May 7-13
Though it’s been a bruising two weeks post-draft, with several teams shedding scouts and evaluators, there may be a small amount of light at the end of the tunnel. More on that later. First, let’s recap the week.
It’s not just because people who’ve been paying dues for a while are getting rewarded not just for their relationships, but for their work (“Mike first of all is a really good person who is a top-level relationship-builder” and who “combs his area thoroughly and flips over every rock,” said a former colleague of Derice). It’s also the sense we get that team officials have opened their minds a little to the idea of hiring scouts with experience, and who might have opinions and networks on their side more so than youth and energy. Consider:
- At least two teams have what one scout called “legit openings,” i.e., open jobs for which they are interviewing and considering scouts who have time and expertise in the area in question.
- One respected scout told us this week he’s gotten dozens of calls from teams about evaluators he’s worked with, seeking his opinion on them.
- One esteemed scout who changed addresses this month approached us last year about a job he was considering before ultimately turning it down. We can only presume that this year, the job he took offered pay commensurate with his experience level.
None of this means the basics of building a staff have changed. In this week’s blog post at Succeed in Football, we take a deep-dive look at the progression of scouting hires going back two decades. It’s important to recognize how the dynamics of team ownership, fantasy football, college degrees and NFL cost-cutting have combined to make young and sexy more attractive than old and experienced at hiring time. If you’re weighing a life in professional scouting; if you are a scout; or if you used to be one, we think it’s worth a read. And once you’ve read it, let us know if we are on target or missed the mark.
We’ll keep our ear to the ground. In the meantime, here’s a look at what else we saw, heard, read and said in the business of college and pro football this week.
Catching Up: Larry Bryan, 80, spent more than two decades in NFL scouting in addition to time spent coaching and scouting in the USFL. We caught up with him this week.
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Where are you living and what are you doing now? “I’m just trying to stay active. I’ve just been doing a lot of outrigger paddling over here, so I do that, and I go to the gym. I used to ride a bike quite a bit, but my knees are getting funky. My wife and I travel back and fourth to the mainland three or four times a year, so we’re back and forth quite a bit.”
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Do you miss the job? What do you miss most? “The thing I miss the most is all the fine people you become associated with. In scouting, when you’re with a team, there’s all the friendships you develop traveling around the country, all the different coaches, things like that. I miss that. I don’t miss . . . it’s changed so much. All the old scouts will tell you it’s not like it used to be. These guys now are just recreation majors. Some of them never really were involved in football, but someone got them into football, and then they last about two months. In the USFL days, you took your own projector and you put it under your seat in the plane, and you had to splice the film yourself. It’s gotten so much better over the years. Nowadays, with the pandemic, I don’t know what has transpired.”
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Do you keep in touch with any of your former colleagues? “Well, a lot of them are dead. All the guys I worked with. George Saimes, he passed away years ago, Ralph Hawkins and Gene Bates, too. But Miller McCalmon and I still stay in a good bit of contact. We talk once or twice a month. One of the other fellows, Don Deisch, he was with us in Houston. I haven’t from him since I retired. I think he was living in Washington, then he was living down in Florida, but those are the only guys that come to mind anymore.”
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Do you go to any live games (HS/college/pro)? “Oh yeah. I still, especially enjoy high school football and college. Pro football, I watch particular teams like everybody. You get a guy like Mahomes or Rodgers, you kinda follow them. I don’t have a really favorite team by any means. But I go to a lot of high school games. A couple of Arizona coaches were here a couple days ago, and I still talk to a lot of West Coast coaches because I made a lot of friends, and some of them come by when they’re in town.”
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Are there any players you love to watch and/or feel close to due to your work in the game? “I got my favorites. I remember watching (Green Bay QB) Aaron Rodgers, knowing his background, seeing him play all the way through college. He’s gotten a little strange over the years, but he’s a hell of a player. (Chiefs QB Pat) Mahomes has become a real fun guy to watch. I pick my games every Sunday. if I know it’s gonna be competitive and the backgrounds between the teams and the coaches on teh staff I’ve worked with, etc., (I watch).”
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.
Weekend in Vegas: Are you headed to Las Vegas next weekend for the Personnel and Recruiting Spring Clinic headed by UNLV’s Gaizka Crowley and UCLA’s Lucas Gauthier next weekend? We’re excited to head west and sit down with so many professionals for an evening of networking Friday followed by a day of instruction Saturday. If you’ll be there, we want to know. Respond to this email or reach us at nstratton@insidetheleague.com so we will know to look for you in Nevada. Got a topic you want to discuss? You’re probably not alone. Hopefully we can huddle with people interested in NFL scouting jobs to discuss tips and what we’ve heard regarding openings once Friday and/or Saturday, as long as it doesn’t interfere with the program, of course. In the meantime, safe travels and hope to see you in a few days!
