of our study guide, Zoom videos, practice exams and the like, doing so might take a little longer than normal. We’re not going anywhere, though sometimes we’ll be a bit more delayed than usual. In the meantime, if you’d like to order any of our products or services and want to avoid delays, make your purchases before Monday and we’ll get them processed immediately. We appreciate your patience, and look forward to a (more) normal week starting June 19.
Scouting Changes Grid: It was another busy week in NFL front offices. Here’s a blow-by-blow rundown of this week’s transitions.
· Hajriz Aliu was hired by the Browns as a scouting assistant. Hajriz was part of the inaugural CGSU class at the College Gridiron Showcase in January. Expect to see more of the people in this picture in NFL front offices in coming years (Hajriz is in back, wearing a black hoodie with blue strings).
· The Steelers unveiled their new scouting lineup, which includes new titles for several staffers and official titles for recent hires such as former Bears Director of College Scouting Mark Sadowski, who is Pittsburgh’s new Director of Player Scouting.
With most teams having filled all their vacancies and the NFL’s unofficial vacation month (July) about three weeks away, we expect things to start slowing down now. Most moves will include the addition of scouting assistants and in-house promotions and reassignments. Still, we’ll continue looking and breaking everything we hear on our Twitter account. Review all the moves since the end of the 2021 season in our Scouting Changes Grid.
Catching Up: Ron Wolf, 83, is not only the father of Patriots Director of Scouting Eliot Wolf, but a legend in player evaluation after spending 37 years in the NFL and 25 years in front offices. His stops include stints with the Buccaneers, Jets and Raiders before finishing his career with a highly successful term as GM of the Packers. We caught up with him this week.
· Where are you living and what are you doing now? “I live in Jupiter, Fla., and I’m a retired person. I’m doing absolutely nothing.”
· Do you miss the job? What do you miss most? “No, I do not.”
· Do you keep in touch with any of your former colleagues? “I do a little bit. As old as I am, a lot of those guys are no longer with us, but yeah, I do.”
· Do you go to any live games (HS/college/pro)? “No, I really don’t. Where I live, I go down and watch the University of Miami, but I haven’t in a while because of the pandemic. . . Where I live, you get to watch the SEC (on Saturdays), and I’m a couch potato scout and I enjoy doing that.”
· Are there any players you love to watch and/or feel close to due to your work in the game? The game is so different from when I left it, and obviously, since Eliot’s there, I watch the Patriots. But to say that I watch one individual player, no, I really don’t. That doesn’t mean I don’t admire the guys that are playing. I certainly do. I realize what it takes to play the game, certainly at (the NFL) level. But no, I can’t name (any players). Like, in baseball, we got spring training where I am, and there are certain guys I would pay to watch play. I don’t have the same (feeling for the NFL). My frame of reference is not the same any longer, because I don’t know anything about the players that are playing.”
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.
For Your Viewing Pleasure: We’re now less than a month and a half away from the 2022 exam, and it’s time to get serious, especially if you’ve been slow to get started. Whether or not you’re already hitting the books, we’ve got a new feature that we feel is a game-changer. Each month since February, we’ve had monthly online study sessions, and now, we’ve put them all online. Each session is on sale for $50 (plus tax) each. Here’s what each session covers:
· February ($50 plus tax): Given a signing bonus and Year 4 cap number, calculate rookie salary. Also, June 1 rule and agent fee calculation when a player terminates his representation mid-contract.
· March ($50 plus tax): Difference between accrued, credited for benefits and credited for salary, and what each of these designations mean for the purposes of free agency, etc. Split-salary contracts. Exclusive rights free agency (zero, one or two accrued seasons), restricted free agent (at least three accrued seasons), transition tag, franchise tag, exclusive franchise tag. Minimum salaries based on credited seasons, when you are counted as active based on what day you get, when a player goes to waivers when he’s cut. Workman’s comp offsets. Termination pay and pay for players who get cut. Veteran salary benefit.
· April ($50 plus tax): Calculating minimum tenders for franchise and transition players. Preseason split and in-season split, types of splits, definition, etc. Calculating contracts with up/down amounts. Calculating payment to a player on practice squad. Extended injury protections and worker’s compensation offsets. What is the rookie salary given signing bonus and cap number for Year 4?
· May ($50 plus tax): Veteran salary benefit. Termination pay. Injury grievance. Proven Performance Escalator. Draft signals. Agent fee calculation. Split contract calculation/IR. Practice squad salary computation.
This is your chance to get expert instruction on some of the tougher concepts on this summer’s exam that you can watch as many times as you’d like. Don’t wait to take advantage of this new offering if you’re still not clear on the bigger, more complicated concepts included in the CBA.
Once you order, we’ll send you the video link. Don’t forget: You must have a gmail email address (ends in @gmail.com) to receive and play the private link.
More good news: Last year, we had to remove a faulty question from our first practice exam, leaving us with 39 questions. But we’ve been meaning to replace it, and by noon CT tomorrow, a replacement question will be in place at Q40. Hint: It’s a lot like a question on last summer’s NFLPA exam that tripped up many test-takers. It will be in place, complete with answer and explanation, Saturday. By the way, we are still reviewing the questions on both exams and will be shoring a couple questions up in the coming weeks. Thanks for bearing with us. In the meantime, if you’re ready to dig into Exam 1, register here. Already working on Exam 1? Exam 2 is here.
Next week: The next seven days will look a lot more like the weeks before this one. In other words, less Zoom and less special information, but all of our regular features. They will include:
· At long last, we’ll provide the trainers by draft points, agencies by draft points, agencies with the most combine invitees snubbed and agencies with the most combine snubs who were drafted. The following week, we’ll have our draft by the numbers and our agencies by draft points since 2010. You can review all our features over the years here.
· Our usual Rep Rumblings reports, which should have more details on the progress of XFL player showcases (which kick off in a week in Washington, D.C.), agent terminations and other maneuvers, and scouting changes.
· We’ll have another blog at Succeed in Football; we’re still tentative about our topic, but we promise it will be of relevance to the football industry.
· Next week’s Friday Wrap will recap all of the draft analyses we roll out this week and discuss the winners and we’ll talk to former Bengals executive Jim Lippincott in our Catching Up feature. Review all our Friday Wraps, going back to the beginning of 2020, here.
Why not try us out? Usually, we say that, for the price of a tank of gas, you can get a unique perspective on the business of football. These days, our monthly charge ($29.95/mo) is still worth a tank of gas, but now it’s for your lawnmower. Give us a shot.
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