May 21-27
May is when most teams lay the foundation for how the team will gather information for the next 11 months. This year has brought us a more active May since before the dawn of Covid, and this week was particularly eventful. Let’s take a look at some of the developments in the last seven days.
- Key part of one of the most storied programs of the 80s and 90s and a former NFL player.
- A Houston native who played in Miami, he’s got deep relationships in football’s richest areas.
- Has worked with two of the more successful teams in the league in Green Bay and Seattle, and played a critical role in the turnaround in Cleveland.
- Paid his dues on the road, then climbed steadily through the system over his two decades in scouting.
- A revered, respected and stable man of high character whose son, A.J. is an NFL scout in his own right with Buffalo.
Highsmith’s rise, unfortunately, came at a time when experience and football bona fides were waning as resume-enhancers and salt-and-pepper hair became a deal-breaker. Maybe he’s instrumental in a turnaround in Coral Gables and NFL decision-makers revisit their opinions on what qualities today’s general managers must possess. Whatever happens, we wish him much success with the ‘Canes.
New sheriff, new direction?: Maybe it’s not surprising that the Steelers’ rigorous vetting process of finding a replacement for GM Kevin Colbert ended with the elevation of their cap expert, Omar Khan. What is surprising, however, is that Khan’s arrival came with a new Assistant GM, Andy Weidl, as well as former Washington and Detroit scout and executive Sheldon White, whose role is as yet undetermined. The way we hear it, even more changes could accompany Khan’s arrival. Any change in the team’s scouting lineup and philosophy would be met with questions given the team’s run of success under Colbert and head coach Mike Tomlin, but these are uncertain times. A big part of the team’s winning tradition could be attributed to the fact that three members of the scouting staff (Dan Rooney Jr., Phil Kreidler and Mark Gorscak) arrived in the 90s and four more have at least 15 years in scouting. What’s more, of the 13 staffers who entered the ’21 season in the team’s scouting department, 11 are homegrown. That’s unheard of in modern NFL evaluation and, we think, an undeniable positive.
Bad, but not as bad: Our calculation last week that 599 years of scouting were released onto the street just since the start of the ’21 season drew quite a reaction, so we decided to see how this year’s turnover stacked up against last year, another busy offseason. Omitting those at the top and bottom of the industry (general managers and scouting assistants) as well as those who are primarily on the analytics or cap side, we counted 23 evaluators let go last offseason with a total of 336 years in the business. That’s an average of 14.6 years of service per ex-employee, including nine with 20-plus years in scouting. In other words, another bloody year for those with the most years of service, but nothing like this year. For what it’s worth, only three (new Bears scout Ryan Cavanaugh and executives Andy Dengler with Las Vegas and Matt Russell with Philadelphia) have made it back.
Just desserts: This week, we raise a glass to David Blackburn, the newly minted Director of College Scouting for the Ravens. A Raven since 2007, Blackburn was the team’s National Scout the last two years after 13 years covering the West Coast for the team. In September, he was voted a member of our first-ever BART List, our designation for the 10 best scouts in each conference after polling of NFL evaluators. He’s a member of the DePauw Athletics Hall of Fame after starting in the team’s secondary for four seasons. Along with Buffalo’s Alonzo Dotson and Chicago’s Breck Ackley, he’s the latest BART List winner (that we know of) who’s received a promotion this offseason, and there are more to come, we’re sure.
Let’s run down the other developments in scouting this week.
We counted 17 moves this week in the scouting community, bringing the total to 117 so far this year. Check them all out in our Scouting Changes Grid. They won’t be the last ones, and we’ll be here to chronicle and discuss them as they occur. Like you, we’ll be watching closely. 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: Chris Trulove, 51, spent 17 years in NFL scouting, finishing on the pro side with the Broncos. We caught up with him this week.
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Where are you living and what are you doing now?: “When I stopped scouting for the Broncos, my wife and I decided to stay in the Denver area to raise our Colorado family. Not too many other NFL teams in Colorado, so we found a new path. Today, I am a marketing manager for a large cyber security firm here in Denver.”
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Do you miss the job? What do you miss most?: “Missing the job is a bit of an understatement I must say. When you work for 17 years for one organization while having good success along the way, the job is not just a job. It’s a way of life and those around you become like family. I do miss that family. As for what I miss most, other than the great people I worked with, I would have to say, is simply no longer getting to be around football every day of my life. There are a lot of amazing sports out there, but I dare to say none compare with the amount of detail, preparation, camaraderie, and intensity required to make it to and win Super Bowls. The coordination needed is simply fascinating. To see grown men pull together on a daily basis for the weekly common goal is tough to find anywhere else. Might I say, getting paid to watch football every day and share my opinions about it was pretty cool too!”
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Do you keep in touch with any of your former colleagues?: “I don’t keep in touch with my former colleagues as much as I wish I did. That has never been one of my better strong suits. However, I am always thoroughly excited to hear from them or learn more about their lives and what they are all up to now as well. Maybe being involved in this project will kick start me to do a better job of keeping up with all my old friends.”