A note on our practice exams: For weeks – maybe months – we’ve been promising a review of our practice exams and some changes made to get it current for this summer’s test. We dragged our feet for weeks, and we appreciate your patience while you waited. Well, we finally took a look, and what we found was, there are a few places where the question refers to previous seasons, but no changes in the CBA. In other words, cosmetic stuff, mostly. We’ll be changing a little wording and adding one question to Exam 1, but if you’re waiting for the upgrade, we urge you to proceed. There are no substantial changes coming, more of a little buffing than a new paint job. You can access Practice Exam 1 here, and if you’ve already mastered its, Practice Exam 2 is here. We’ll be making it a little prettier in the coming weeks, but we won’t be altering it in a major way, so get after it. Also, don’t forget about our study guide, which is without a doubt the best resource on the market. Link acting up? Contact us and we’ll send you a link that will work. We will do whatever it takes to get our 70-page PDF into your hands as smoothly and seamlessly as possible.
Make room for a Zoom: Speaking of exam prep, we’ll be convening for a cyber-session on Zoom Thursday at 9 p.m. ET. If you’ve joined us previously, you know the format. Our guest advisor, Chicago-based contract advisor Ian Greengross, will work several of the trickier problems you’ll face on this summer’s exam (and believe us, there will be plenty of tricky questions with a 38 percent passing rate last summer). Are you in? Cost is $50 plus tax if you’re not an ITL client, $20 plus tax if you are. Got questions? Let us know. Want to add topics for discussion? Let us know about those, too. Just respond to this email or reach out at nstratton@insidetheleague.com.
Rep Rumblings: This week, with the scouting world in complete flux, we had four reports. On Monday, we discussed we rounded up the news that broke over the weekend in Cleveland and Philadelphia, plus we looked at the latest developments in Miami, Houston, New York and a number of other hot spots. Tuesday, we discussed our new partner, the XFL (more on that in a minute) and we discussed developments in Dallas and other places. Wednesday, we discussed the latest additions in Philadelphia, plus we touched on coming movement (expected, at least) in Carolina, Los Angeles and Houston. Finally, on Thursday, we broke down this week’s Minnesota-to-Denver movement, plus we passed along the buzz out of Charlotte, Philly, Dallas, Chicago, Houston and Kansas City. We expect next week’s content will be more of the same as we’ve heard the action is far from over. Make sure to catch up on everything we’ve reported so far in our library of past Rep Rumblings.
Thank you!: You might have heard that we now count the XFL as an ITL partner, just as we’ve previously done with the FCF and other leagues. We’re excited and flattered to be part of a league that has a Rock-solid chance of sticking around, that is, unless another once-in-a-lifetime global pandemic shuts the world down. Many of our friends from around the game to offer congratulations, and we’ve done our best to acknowledge all the well wishes. However, if we missed anyone, we want to express our deepest thanks. We are excited about all our friends who are already part of the XFL’s brand of football as well as those who will be announced in the coming weeks, and we hope we can play some small role in providing new opportunities to young men seeking a chance to live their dreams on the playing field next spring.
A special salute: It’s been more than 14 years since Colorado linebacker Jordon Dizon and Virginia guard Ian Cunningham walked off the field in Honolulu’s Aloha Stadium after the completion of the 2008 Hula Bowl. Both arrived there at the invitation of ITL founder Neil Stratton, who served as the game’s Executive Director. We salute Jordon, who accepted a job as National Scout with the Eagles this week, and Ian, who rose to Assistant GM in Chicago earlier this year, and we’re eager to watch them continue to rise through the ranks. We always knew they had it, and we’re glad others have recognized their talent, both on and off the field.
Next week: Mini-camps are over, but the league isn’t on vacation yet, and neither are we. We’re running behind in several areas. We’re still five reports off our pace on our Profile Reports series, though at least we got all our reports in this week. We hope to catch up after going 0-for-the-week immediately following the draft. Colorado State, Connecticut, Duke, East Carolina and Eastern Michigan are on deck next week (and maybe more). As for our Agent Changes, we’re a report behind and hope to get our March-to-April report done in the coming seven days. Fingers crossed. But the biggest issue is our various grids and counts related to the ’22 draft class. There was a time when we could complete them all within days of the draft, but that was before we started tracking the various scouting changes across the game, and with action so fast and furious the last couple weeks, we’re just running behind. We hope to at least start knocking some of it out this week. Again, we’re hoping for a little luck to get this done. On the other hand, we don’t expect the scouting carousel to stop spinning this week, especially when we’ve heard of so many moves soon to be announced. Make sure you’re keeping up with our Rep Rumblings to make sure you’re up to date on everything that’s pending. Also, as we approach the two-month mark until the 2022 NFL Agent Exam, you might be starting to get a little antsy about preparing for it if you’re taking (or re-taking) the test. Don’t forget about our exam prep materials, the best in the business. You can get a little more information on them here. We’re also hoping to begin rounding up all the camp invites – UDFA and tryout – so we can really drill into the ’22 draft class. Once we’re done, we’ll be updating our Draft by the Numbers report. In short, lots going on even though the draft is over and the regular season is still months away. But you know, as we do, that the NFL and college seasons never truly end. We’ll keep burning the candle at both ends, and we know you will, too. Join the team and let’s do it together!
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