Latest / Scouting the League / Training Camp Time! NFL Pro and College Scout Workloads
Transcript
- Rodrik David: It's Monday, July 13th. Welcome to Scouting the League. We are about one week away from NFL teams across the NFL reporting. That doesn't mean the building is starting to kick back up as a lot of people are starting to get back in there, get everything set. And whether you want to or not, if you are working in that front office, your brain is probably starting to think more about the season. So what are the big things happening both on the pro side and the On the college side, I spent time in both, so I will talk about both today here on Scouting League. First, though, let me remind you to like, subscribe, share this podcast wherever you are listening and watching, everywhere where podcasts can be found, as well as that video portion. If you want to look at this beautiful face over on YouTube, check it out. Leave those comments. Let me know what you think. What questions do you have on everything happening across NFL front offices? Maybe it's on the college NFL front office. landscape as well. And Neil and I have a bunch of great college GM, college executives lined up in about the next month or so. So excited to talk to them as we get closer to the college season as well. Everywhere you every comment you have head over to Twitter. Let me know at right step A D V. That's where you can leave those comments, thoughts, notes, future guest content that you want. RSAfootball.com is my website where you can Read more about me, send me an email, let me know what you think. If you're a scout or you want to be a scout, head over to thescoutingcommunity.com for resources there. Whether you are an NFL scout that just maybe needs help. And again, yes, there are some NFL franchises that are not doing enough. Having a conversation later this afternoon, actually, with a front office executive. Really interested to see what that one's all about. But again, if you're an aspiring scout, you want to get into this landscape, you want to get into this industry. Do it the right way. Don't just go try to get a certificate that means nothing. Learn scouting from somebody that's been in front offices, been on the road, been on the pro side. So the scoutingcommunity.com is a spot for that. Make sure you check out our partners over at blueMaka.com as well. Use code Scouting20 at checkout to let them know we sent you, get a little discount on that order. The insoles that will upgrade every pair of shoes you have, whether just walk around, training, turf toe. Planner Fascia, just that art support, whatever you need, BlueMaka.com has it for you. Our episode with Stuart Jenkins, CFO for Blue Maka was a fun one. Make sure you check that one out. Scouting20 is the code. Make sure you use it when you get to twenty to blue maca.com. The 2026 Personnel and Recruiting Symposium brought to you by Teamworks is lined up for early August. I look forward to seeing everyone there. Neil and I will have some live shows from Nashville as well as fill in everyone that can't make it on all things personnel and recruiting. If you'll be there, make sure you come say hi. I'll be there for the duration. So we will have Scouting the League there as well. So Let's have some fun in Nashville. And last week's episode with Danny Payne, a good one. He is with Navy football now. Make sure you go check that one out as well. Tomorrow we talk 2027 draft scouting. So make sure you tune in to that one as well. Let's get to the topic of the day today, though. And it is camp time. This is getting to be really starting next week. Whether you're reporting next week, sometime next week. Next week is really ca kind of when you think about teams getting back together. So that's I'm I'm gonna reference next Monday starting next week. And you're kinda talking to generally that's when people are gonna get back into the building on the pro side. College scouts will talk about them. They're gonna have a little bit more time in a lot of situations, but again, we're talking pro time. Again, bidding in a long stretch for pro scouts. Anyone that's working in the building, for some people you're talking about a 41 day stretch from the beginning of camp time. To when you are going to be getting through cut time, getting down to 53, which is really kind of the first break. You can think about getting 41 days, being in the building nearly every day. Yes, you get some off days here and there, maybe a travel day, depending on what role you're in. You get an off day when your team's traveling, heading on an away game, or maybe, hey, we just got to take a breath here, get an off day. Oftentimes there is still work to be done, especially if you're pro scout. If your team's not healthy, you're thinking about workouts, you're thinking about future work. You're always trying to again, it becomes about keeping your head above water. There's a lot to do, and there's no way to spread it out. You are waiting for preseason games, you are watching your tape, you are going through your roster. There is a lot to do, and it's going to happen in this just over a month time again. So you pray for health because again, anytime that roster starts getting depleted during camp time, that just means more work for the that pro staff staff. Spouses of people that are going to be in the building have to get locked in. It's a long, long days. Long stretch, 41 days roughly, where so much stress comes down to cut downs. Again, that stress only builds as you get through the preseason. So again, stress is going to happen. Spouses at home, and you pray for them and you look for that good partner to be at home taking care of everything. As we talk specifically, what are pro scouts going to be doing? It's all about managing that 90-man roster. You're gonna carry those 90 men, 90 men really through the preseason. Yes, we've talked about on this podcast. Probably 45 of those 53 roster spots are probably set. If you're a veteran team, if you're a good team, a team that's got a lot of pieces back, you may be talking 50 of those 53 spots are going to be filled. So again, you want to watch those players. You're monitoring those players. You want to see draft picks coming along, but you can basically pencil 45 to 50 of those players on your roster coming in. Now, again, that leaves 40 or so players that you really have to watch. And probably 10 