Sept. 17-23

As you know, if you’ve received this newsletter for a while, we like to review the progress of mock drafts as the college season wears on. It’s not the same as polling actual NFL scouts on the top players in the class, but it’s a fun way to get a simple snapshot of who’s rising and who’s falling among the top 50 prospects each year. We did our first review earlier this summer. We like to do our second scan around Week 3 of the season. 

Here’s the big board of picks and who has who where. Here are a few thoughts about the top 32 (well, 31 this year after Miami’s offseason hijinks) as predicted by Pro Football Network (PFN), Pro Football Focus (PFF), CBS’ Chris Trapasso, ESPN’s Matt Miller, ESPN’s Todd McShay, The Athletic’s Dane Brugler and Walter Football. Keep in mind that, at this point, some services have only offered up a Top 25 prospects list, and some haven’t posted since this summer, so we’re doing the best with what we have.

Here’s what we found:

Unanimous: Nine players made all seven boards. It’s a rather small number, but pretty typical of this time of year, when only the top players have really cemented their respective statuses. The nine are Alabama DE Will Anderson (average draft slot 1.14), Ohio State QB C.J. Stroud (2.57), Alabama QB Bryce Young (3.71), Georgia DT Jalen Carter (4.14), Georgia DC Kelee Ringo (9.29), Ohio State WO Jaxon Smith-Njigba (9.86), Clemson DE Myles Murphy (10.43), Clemson DT Bryan Bresee (12.43) and LSU WO Kayson Boutte (12.71). 

No. 1: Anderson, who has a pick-six, two sacks and 15 tackles during Bama’s 3-0 start, has supplanted Stroud as the experts’ selection for the top of the draft. Only Pro Football Focus – who has Alabama’s Young as its No. 1 – snubbed Anderson. Last time, only ESPN’s Miller had Anderson as the top pick, while PFN, McShay, Brugler and Walter Football all had Stroud as the first player off the board. 

Year of the QB?: In July, 10 QBs got at least one mention in the first round, with Kentucky’s Will Levis, Miami’s Tyler Van Dyke and Florida’s Anthony Richardson getting at least four votes each (in addition to Stroud and Young). This time, only seven passers are getting such acclaim, and only Levis is still as popular (he’s increased his status with six of seven services placing him in the top 32). 

Salute: The odds seem to be getting better that we’ll see our first service academy player drafted in the first rounds since the 40s. Two services (PFF and ESPN’s Miller) had Carter in the first round in July, but today, four services (CBS’ Trapasso and ESPN’s McShay, along with PFF and Miller) have him in the top 32. PFF has him highest at No. 11.

In and out: We had 21 players make their first appearance in a 2023 mock draft this week, with Alabama DC Brian Branch the only one to get two votes (Brugler had him at 26 and PFF at 29). On the other hand, 26 players were jettisoned (including, sadly, North Carolina DC Storm Duck). Among them were BYU QB Jaren Hall, Oklahoma OT Anton Harrison, LSU DT Jaquelin Roy and Miami (FL) OT Zion Nelson, all of whom showed up on at least three boards last time. CBS’ Trapasso had Nelson at No. 4, and PFF had Roy at 7.

Outliers: ESPN’s McShay is not usually especially adventurous, but this time, he was one of two prognosticators with seven players on Day 1 that no one else saw there. He liked Wisconsin DT Keeanu Benton, Penn St. DC Joey Porter Jr., Alabama WO Jermaine Burton, Miami (Fla.) DC Tyrique Stevenson, Minnesota OC John Michael Schmitz, LSU DE Ali Gaye and Notre Dame FS Brandon Joseph as first-rounders. On the other hand, Walter Football was just as original as ever. Walter’s seven lone wolves were Alabama FS Malachi Moore, Notre Dame OC Jarrett Patterson, Texas A&M DC Jaylon Jones, TCU OG Steve Avila, Tennessee WO Cedric Tillman, Maryland WO Dontay Demus Jr. and Ohio St. SS Josh Proctor. 

We’ll have another look in November. What will we find? Will Washington’s Michael Penix be this year’s out-of-nowhere QB? Will Anderson run away and hide as the consensus No. 1 pick? Will Ohio State’s Paris Johnson or Northwestern’s Peter Skoronski (or someone else) assert himself as the top tackle in the draft? We’ll have a better idea in a couple months. 

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.

  • Catching Up: Greg Seamon, 67, coached all over college and pro football before landing with the Bengals in 2003, where he spent time on the college and pro side for 13 years before finishing up his NFL career coaching with the Browns. Along his coaching trail he spent time at Navy, where he crossed paths with a truly bad walk-on linebacker who went on to start a website devoted to the business of football. We caught up with him this week.

  • Where are you living and what are you doing now? I’m living just outside Lawrenceburg, Ind., an area I grew up in. It’s generally the Cincinnati metro area, about three miles from Ohio on the Ohio River. It’s literally a tri-state area. This is where I grew up and have family and friends. I’m doing some consulting work with Pro Football Focus, which keeps me involved. So I’m doing a little stuff with them, staying in touch with coaches and players, helping out where I can and playing a pretty fair amount of bad golf.”

  • Do you miss the job? What do you miss most? “I do miss it. There’s a camaraderie among scouts because you’re all in the same spots, same hotels, seeing each other at the same universities, so relationships develop. But mostly it’s the interactions with players and coaches and seeing the potential in kids and trying to help them along, find a place for them, that’s really the gratifying part of it, to see them go up the chain and where they’re going. You feel like you’re a part of their development that helps them along their way.”

