July 31-Aug. 6
The two-year wait is over for aspiring members of the 2021 NFL agent class and, as of Thursday evening, all 454 test-takers had completed their exams. Now the wait for the results begins, which should last 6-8 weeks. In the meantime, the nearly 500 prospective agents had plenty to say, good and bad, about their respective experiences this week.
This year’s program was the first ever conducted entirely online, which made the week a learning experience for test-takers and test-givers alike. Maybe it was the getting-the-kinks-out aspect of things that prompted so many to express such strong opinions.
If there was one issue before the exam started, it was the conduct of the question-and-answer sessions online. We touched on this in this week’s blog at Succeed in Football, but it was rare when one of this year’s participants didn’t volunteer that this was a big problem. “The seminar goes very into the weeds,” said one.
Was the test harder this year or easier? We struggled to get a consensus. The NFLPA certainly didn’t make this test any easier than previous exams; even those who were fairly certain they did well conceded that there were curveballs among the questions. At times, test-takers were asked to work backwards from a number instead of forward. There were also questions on roster sizes and fines that many did not expect. “If you didn’t put in LEGIT time studying, you were (out of luck),” texted one. “I felt like they asked questions in the most difficult/complex ways possible, they had some unfair zingers in there, and they focused heavily on some topics and neglected others completely,” added another.
Previous classes had the odd test-taker who scarcely studied at all, but who focused intently on the seminar content and made it through the exam. Maybe it’s the volume of content in the modern CBA, or maybe it’s the constraints of an online platform, but that doesn’t seem like a viable strategy anymore. Get prepared, or prepare to fail. “They move extremely fast during the seminar and you could tell a few people at the seminar and other study sessions were swimming in deep water,” texted one participant.
As for the time on task, there was a sharp divide between those who felt they needed drastically more time and those who finished plenty early. “I (took all three hours) but took about 45 mins or so to review,” said one. “Time wasn’t really an issue for me,” said another. “I think if you study and take the notes, three hours is an ample amount of time.” Still another: “I finished with time remaining and didn’t feel I bombed it.” On the other hand: “
Naturally, there are tradeoffs to the convenience of at-home testing, and some test-takers experienced significant technical difficulties. One participant who wasn’t in the most connected area of the country lost his signal completely, leaving him no option but to suspend his exam while he drove around frantically, looking for reliable wi-fi. Another, despite completing all the pre-checks weeks in advance, found out just minutes before the exam that a “pairing error” precluded connection with the testing system, necessitating a knock on a neighbor’s door. When the neighbor’s computer proved unreliable, the test-taker hit the road to find another friend with a computer, but issues remained. A re-test has been offered by the Players Association, and could be in the future. “I’m sick about my experience,” said the frustrated prospective contract advisor.
The online registration and proctoring process also presented issues to some (“absurdly stupid check-in process”) while others were complimentary (“seamless. . . no issues with Proctor).
In the NFLPA’s defense, this year’s test-takers were spared hundreds of dollars and the troubles of travel; it would have been naïve to expect a completely smooth process. While we at ITL have never held back on our criticisms of the PA when warranted, maybe some grace is allowed given the size of the class, the challenges of our pandemic-addled society and the vagaries of the new online system. With any luck, next year will be a better year.
The reviews on ITL’s study guide and two practice exams were decidedly less mixed. “You guys prepared me pretty well,” texted one happy client. “I would highly recommend test-takers to thoroughly review your guide well before the seminar,” added another, while a third said, “I know I wouldn’t have been as close to ready without your materials.”
Catching Up: Bill Baker spent 26 years in the NFL scouting for the Falcons, Seahawks, Steelers, Dolphins and Redskins while working for names like Herock, Glanville, Erickson, Holmgren, Mueller and Saban before finishing up as an assistant coach under Derek Dooley at Tennessee. We caught up with him last month.