of those guys. Are in a true position battle to make your 53. Again, that's hey, how are these players looking? What are they looking like? are they developing? And then again, do these players maybe belong on that 15-man, 16-man practice squad? Do we have enough developmental quality with this player? Is this a player we need at practice? We need from a roster number standpoint. So, again, you're really thinking about 65 to 70 players. So you're really thinking, hey, what 20 players don't we want? You're probably going to be churning those out. You're going to be turning those players over a little bit. We want to get maybe some street guys, some other undrafted free agents that maybe when we want to kick the tires on. They get released from a different roster. They get healthy. We want to kick the tires on those players. So again, you're whittling down the numbers a little bit, but you have to manage that 90. You've got to know that 90 inside and out. Health of players is always huge. Again, just like the front office has a long stretch, the, you know, the the Camp time can be grueling for players. Again, for back end roster players, corners, wide receivers, especially, man, health matters. You got to keep the soft tissue healthy because, again, as soon as you start pulling up with a soft tissue, a quad, a hamstring, a calf, man, you need the reps. You got to have a guy that can give you reps because, again, those starters, wide receiver one, two, three, they're not going to be playing as many snaps. So you got to have a bunch of guys. Taking snaps, that can be a death nail for some of these guys trying to make rosters. It's when you see players push through, finding a way, spending extra time in the training room. You gotta spend time make maintaining your health. And again, and for pro scouts, again, it may be swapping out some of those players. Having that short list, that street list, that emergency list, having those lists ready to go that way, that player you can Call them up. You want to work them out. You just want to sign them, whatever you're going to do. Again, bring in a couple of guys, work out, sign the best one from that group. You can get that player on the roster. There is always going to be the case come next Monday when a pro scout gets in the building and 89 of 90 players report and you get a phone call from an agent. Hey, so and so decided they are not in it. Their heart's not in it. They got another job. They're just not in it. Man, there is a quick scramble from that to get a player lined up. It's something that happens, happened at in Atlanta multiple times where, hey, a player maybe decided after June minicamp, but again, he wanted to go ahead and grab a paycheck or two between now and then. He wasn't working out. Whatever happened. Again, there's always going to be some players. Hey, they're just not showing up for mini camp come July, for training camp come July. And hey, you have to turn over and find a player to replace that player. The other side of that is you've still got some really good vets available available. You got Stefan Diggs, you got Taylor Decker, you got Joey Bosa, you also have Aaron Donald. These guys, everybody will, hey, let's get him signed. Let's get him in the roster. Those players have no interest and really no desire, no need to sign right away. They don't want to go through training camp practices. They're not going to play preseason anyway. They're going to have a defined role. They're going to be able to pick up a playbook quickly. They don't need to sign probably till around that third preseason game, maybe even after the third preseason game. Hey, if you can work a deal, sign them after that cut down to 53. So that roster's not guaranteed. These players, again, while there's a few of them, few vets, vet-ish players that hey, we know who they are, known commodity. Maybe we want to bring them in early. A lot of these guys, hey, it's going to be a lot of communication. There's going to be a lot of maybe medical, there's going to be some follow-up conversations, some contract talks, but Don't expect some of these big name available free agents to be signing anywhere until probably at least mid-August. Probably, in my opinion, late August is when you need to do those. get those guys done and be ready to move on those. So again, teams are going to be doing the work. They're going to be talking about those guys. They're going to be getting that short list really ready to go so they can work them out at some point come season time. but again, don't expect those names to be coming off the board early. The other thing pro scouts are really working on is thinking about that early season. Again, always hard doing advanced scouting reports early for season because, again, we see less and less veterans and less and less real, actual, valuable football from an advanced scouting standpoint in the preseason, but you still got to know hey, what are the changes? What is this coaching staff? How are they operating? You may travel to some preseason games, you're certainly going to be looking at film. But you're going to be managing all of that as you prepare for those early seasons. and then again, just like you're managing your 90, you're also gonna be managing and thinking about other teams' 90 man rosters. Are there gonna be players you want to claim? Are there gonna be players that, hey, maybe they get released? We can maybe get them over on our practice squad, talk about leave. And again, really a dicey situation for agents. Agents, you have questions on all this stuff, hit me up at right step a v A D V. Hit me on my website, RSAfootball.com. Again, situations I've been through. not only with the team, but in my time as a consultant outside of if you're thinking about any of these things, hit me up if you have questions. But again, pro scouts are going to be thinking about other teams nine. You're going to be evaluating the other players who are bubble players that you know, hey, may not make this play, or do we need to make a claim on them? Or do we need to even think about them? Are they going to make that roster? Is there any chance we pry them away? So pro scouts are going to be busy, but again, it's going to be all about those rosters. Again, if you're an agent who Has a player still time to get them on a roster? Man, the pro scouts are the guys to know, the guys to get, find out how to