Aug. 6-12
College football opened camp last week, and we’re just two weeks away from ‘zero week’ of the 2022 season. As scouts spread across the country and get their first looks at the ’23 class, we, like you, are excited that the game is back.
With that in mind, we wanted to get a first look at the 2023 draft class, so we asked several friends – former Titans college director Blake Beddingfield, former Falcons area scout Rodrik David, former Bears college director Greg Gabriel and one other former NFL national scout who wished to remain nameless – their initial impressions on the ’23 draft class. What follows is what they told us.
Former Titans Director of College Scouting Blake Beddingfield: “If you’re an NFL team with real needs, this is a year when you want to be in the top five, because after the top two QBs, top pass rusher, top running back and No. 1 tight end, the impact grades drop off. With that said, the top five players in the draft each have all-star ability and should impact a team in Year 1.
“Overall, the draft looks strong at tight end, defensive end, defensive tackle and, potentially, cornerback. I don’t see that one dominant player, but the depth and skill level at corner has the potential to create multiple players with future starting ability. Also, with the influx of transfers and talented prospects at schools like Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State and others, there will be many that jump on the scene quickly.
“At QB, there are two immediate starters and potential Pro Bowlers in Alabama’s Bryce Young and Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud. However, the best player in the draft will be Alabama DE/OB Will Anderson, a dominant rusher and immediate impact player. Anderson is talented, productive, and takes over games, and that will not change on the next level.
“Several others could vault into the top five, and Notre Dame TE Michael Mayer is one of them. Tight ends that can move around the offensive formation and create mismatches are highly valuable, and Mayer is one of those. Behind Mayer, several tight ends have dual impact ability but something to prove. Iowa’s Sam Laporta and Georgia’s Darnell Washington and Arik Gilbert could be first-rounders.
“Among impact players on offense, Texas OH Bijan Robinson is a strong runner with good receiving skills. Others, however, have more to prove. Receivers like Ohio State’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba and LSU’s Kayshon Boutte are getting plenty of buzz and have promise, but not enough consistent production or dominance to carry a first-round grade. At least not yet.
“Teams seeking immediate help up front might be in trouble. At this time, there isn’t a first-round tackle, guard, or center. Of course, that doesn’t mean a tackle won’t be drafted early, because there could be several drafted in the top 32. The last time an offensive tackle wasn’t taken in the first round was 1967.
“On the other side of the ball, a handful of defensive linemen with three-down potential will get a lot of attention from scouts. Georgia’s Jalen Carter and Clemson’s Bryan Bresee and Myles Murphy could all emerge as top-ten prospects. Each has the talent but needs to turn flashes into consistent production.
“As for late risers, who will be this year’s Travon Walker, an SEC prospect with marginal production but great physical tools? Or Derek Stingley, an ultra-talented player at a big-time school that missed multiple games with injuries? Who are this year’s Drake London, Ikem Ekwonu, Ahmad Gardner, Trevor Penning or Jameson Williams, all players that took off in 2022 and forced their respective ways into the first round? Who will be this year’s Cole Strange, the little-known guard/center from Tennessee-Chattanooga that only one NFL team had ranked in the first round? We won’t know for weeks, maybe months, but that’s what makes the NFL Draft so fascinating.”
Former Falcons area scout Rodrik David: “If you were one of the pundits that did not view 2022 as a ‘sexy’ draft due to lack of QBs, then 2023 will be more to your liking. A clear top two in Alabama QB Bryce Young and Ohio State QB C.J. Stroud gives way to names like Kentucky’s Will Levis, Florida’s Anthony Richardson, Boston College’s Phil Jerkovic and Houston’s Clayton Tune. Teams will have options with a very good QB class.
“After that, expect pass rushers to be a strength. Alabama’s Will Anderson has separated himself, but Texas Tech’s Tyree Wilson, Clemson DT Bryan Bresee and DE Myles Murphy, and Iowa State’s Will McDonald have the talent to be called Day 1. The edge and interior defensive line positions will again be a strong point for teams. From there, look for corners to be back in the first-round fold with a strong group that will have whatever flavor a team wants.
“On the other hand -- though it would be a stretch to call them weaknesses -- this year’s group of offensive linemen, linebackers and safeties have plenty to prove before they will be listed as a strength of the draft.”
A former NFL national scout (name withheld by request): “The 2022 draft class had depth, but I really thought the top of the class lacked in comparison to other years. The 2023 class is different. The strengths will be at QB, RB, TE, DL, and CB. Quarterback will obviously be the most scrutinized, and there will be more than one passer vying for QB1 status, but probably not as many as in 2021. Meanwhile, though running back has become devalued, there will be a couple names that have a chance to be in that 20-25 range in the first round, depending on the seasons they have. Also, this could be the first year since 2019 that a couple of tight ends go in the first round. The depth at this position looks good top to bottom.
“On defense, the line is riddled with talented pass rushers on the outside that can get to the QB. You also have interior guys that can rush; those players that can get pressure from the inside are becoming more valued each year. Also, cornerback has depth: I don’t see as many guys that could fall in the top ten, as happened this spring, but this position has good depth through the first couple rounds.
