Aug. 21-27

Sunday night, former Memphis linebacker and Rams area scout Danton Barto passed away at 50. We saw him as a special man who truly embodied the passion for the game that unites everyone who reads this newsletter and works in this space. Maybe you weren’t so fortunate as to have met Danton, and if so, read on. We want to tell you about him.

To those of us at Inside the League, he was a person who never said no. When we asked him to write scouting reports for agents for very little compensation, he was glad to do it. He wrote dozens of reports as part of our staff of free-lance former NFL scouts in the fall of 2017, helping countless agents draw a bead on which prospects had “the goods” and which ones didn’t. He also live-tweeted college football action for ITL during a short-lived social media experiment we tried. When we were putting together a seminar for aspiring scouts at the College Gridiron Showcase, not only did Danton volunteer, but he stole the show; today, some of his presentations live on at our YouTube page. Not only did he address several topics related to the business, but he shared his always-interesting, always-original opinions, told great war stories and provided insights on his personal experiences as a way of helping others learn from his mistakes. Many of the passages that didn’t make it onto YouTube instead landed in the pages of Scout Speak, our book on the industry. Then, a year ago, we asked him to guest on a Zoom session, again for aspiring NFL scouts. Once again, he knocked it out of the park, speaking and answering questions for more than an hour. Read some of his thoughts in this blog post. 

To people interested in learning the scouting industry, he was a constant source of counsel and encouragement. As recently as a couple weeks ago, he was tweeting about the value of evaluating preseason games, the devaluing of pure 3-4 nose tackles in the league, why a scout shouldn’t automatically dismiss a cornerback who’s a little shy on tackling, and how he grew in admiration for lighter tackles. He had become a regular guest on Ric Serritella’s daily show on the SI.com platform, The State of Football, where he would answer questions about evaluation and about the game in general (Ric eulogized Danton in the opening minutes of Tuesday’s show here). “Always willing to help someone,” tweeted NFL agent Jim Krenis. “Flew together from Memphis once to a game when I was a new agent and he was a scout with the Rams. Our conversation ranged from family to football, and the time flew! RIP.” Aspiring NFL scout Sam Cassin tweeted, “Danton was one of, if not the first, well known and successful scouts to follow me back on here. Forever grateful for the knowledge and insight he provided others and I. Rest In Peace DB.” There are plenty more accounts of his kindness in responses to this tweet.

To his close friends and associates, well, we’ll let them speak for themselves. 

  • “We go way back to 1985 at Ruckel Junior High. We were teammates and really good friends, probably one of my best friends growing up in Niceville, Fla. As a football player, and this is my 33rd year in college or pro football, and I still haven’t been around a guy who was tougher on the field or more passionate about the game of football. I’m 50 years old now, and I’ve spent 22 seasons in the NFL, so that’s a lot of ball. As a football player, his accolades are well-documented. He had one Division I offer out of high school. He was a little shorter, probably not big enough, probably not fast enough, but (Memphis assistant coach) Rick Trickett recognized his talent, and he gave him the opportunity at Memphis, and he’s still the all-time leading tackler there almost 30 years later. So his accolades on the field speak for themselves. As an Arena Football coach, he won a championship, and his (work) at the NFL level started there. He was always calling (Rams GM) Les (Snead), and was always beating the bushes for his players, and Les knew him from his days with the Falcons and respected his passion and work ethic. When the Arena league dissolved, we knew we’d be adding a few scouts, and I mentioned to Les that he was available, and (Barto) volunteered for 3-4 months in-house, and kinda earned that right to be hired. He definitely had an eye for talent, and did a heck of a job. He knew football and was a very good evaluator.” – Taylor Morton, Senior Personnel Executive, Rams






If you knew him and would like to contribute to the GoFundMe account set up to help defray medical costs, go here. As of this writing, the fund had only achieved about half of its goal of $20,000. We’re told a memorial service has been tentatively set for Thursday, Sept. 16, though we have no further details. 

At Inside the League, we’re working on a more lasting way to remember Danton. Details next week. In the meantime, here’s a look at what else we saw, heard, read and said about the business of college and pro football this week.

Floyd Reese, 1948-2021: It was a hard week for the scouting community as longtime NFL executive Floyd Reese also passed away. From 1994 to 2006, he was GM of the Titans, and among players he drafted were Steve McNair, Eddie George, Jevon Kearse and Vince Young. Reese coached for the Houston Oilers for four seasons before moving to the team’s front office. He also spent one year as an advisor for the Patriots. He was a well-respected evaluator whose leadership was part of the reason the Titans went to the Super Bowl in 2000. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends. 

Oops: Obviously, we at ITL are not good at math. Exhibit A: In last week’s newsletter, we bricked our total scouts per team by adding the college and pro scouting subtotals into the overall count, pretty much doubling each team’s total number of evaluators. We’ve corrected Friday’s report. What we found out is that, though not doubling, scouting departments did rise by about a scout-and-a-half per team (20.3 in 2020 vs. 21.7 this year). Our (incorrect) numbers last week were that average number of scouts was 40. Sorry about that.