get a player in a workout. Fresh film is what the most valuable thing is for these guys. Get that film over to them and let them work. On the college side, college scouts, more often than not, are really still enjoying some vacation time, probably not any more reporting to training camp. So many teams have gone away from bringing scouts in for that first week, week and a half of training camp. Because there is a lot of ramp up time, maybe not as much value in watching your own roster. Hey, we're going to give them time. They're just going to go straight out on the road August 1st when college camps start and they're going to get their work done, which means college scouts are putting in their restrictions or again, what visit schedules are going to be like. Again, college are going to, hey, you can come to this practice. We've got this night practice. We've got this scrimmage. Hey, we're going to be closed for this scrimmage. So no scouts are allowed. This is what visit itineraries look like, meet with this peep, this person, this this athletic trainer, this strength staff. They're gonna be getting all that for their school's input and they're gonna be getting those schedules ready to go really for August, September, October, November. Again, you're gonna wrap up your fall visit schedule really around Thanksgiving time. So you're going to have a pretty good idea of what your fall is going to look like. newer scouts versus older scouts. Again, I remember that first year 2019 on the road for me in the Midwest. Again, man, hold on, buckle up, be ready to adjust everything from the time I went on the road in 2021, even after a COVID year, much more comfortable. The longer you've been in an area, the better you know your schools, the more you have a feel for a this is again, I don't know the restrictions yet, but I have a pretty good idea this is the way they're gonna operate. That schedule really lends itself and really sorts itself out a lot better. So scouts are going to be get getting their travel schedule ready to go. Probably not going to be reporting. Maybe they come in for some practices, but more often than not, they're just getting ready to go on the road. Probably come into the building at the end of that initial camp trip, late late I guess we'll say late August is when they're going to be coming in, maybe doing some work with the with the team on on their own roster. The other thing scouts are going to be doing is finalizing those lists. NFS Blesto, we have those lists now. Hopefully, all those players have been written. Again, going through are there any again, height, weight, speed guys, production guys, analytics guys that we need to make sure we have on our list. Small schools, who do we want to hit? Where do we need to go? Getting those lists ready to go. Something teams will not be doing enough come next week. And I think is a the right time and one of the great times to do it is talking standards and development. the discussion of what your grade scale is and what players meet a grade. So I remember again, we did a lot of things really well in our scouting staff in Atlanta when I was there. One of the things I remember early on, both when I was a pro scout and college scout, is we used to get together a little bit during training camp time and look at players, a JJ Watt effort tape or an Aaron Rodg Strength tape, or a, you know, whoever it was speed tape. And again, we used to talk about it in the scouting room. We put on some film. All right, what is What what level trait do you put on this player? I think it's very good. I think it's excellent. I think it's good. And they were good conversations, but every team has to know what the standard is. There should be a defined this again. JJ Watt was an excellent level effort player. That is what excellent effort looks like. There is no debate. Nobody should disagree. I think this is actually very just very good. No. This is what we as a franchise say the standard is. If you don't have a standard for every one of your traits at every position, there is going to be room for discussion, for debate, and for difference of opinion that is not going to allow you to have your board in the best spot, which is again the standard is the standard. The standard has to be met. The standard has to be understood by everybody else. The other spot is development. One of the again. Yes, everything is busy. The time is busy. There's tough times to do development. This is one of those times you gotta bring people in and talk about hey, this fall, this is where you've got to nail it if you want to sign another contract come next year. Or if you want to think about being a director, these areas of development and this is the plan. These are going to be the metrics and the markers we have for you to define it. You you'll we'll know. We'll know after this fall season if you are on a director track, or if we just don't think you have those traits and those qualities. There's nothing wrong with being a lifer on the road, outstanding Road Scout. You just don't have the we'll say leadership or the director qualities, director traits. That there's nothing wrong with that. But if you don't know based on a development plan, you don't know. And again, you can chase something that's not ever supposed to be there and shouldn't be there. And again, it's a spot where teams like to give their area scouts that couple maybe week or two weeks to enjoy their time to get their schedules right, but it should be a huge spot as everything is ramping up, kicking up to get that development done that you can then point to when, you know, the the spring comes around and people start asking for more money, better jobs, more titles, new roles. So that's all something that should be done. Don't think it's going to happen enough, but it absolutely should be. Questions about camp time for NFL teams, let me know at Right Step ADV is where you can find me. Back tomorrow to talk a tight end who flashed on film when I was watching Ahmad Hardy. So added him to the last list. Brett Norfleet of Missouri, a player that we will add to our beautiful scouting board. Let me know who else you want to hear in the future at Right Step ADV. We'll talk about those players in the future. Have a plan. For Nashville, see you at the symposium. Plan for tomorrow when we talk our scouting. And as we go about everything, make sure you keep scouting.