“The positions that are a little down this year are offensive line, wide receiver, linebacker and safety. Offensive line, in particular, doesn’t appear to be a strength. There are a couple who will go early, but depth is limited. Wide receiver is another spot that doesn’t have star power; there’s one guy at the top of the class, and you could argue that he doesn’t have No. 1 wide receiver traits. At linebacker, there will be some depth with back-end players that can grow into contributors, but no star power. Safety is another weak position. Two were drafted in the first round this spring, but this year could be more like ’21 where the first safety off the board goes on Day 2.”
Though we trust and respect the above opinions provided by our friends, even they would admit everything must be taken with a tremendous grain of salt. The very nature of the NFL Draft is that sometimes a transfer with one unimpressive season as a starter goes No. 1 overall, while the “lock” top pick drops to No. 5. Or, a player who doesn’t fit NFL size standards – and who was supposed to be killing time before entering the Oakland A’s farm system – winds up as No. 1 overall. Former Bears and Giants exec Greg Gabriel recounts those stories and more as he warns those of us ready to start filling out next spring’s picks in pen in this week’s post at Succeed in Football.
Catching Up: John Wooten, 85, spent almost 30 years in scouting with the Cowboys, Eagles and Ravens, but he’s probably more known in football circles for his efforts since retiring than for his considerable achievements beforehand. We caught up with him this week.
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Where are you living and what are you doing now? “I’m living in Arlington, Texas, about 20 miles south of AT&T Stadium. I crawled out of a sand trap about 20 or so years ago and I gave up golf, and my hips were hurting, my elbow, my shoulder, everything was hurting. But now I’m involved in a lot of other things. Biggest thing I’m involved in, when I retired in ’02, I started the Fritz Pollard Alliance, and that came from a study that Johnnie Cochran and Cyrus Mehri, a labor lawyer in Washington . . . did a study by Janice Madden out of the University of Pennsylvania and that study showed that minorities -- not just black guys, but minority people -- weren’t getting the opportunity to be head coaches in the NFL. Give credit to (former NFL Commissioner Paul) Tagliabue, he could have responded with a lawsuit that lasted for 80 years and nobody gets anything done, but he created the Diversity and Equity Committee, and more than that, had it chaired by the late Dan Rooney, (Steelers owner), and from there, you know about the Rooney Rule and everything else. Right now, I’m working on a project called the Fab 4 of 46, and what we’re asking the NFL to do is to do what Major League Baseball has done, and that is to honor the four black men that came into this league to reintegrate this league in 1946. What we’re asking is each team in the league, every stadium, the 30 stadiums that the NFL plays in, during the season, we’re asking the league to put the signage ‘Fab 4 of 46’ and list the four men that we’re talking about: Kenny Washington, Woody Strode, Bill Willis and Marion Motley. . . . We’re still not where we are as a nation, but (today’s players) don’t have to worry about being called all kind of names on the field, to the point where if the n-word is used on the field by anybody, black or white, that’s a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct policy. The thing is, you have to push people to do what’s right. It’s not that they’re against doing what’s right, but they know it creates a disturbance. But we went through a lot to give the officials the right, to call a penalty if anyone says the n-word.”
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Do you miss the job? What do you miss most? “Having to get out and go be away from your family approximately 85 percent of the time, because No. 1, as I started out as a scout for the Cowboys, I worked the East Coast in the fall, the West Coast in the spring. As hard as that was, I accepted it, because it told me that what (Cowboys officials) Gil Brandt, Tex Schramm and Tom Landry were doing what they had told me they would do. Tex called me, and I told him I didn’t want to coach, and he said, ‘no, we’re talking front office,’ and I said, ‘I don’t know anything about that.’ He said, ‘come down and visit with us, and let’s see how we like each other. If you like us and we like you, we will teach you to be a top executive in this league.’ That’s what they did. They taught me how to evaluate players, how to do contracts, the whole works.”
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Do you keep in touch with any of your former colleagues? “We talk all the time. We call each other, particularly because a lot of the guys, we’re all watching football. (Rams GM) Les Snead was at Auburn when he was a grad assistant and pro liaison at Auburn, and he did such a great job of being organized. Auburn had such good players I’d spend 2-3 days there, and I would say to him, ‘the way you’re organized, you ever think about the NFL?’ He said, ‘I’d love to,’ so I put him with a guy named Ron Hill, who was (at Jacksonville in scouting, then) at Atlanta. He took Les to Atlanta with him. I did the same thing with Ron I did with Les Snead, and brought (Hill) to Dallas, and then when (longtime NFL player and coach) Dan Reeves went to Denver with Reed Johnson, Ron and all those guys came with him. There’s nothing more important in this world than people. If you believe that, you won’t have any problems.”