Catching Up: Daniel Kelly, 47, worked as a pro scout for the Jets from 1998-2002, where he was hired by Bill Parcellsand worked for Scott Pioli during his time running New York’s pro department. We caught up with him this week.

  • Where are you living and what are you doing now?: “I am living in Key West, Fla., now, and right now I am writing for Sports Illustrated’s Detroit Lions (site), Draft Diamonds, and (I’m) on podcasts regularly around the world sharing my story that I wrote in my book, Whatever it Takes: The True Story of a Fan Making It Into the NFL, and am doing everything I can to get a second chance in the National Football League.” 
  • Do you miss the job? What do you miss most?: “Miss it? That is an understatement! Absolutely, I miss it. I really miss it. I love scouting. I last interviewed in Washington in 2019 with team President Bruce Allen four months before he was dismissed. Everything was a go until that fateful black Monday. It broke my heart. In the weeks between my interview and black Monday, I wrote 70- to 90-page advance scouting reports on all of the Redskins’ upcoming opponents as my ‘audition.’ I still have the same energy level for the game today as I had as a kid. Whenever I am around it or doing it, my energy level goes through the roof. What do I love most about it -- grinding film. Ten hours of grinding film feels like 30 minutes to me. I absolutely love every second of it as I fill up notebooks full of notes.” 
  • Do you keep in touch with any of your former colleagues?: “Yes. I do keep in touch with my best friend from the league, Lionel Vital, who is the (Senior Personnel Executive) with the Dallas Cowboys. Lionel took me under his wing from Day 1 at the Jets and we have been as close as brothers the past 25 years - - talking every day of the week, sometimes several times a day. He is a dear friend of mine.” 
  • Do you go to any live games (HS/college/pro)?: “I have not had a chance to go to any games living down here in Key West. We are closer to Cuba than we are to a Walmart. We are down in Jimmy Johnson land. However, I have the NFL Game Pass and my wife, Samantha, and I are at this cool sports bar by the marina watching the games every Sunday. I grind a lot of film for my SI articles and evaluations with Draft Diamonds. I prefer film anyways over going to the games, because the rewind button does not work live at the games.” 
  • Are there any players you love to watch and/or feel close to due to your work in the game?: “Players I love to watch - love is a strong word, I always say go with the guys you love. To name a few of the guys I love in the game today, (Washington QB) Taylor Heinicke, (Texans QB) Deshaun Watson, (Browns WO) Jarvis Landry, (Packers WO) Davante Adams, (Vikings DE) Danielle Hunter, (Cowboys DE) Demarcus Lawrence, (Seattle SS) Jamal Adams, (Dolphins QB) Tua Tagovailoa and (former Jaguars TE) Tim Tebow - - dynamic guys who are all heart and play with extremely high energy and passion.” 

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.

NIL Night School: Thursday night, we welcomed Trevor Swenson of Dynamic Talent International to speak with dozens of this month’s test-takers about an exciting (but often poorly understood) new part of player representation. Trevor went through several slides discussing the steps necessary to create a sustainable business relationship with today’s college football player. We have an overview of Trevor’s talk in this week’s blog post, but if you want to catch his whole presentation, click here to watch it on YouTube.

Agents by Total Clients: This week, we did our monthly sweep of the top contract advisors in the game based on their active client list (as always, per NFLPA rolls). We counted 139 contract advisors with at least 10 players in the league (though that number is sure to dip by next month with cuts ahead soon), with 24 agents with at least 30 clients and 57 with at least 20. Dig into the numbers here.

Rep Rumblings: This week, we had three reports. Monday, we took our first look at the loss of our friend and former Rams scout and took a look at a major agency that is now part of a major marketing firm, a first that could become commonplace soon. Wednesday, we looked at the new location and date for the Hula Bowl, a former NFL scout who’s found a new place in the game, and a longtime contract advisor who changed agencies. Then, on Thursday, we looked at some top prospects with family members in the league (and their relatives’ representatives), had new scouting moves, and looked at two big firms making big NIL moves. Review all our Rep Rumblings reports here.

Next week: We’ve got college football this weekend! We’ve got NFL games (that count) in less than two weeks. It’s a good feeling to have football back. We’ll spend this week making our final preseason updates to our Scouting Changes Grid in anticipation of the new schedule. We expect to find a few last moves that have previously escaped us, and they’ll show up in our Rep Rumblings. We’ll also be there to round up any other agency moves, NIL signings or all-star updates; we saw all three this week. Any new name, image and likeness news will be rolled into our NIL Grid, as always. We’ll also go under the hood on five other schools (SMU, Southern Mississippi, Stanford, Syracuse and TCU) in our Profile Reports, which will push us across the 100-school line (30 to go!). We will also look at the industry from a professional perspective in our weekly blog, Succeed in Football. We’ll also be getting ready for our first-ever vote on the best NFL scouts in the business, which we’ll kick off next week in our Friday Wrap. We’re also hoping to catch up on our Agent Changes; we’re now three months behind, which is way too far. Hopefully, it will be a productive week. Don’t forget, we’ve got good stuff on YouTube, Amazon, Audible and iTunes, too. Enjoy the games this weekend, say a prayer for our troops in Kabul, and make sure to check in with us (frequently!).