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Do you go to any live games (HS/college/pro)?: “Yes. I try to take my son to one Broncos game a year, and I do make my way to two or three local high school games a year. When I go, the atmosphere makes me feel at home. However, being in the stands still feels a little odd to me.”
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Are there any players you love to watch and/or feel close to due to your work in the game?: “Well, having been gone for 12 years now, those names are getting harder and harder to come by. I’d have to say at this point it’s less feeling drawn to players as it is the personalities around the game. Coaches like Kyle Shanahan and several on his staff, TV personalities like Terrell Davis, Shannon Sharpe, Mark Schlereth and Dominique Foxworth come to mind. I tend to tune in when those guys speak!”
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.
Let’s get serious: We are now well inside the 60-day window for the 2022 NFLPA Exam. If you’re a procrastinator, no judgement here, but it’s time to stop putting off studying. We are tentatively set for June 23 for our next online study session, and for those who joined us in our previous sessions, we are working on getting the videos uploaded to a site for further review. However, you don’t have to wait to get started. Our study guide is, without a doubt, the very best resource on the market for passing the exam, and it’s available right now. It’s $300 plus tax for now. We also have a practice exam, and when you get done with that one, a second one, as well. Bottom line, we want to help, and with a passing rate of around 40 percent last year, you’re probably gonna need it. For a review of all our services, click here.
Agents by Total Clients (May): This week, we rolled out our list for May. We counted 466 agents with at least one client, which is the high-water mark of the year with 90-man rosters populated with undrafted free agents and several draftees. Of those 466 contract advisors, 105 have at least 10 active clients, and we list them here. To be in the top ten, you had to have at least 30 clients (specifically, 32), and to be top 20, at least 24. Eight agencies were represented in the top 10, and 18 firms were represented in the top 20 (a total of 24 agents with five tied for 20). Dig into the numbers and find out who’s working with the most players by clicking here.
Hats off: Last weekend’s second annual 2022 Personnel/Recruiting Spring Clinic, held in Las Vegas and organized by Gaizka Crowley of UNLV and Lucas Gauthier of Colorado State, was a smash. Among schools we saw represented were Arizona State, Arkansas, Army, Charlotte, Colorado State, Harvard, Hawaii, Iowa, Maryland, Middle Tennessee, Minnesota, Mississippi State, North Carolina, North Texas, Northern Arizona, Sacramento State, Texas, Toledo, UNLV, Utah, Vanderbilt, Wisconsin and West Texas A&M, and there were many more. The roundtable discussions were boisterous and insightful, and the speakers had a lot to say about the industry based on their own experiences. Also, former Raiders Director of College Scouting Jim Abrams gave a great overview of modern scouting practices and why and how teams build out their staffs. We salute Gaizka and Lucas as well as the various sponsors, and we look forward to next year.
Opportunity knocks: While there are still questions about how to get a player onto an XFL roster, league officials are making the picture clearer, bit by bit. This week, we devoted our blog to addressing a few of the questions we’ve gotten from players and agents over the past couple week, with the questions getting much louder post-NFL Draft. Most of the post deals with timetables for naming key personnel, where to send information about potential XFL players and more. There are still questions, but the picture is getting clearer and there’s more information out all the time. We will continue to work with our partners at the new league to help make the path to XFL stardom easier. In the meantime, make sure you’re up to date on the latest here.
Here’s a look at what’s ahead in the coming week.
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We’re down two Agent Changes reports. We hope to get at least one of them done in the next seven days.
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The scouting changes won’t quit any time soon. Make sure you’re following us on Twitter and keeping up with each move on our Scouting Changes Grid.
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We’ll be back with analysis and the buzz we’re hearing on scouting transition in our Rep Rumblings.
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Our goal is to gather up all the UDFA and tryout info by the end of the coming week so we can update our NFL Draft by the Numbers totals for 2022.
- We’re getting farther and farther behind on our dissection of the ’22 draft, with all its reports and breakdowns, but we’re trying. Hopefully we can start making up ground this week.
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We’ll list the top pro prospects for Georgia, Georgia State, Georgia Southern, Georgia Tech and Hawaii as part of our Profile Reports series.
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As always, we’ll have another edition of the Succeed in Football blog which, hopefully, will encourage and enlighten everyone pursuing their place in the industry.
Also, just around the bend is the ITL Rising Contract Advisors Newsletter that touts the successes of the ’22 agent class members who are part of the ITL family. Want even more? The 2022 ITL Combine Seminar is posted on our YouTube page, so check that out if you want to revisit our night of awards and presentations on the business. We’re working on helping the XFL get the word out, too, on player acquisition and their talent pool, so look for word on that soon.
Have a blessed and safe Memorial Day, and don’t forget why we take a day to rest and remind ourselves of those who went before us, making the ultimate sacrifice. And if you’ve never given ITL a try, now’s a great time to get started.
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