  • Do you keep in touch with any of your former colleagues? Yeah. Now we’re all getting older, but (former scouting executive) Tom Ciskowsky down in Dallas is a guy I was close to, and (former scouting executive) Jim Lippincott. Lippy and I worked together all those years with the Bengals, and then (Bengals DPP) Duke Tobin and I are close. Those are the guys I stay in touch with.” 

  • Do you go to any live games (HS/college/pro)? “Nope. With the work I’m doing with PFF, I have the same access to college and NFL games I had as a scout and coach. I got my football office set up in my basement, and through my computer and PFF, I can watch everything and watch it in the ways I want to watch it, if it’s just runs, just passes, down and distance, so I see a lot more football than I would if I were spending hours in a stadium somewhere.”

  • Are there any players you love to watch and/or feel close to due to your work in the game? “Well, a number of the guys I scouted are now toward the end of their career, but (former Bengals, current Bucs OH) Giovani Bernard, he’s one of my favorites. From North Carolina, just a really brilliant football player and well-rounded player. I enjoyed scouting him. Then, I didn’t directly scout (former Bengals and Rams OT) Andrew Whitworth, but I was part of the interview process with Whit, and he was such an intelligent guy and a class act, and though I wish the Bengals had won, I could not be happier that Whit went out with a Super Bowl trophy. I mean, former Walter Payton Man of the Year, a real pro, a great person, and a Hall of Fame-level player. You’d like to see all the guys you scouted do well, but some of them are really exceptional. Those guys really stand out for me.”

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.

Class is (almost) in session: At ITL, we are all about helping people make their passions profitable. One way to do that is to figure out how to exploit the new NIL era, but with laws limited, varied or non-existent and expectations often outpacing reality, where do you go for answers? We have an idea. We’re bringing back Vantage Management Group’s Sammy Spina, one-half of our Aug. 30 NIL session, to lead a four-session class conducted over two weeks next month. Dates will be Tuesday and Wednesday of the first and second weeks of October (Oct. 4-5 and 11-12) at 8 p.m. ET. Sammy will discuss everything associated with how to make money in NIL and pass along relevant documents. Our goal will be to get answers to the questions posted in this week’s blog at Succeed in Football. If you are an active NFLPA-licensed contract advisor weighing digging into name, image and likeness further, but not sure you want to, our sessions will be for you. On the other hand, if you came up a little short on this summer’s exam and but still want to work in player representation, join us to see if NIL is the road you want to travel. Whether or not the answers you get are the ones you want, for $100 plus tax, we think it’s a worthy venture. All attendees will get the documents, outlines and presentations Sammy uses to teach the class, as well as access to the private YouTube videos for each class. Life is about learning, and whenever you can get answers from someone who’s already blazed a trail, it saves a lot of time and trouble. Make sure to register so we can put you on the attendance list. Maybe NIL is your way to success in football.

Even more learning: If you’re an ITL client, you’re welcome to join us in October for our first Zoom session specifically for rookie contract advisors. There’s no cost as we’ll cover our recommended path for you if you’re new to the business. We’ll discuss recruiting strategy and hear from agents who had instant success, and hear how they did it. Last year, we held our first sessions for rookie agents, and we got great feedback, so we’re back for more. We’ll have a date and time in next week’s Wrap. In the meantime, make sure you’re part of the ITL team so you’re eligible for this no-cost Zoom. Hope to see you next month!

Agent Changes: This week, we presented the changes in representation for the August-to-September period, counting 14 transitions since last month. Among those making the switch were some big names, such as Las Vegas’ Darren Wallerand New Orleans’ Alvin Kamara, who are each on their third agencies since their college days. It was a busier 30 days than the same time last year, when we identified only 10 changes. Make sure to check out all our reports going back more than a decade here.

Agents by Total Clients: Every year, the cut to 53 is accompanied by a significant reduction in the number of contract advisors with at least 10 active league clients. This month, we logged 116 reps with 10 or more players in the league as opposed to 148 last month. The number of agents with at least 30 clients dropped from 23 to 14, while those with at least 20 were at 57 last month but 42 this month. Check out all the totals for September here.

You don’t have to be a scout: Face it – evaluating players is one of the fun parts of being in the football business, and whether you’re a scout or an agent, forming opinions on players is part of the job. However, sometimes it’s better to rely on someone who’s done it for years, especially if you’re in player representation. At Inside the League, all our reports are written by former Titans Director of College Scouting Blake Beddingfield. Since 2017, he’s written thousands of detailed, one-page player reports for people in the industry, usually within 24 hours. For $100 plus tax, let Blake help you figure out which players you should be recruiting and which ones are worth a little extra investment of time and resources. What’s more, we’ve got access to film for anyone playing at any level of college football going back years. Ready to get a better handle on the player(s) you are considering working with? Reach out and let us help you refine your search for the next draftees. 

Next week: Now that we’re getting caught up on a few projects, it’s time to start getting our friends and associates ready for draft season. Meanwhile, we’re winding down on other fronts.

·      We’ll have five more reports in our Profile Reports series. This week, we’ll have Wake Forest, Washington, Washington State, West Virginia and Western Kentucky. Just eight to go.
·      Our next Succeed in Football will unpack our first Zoom for the 2022 NFLPA Agent rookie class. We’ll detail our guest speakers and a few bullet points on what we’ll discuss.
·      We’ll be back with four more Rep Rumblings reports. 
·      Final preparations will be under way as we get ready for our BART List voting for 2023. We’ll announce the results at our 2023 ITL Combine Seminar. 
·      We’ll also get ready for our coming NIL and rookie agent Zoom sessions.
·      After not getting to our 2022 NFL Draft by the Number this week, we’ll have it next week.
·      With our Know Your Scouts reports just around the corner, we’ll begin squaring away our next series.

That should be enough. Remember, knowledge is king. Your royal reading awaits.