As we all know, we just completed what was a far-from-typical May, and that's every bit as true in the football world as it was in the world at large. 

 

Though there hasn't been the usual rash of hiring and firing that usually takes place post-draft, we still wanted to take a snapshot of modern scouting departments. We believe it gives us a look at the makeup of front offices and it continues our analysis of where the

	Not every scouting department is built the same, and it's not always easy to determine the best formula.

industry is going. So that's what we did today. 

 

It's our first look at how departments were built  since we did it in August 2018, and we think you'll see that the numbers and makeups have changed, as well as the philosophies. 

 

It wasn't easy, and there was a fair amount of guesswork involved. Before we dig into it, here are some of the presumptions we had to make to fit everything into an appropriate box.

Here's what we found.

Make sure to check out all our numbers  here to see where your team stands. On the other hand, if you're hoping to be a scout someday, make sure you know which teams have needs and which ones don't. In the meantime, here's a look at what else we saw, heard, read and said in the world of college and pro football this week. 

 

Succeed in Football: We're focused, as always, on trying to help people break into the business, whether you're an aspiring scout or agent, or whether you're a vendor or business owner who wants to bring new services and products to NFL players. That's one reason why we asked longtime Friend of ITL Ric Serritella to put together a sort-of 'sizzle reel' designed to tell our story. It came out really well, and you can check it out  here. But there's more. We're also working on a new program that brings former NFL GMs together with the next wave of GMs in a Zoom setting to have a real heart-to-heart discussion on leadership, management, decision-making and all the things they don't tell you before you get to sit in the GM seat. We've got plenty of other exciting things to discuss, as well, and we touch on several of them in this week's blog post at  Succeed in Football. 

 

ITL GM Academy: We're more than a week away from kicking off our first-ever program designed specifically for active, director-level scouts and evaluators. We'll bring an intimate group together (via Zoom) with four former NFL GMs:  Doug Whaley (Bills),  Jerry Angelo (Bears),  Tim Ruskell (Seahawks) and  Billy Devaney (Rams). As with all our programs, we'll keep it to a very small group and we won't record anything to encourage candor and truth. We still have room for two more. If you're an NFL evaluator and you're interested in joining us, let us know.

 

Where's the newsletter?: Normally, the first week of June heralds the return of the  ITL Rising Contract Advisors Newsletter and another year in our series devoted to helping walk first-year agents through a challenging 12 months. However, this hasn't been a typical year, and we still don't have a hard date on when the 2020 NFLPA exam will be held. We've already gathered the success stories of more than a dozen first-year agents who landed players on NFL rosters despite overwhelming odds. However, until we know when the test will be, we're holding off on getting started. Our goal is to kick off the new series later this month. In the meantime, if you're an aspiring contract advisor, we appreciate your patience.

 

The manuscript is done: Earlier this week, we turned in a 40,000-word manuscript for our next book ( ScoutSpeak: Earning, Doing & Thinking About the Job of an NFL Evaluator)  to the editor. The next step will be to format it, choose a cover, and otherwise proceed through the steps. We're hoping to have it to the publisher by the middle of the month and on Amazon (like our other book) by late June or early July. By the way, the foreword is written by Saints Assistant GM Jeff Ireland, and he's got some fascinating stories about his days with the Cowboys as well as his work in New Orleans. We can't wait until it's rolling off the presses. Coming soon!

 

Agent changes:  This week, we completed the April-to-May list of players who have moved to a new contract advisor. We counted 17 changes. Some of them were the result of agents leaving agencies, and others were simply due to the usual attrition from small firms to bigger firms. This month's edition of changes is unusual because it features four offensive linemen, a normally very stable position. Make sure to take a look, and if you want more, review all our changes over the past 10 years-plus here.

 

Rep Rumblings:  This week, we had three reports. On Monday, we looked at the developing perception among scouts that they might find closed doors at colleges this fall. What does it mean? How will things change? We also had recruiting buzz and lifted prayers for legendary former college head coach Pat Dye, who passed away at 80 years old this week. On Tuesday, we looked at the pace of scout hiring for one team, a top prospect for '21 and his agent search, and passed along the prospects for another major league. Finally, on Thursday, we checked out a search firm's work at Boston College, the breakdown of this year's draft class, the buzz about the agent search for another top player, and more. Get a look at all our reports this year here.

 

Next week: What's your plan for the next seven days? Probably, like us, you'll be spending some time in prayer and doing what you can to help heal our hurting land. If we're all going to find a way forward, it starts with those of us who have shared the field with others who don't look like us, and win or lose, walked off as brothers in the fraternity of football. In the meantime, let's keep moving forward and building together. Slowly, football is returning and we're learning what the game will look like on both the  college and  pro fronts this fall. We'll sort out everything we hear and tell you what it means in our  Rep Rumblings. We'll also use our weekly blog,  Succeed in Football, to shine a light on the underserved markets or the out-of-the-way pathways into the game. We'll also have five more editions of our  ITL Team Scouting Reports:  Kentucky, Liberty, LSU, Louisiana Tech and  La.-Lafayette. We'll also continue to move forward on our book, the  ITL GM Academy and a few other projects we're considering.  In the meantime, it's no less true today than it has been for the past several weeks: we're all in this together. If you are reading this, you are part of the ITL family, and like you, we will do anything for family. Have a blessed weekend, and by all means, be safe.