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Do you go to any live games (HS/college/pro)? “Every Friday night, I‘m at a high school game somewhere in North Texas, or wherever we are here. I go to games, there’s three or four of us, we go to games. We don’t know the coaches or the players. We just know this is a good high school football game, and we’re there to watch it. . . Then of course, I watch college football all day Saturday, all the tames, all the ways across, starting in the east and going all the way to the west. The NFL, I watch it all. I got the (Sunday) Ticket and everything because I want to see who’s doing what. A lot of (NFL) teams will come in and they say, ‘you want to go to the game?’ and I say, ‘no,’ because you gotta be there two hours before the game, then two hours after. I got the Ticket, so I can watch all the games, and I tape all the games, then I go back and look at them. But I’ve been blessed. I just had a left knee replacement, so now I have both hips and both knees done, plus a pacemaker!”
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Are there any players you love to watch and/or feel close to due to your work in the game? “It happens a lot with me when I watch teams because there are so many guys that we know because of our push, our pull, and getting them the opportunity. . . You look at (Steelers head coach) Mike Tomlin and just smile. I probably pull for him more than I pull for anybody. (Steelers owner) Mr. (Dan) Rooney had already interviewed two other minorities for the head coaching job to take Bill Cowher’s place, and I said to Mr. Rooney, ‘I know you’ve interviewed two people, so we’re not talking about the Rooney Rule, but I’m asking you as a favor, take a look at the young guy (who’s defensive coordinator) in Minnesota. I’ve known him since was at William & Mary, and I’ve tracked him and watched him. All I’m saying is, just take a look at him before you pull the trigger.’ We all thought it would be (then-Steelers assistants) Ken Whisenhunt or Russ Grimm would get it. He said, ‘I’ll fly up there tomorrow. He called me back the next night and he said, ‘you’re absolutely right.’ . . . Those are the kinds of things that make you know you’re doing something that you know is the right thing to do. It just comes out right. . . . But when I sit and watch the games, I’m watching guys on the sideline, not as much players, but you got to love (Bucs QB Tom) Brady whether you like him or not. For years, I thought (former Colts QB Johnny) Unitas was the best QB, but I have to put Brady a little ahead of Johnny Unitas. . . You can see where Johnny U was ahead of him a little bit, but you have to go back and look at Brady and his ability to win championships.”
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.
Another CGSU “grad” goes big-time: We’re excited to announce that Joe Caulfield has accepted the position of Director, Player Personnel and Football Office Operations at the University of North Dakota. Joe was part of our inaugural CGSU class at the College Gridiron Showcase in Fort Worth last January and comes off a year in defensive quality control at Lafayette College. Joe has also served at Philadelphia’s St. Joseph’s Preparatory School on the high school level and did a stint in the front office of the then-Washington Redskins. We’re excited about this well-deserved opportunity, which follows another CGSU alumnus, Hajriz Aliu, who hired on as a scouting assistant with the Browns in June.
Good luck, guys!: With one former intern (ex-Rice DT Elijah Garcia) in camp with the Rams, another former intern (OB Josh Pearcy) and one current intern (DT De'Braylon Carroll) on NFL radars per today's Profile Report and another making things happen on the field and in the classroom (DC Tre'Shon Devones), we feel we have the best roster of current and former football-playing interns as any NFL and college specialty consulting service in the world, bar none. We are proud of our guys and wish them the best of luck as they prepare for the 2022 season.
No news: So, what’s going on with the NFLPA Exam, which is now more than three weeks in the rear-view mirror? We have no updates, though we’ve had a few dispatches in our Rep Rumblings this week. Hopefully very soon all those prospective agents who were unable to test will find out if they’ll get a second chance this summer or will have to wait until next year. Also, presumably, we’ll find out if those who did test will still get their results on normal schedule (sometime in early- to mid-September) or if they’ll have to wait until after a second exam’s results are recorded and scaled. We’ll continue to play the waiting game along with everyone else.
Rep Rumblings: This week, we had four reports. On Monday, we had a disturbing pseudo-trend involving Zoom and college personnel departments, the USFL’s latest NFL signees, recent NIL clients of one major agency and more. Tuesday, we looked at Penn State and the prodigious number of players and coaches with NFL ties. We also had a link to a highly interesting court filing and scouting changes. Wednesday, we looked at a West Coast trainer in trouble, a major agency’s new partnership with a marketing firm and the latest from the NFLPA re: the test. Finally, on Thursday, we looked at scouting vacancies in the USFL and other all-star-related scouting buzz, Purdue’s coaches with NFL backgrounds and more. Check out all of this week’s (and this decade’s) reports by clicking here.
Next week: We’ll be watching the latest dispatches from NFL and college training camps, along with you. When we’re not watching, we’ll be doing this:
· We’ll have five more team Profile Reports. This week, we’ll have Rutgers, San Diego State, San Jose State, South Alabama and South Carolina.
· We’ll have Agents by Total Clients for August, plus we’ll have the Agent Changes for the May to June time period.
· We’re putting the finishing touches on our next big Zoom opportunity. This one will deal with name, image and likeness, and feature three experts in the field. We’ll have more details in next week’s blog post at Succeed in Football.
· There’s a good chance the moves we uncover will wind up in our Rep Rumblings, along with all the other relevant news from the business of the game.
· In the Friday Wrap, we’ll talk to another former NFL evaluator in our Catching Up feature.
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