· Where are you living and what are you doing now?: “I played at Tennessee, played my college career there. My wife and I have moved back to Knoxville and we are here permanently now. It only takes me about 15 minutes to get back to what used to be my office. I kinda wish I’d stayed on a little bit longer than I did (as an assistant coach at Tennessee), but I’ve retired now, and I’m running the grandkids around and taking care of them.”
· Do you miss the job? What do you miss most?: “I loved it, to be honest with you, and like I said, I was in it for 26 years, and while I was in it I traveled a lot, from the east coach to the west coast, and flew a lot. I was a Flying Colonel (the precursor to frequent flier programs) with Delta. It was very enjoyable. The camaraderie of going to a school and seeing coaches you know, but not only at the school, but when other scouts came in, and the camaraderie you had with all of them, is what made it so much fun. But I spent a lot of time on the road and up late at night doing reports, and I stayed with it 26 years, and it got old, it really did.”
· Do you keep in touch with any of your former colleagues?: “Ron Labadie and I were together in Miami, and we’re very good friends, always have been. Ken Herock was my GM in Atlanta, and I stay in touch with him. Randy Mueller, I stay in touch with (him), and Bill Parcells was not my GM but he was a special assistant and I knew him. (A lot of my friends in scouting) stay in touch and talk to each other quite a bit. Since you knew so many people, you try to stay in contact with them.”
· Do you go to any live games (HS/college/pro)?: “Oh yeah. At Tennessee, I’m a Lettermen’s Club board member, so of course I attend all of UT’s home games and a few away. I go to high school games here in Knoxville. My granddaughter is a freshman at Farragut high school, and she’s a good soccer player, and I go to the high school football games that are really the big games.”
· Are there any players you love to watch and/or feel close to due to your work in the game?: “(Mahomes) is just a fabulous football player and a tremendous quarterback. He’s very special, really, really special. Others, no, I haven’t kept up with too many of them. I watch them every Sunday, but he’s the one that’s so special.”
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.
CGS innovates again: The Fort Worth, Texas-based College Gridiron Showcase had its biggest year ever in 2021, and the future looks even brighter with a new feature slated to be added in 2022. The CGS has partnered with Georgia-based BodyData to conduct on-location DXA scans on all 2022 participants. Every player, including free agents who attend CGS’ Pro Gridiron Showcase, will receive a DXA scan that will be provided to NFL teams. A DXA body composition analysis scan is a full-body scan using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (measuring the absorption of energy from two different X-rays to assess the density of living tissue) that provides detailed baseline health and fitness data by showing precise location of lean muscle, fat, and bone density.The CGS gives BodyData its first opportunity to conduct scans with its new mobile units. “Quite simply, our event was built on giving teams the most comprehensive access and information they need about players to effectively evaluate their potential draft picks and signings,” said CGS Executive Director Jose Jefferson. “Allowing for honest, open evaluation of players both on and off the field benefits participants and teams alike by providing more substantive data to help players improve and teams to assess talent.” For more information, visit www.cgsallstar.com.
Next week: The exam is (finally) over, but the work doesn’t stop. Not with so much going on off the field (not to mention in training camps and, soon, on college practice fields). Actually, the work does stop on one front: the ITL Rising Contract Advisors Newsletter is over at least until we have the results of this year’s agent exam. As for the rest of the football industry, we’re still hammering away on several projects – a new book on the 2016 NFL Draft, an updated website, agent changes lists going back two months and maybe even a new way to find out which scouts are the NFL’s best evaluators – and we hope to get at least some of them done before we get too far into the new season. We also have work to do sniffing out the team-by-team front office changes that went unannounced; as we scan the league, we’ll plug everything we find into the Scouting Changes Grid. It also goes without saying that we will continue to curate every new endorsement deal, every partnership and every other detail related to our NIL Grid. Speaking of NIL, we’re working on a feature of interest to everyone who took the agent exam this week, and whose motor is already running (even though we’re weeks away from knowing who passed and who failed). For everything else, we’ll have our Rep Rumblings, the Succeed in Football blog, and anything else our members need. If you’re part of the football community – and especially if you’re a member of the ITL family – we’re at your service.
