Chris Whalen’s Random Life

There are a finite number of jobs in the NFL. 53 man roster, practice squad, 32 teams, that’s it. Obviously each team tries to get the best players they can. Sounds simple, eh? Ok, there are 117 teams in Division 1A College Football, then there is Division IAA, II, III and club football. Do we really even want to get into Canada as well? Well, how do you find these guys? Yellow pages? Google.com? HA! That is A LOT of players to look at.

Let’s face it, a player at Florida, Miami, Notre Dame, etc., or any National Division I program is going to be scouted. Whether you are the 50th man off the bench or a Heisman candidate. THAT’S easy. Everyone from David Carr at Fresno State to Quenton Jammer at Texas had tons of information available on them, everywhere, easy. Great, fine, wonderful. What about those later rounds in the draft where you actually fill holes in your team? Examples…Wayne Chrebet – Hofstra, Jerry Rice – Mississippi Valley State, Matt Birk – Harvard, Shannon Sharpe – Savannah State, or how can we forget the Patriots Joe Andruzzi from that household football name, Central Connecticut State. The list is endless! These are guys not invited to the combine in Indianapolis, but will be not only contributors but All-Pro players. (Let’s face it as well, an undrafted free agent that can play is cheaper that a No. 1 draft pick!!!)

I found out about this first hand. When I played (Division II ASSUMPTION COLLEGE! Go Greyhounds!), we had a kicker sooooo talented he actually hit our center in the butt three times one practice while trying to kick extra points (yes, our center turned around and smacked him a few times upside the head!). Anyway, he actually thought he was NFL material and asked our Sports Information Director how to “register” for the NFL draft, I can still see the SID’s face. One of those “excuse me?” looks. This caused me to dig into the issue out of pure curiosity. And no, amazingly our kicker did not get drafted and we did not win any games by a field goal.

There are scouts in each region of the US that have responsibility for all the player prospects within that territory. Some of the work for NFL franchises, some for professional scouting companies. Each regional guy has a lot of ground to cover. For instance if a scout covers the New England region, he has to scout all schools in all divisions in that region, with the aid of the junior scouts that work for him. So, there are tools to help. The first is word of mouth. If you play at a small school in D III, for instance, and a small conference, scouts DO NOT regularly attend those games, surprisingly. But every coach and SID has a friend of a friend or in-law that knows somebody that knows somebody that is a scout. You put up serious numbers consistently and they will at least call your coach. Enough buzz and they will ask for games tapes and potentially catch a game. Good way to do it, but lengthy and inconsistent. What is more common is a sort of first cut using databases. Now then colleges keep stats on their players, who in turn share them with their conference, who share them with the NCAA. Hey, I even saw MY stats. You have to look long and hard to find those. Big Brother is watching you! If a player starts with amazing stats consistently, he will get flagged in a database somewhere either at the conference or NCAA level. People will look at it. This is the usual base for things like all conference honors, academic All Americans, etc. Enough stats will produce a call to a coach looking for game tapes.

Great, if you play a position with stats to be noticed. What about lineman? Here you really have to rely on dominating performances that get the other coaches talking. If the physical attributes are there, and the performance is good enough, a regional scout will make a call to check in. Each NFL team evaluates literally hundreds of players per year. Constantly. Watch your favorite team in the paper and the transactions list. Guys picked up, dropped, usually one you never heard of.  It is all in managing the players. Undrafted free agents may well help win a game at some point. Who was the starting right corner for the Patriots in their second Super Bowl? Yes, that’s right, Randall Gay. And this year he’s back!

The only other way is a tryout camp. Each team will run a tryout of undrafted free agents every spring. Players that fell through the scouting cracks, local players, guys who might have been injured. This is the story of Wayne Chrebet. He came to a tryout, performed well, stuck through spring training and the rest is history. Troy Brown, undrafted out of Marshall, cut twice by the Patriots, made the practice squad, now has several Superbowl rings.

All of this not only before a draft, but year-round. Teams pick up players all year to fill holes. Tryouts happen almost weekly, just usually not of any note to make the papers notice. The scouting and discovery process is a 12 month ordeal. And this is just to get guys that might potentially get a roster spot for a week. Regional scouts and now more than ever scouting services are leaned on heavily for the footwork. Typically teams will have specific criteria they are looking for. Either a specific position they want, certain physical attributes or character attributes to help filter the players. We will get into the draft interview and workout process prior to the draft. All this really means is that with this much visibility, you still have to be really really really good to even get a sniff from an NFL franchise. Actually getting and using a college degree provided by the football program looks better now, doesn’t it?

Sunday. High draft picks out of Division I are nice, but a team is made up of players from everywhere. Role players that make a difference. You just have to find them. Ask Fred Coleman in 2001, or Willie Parker in Pittsbugh…