Hey everyone! I'm out of town at a wedding this weekend so your normal dose of links will unfortunately have to wait until tomorrow. Instead, I've prescribed to you some good reading material that may not be as time-sensitive as the things I normally link to. The material all comes from an excellent football blog called The Rookie Scouting Portfolio, written by Matt Waldmen. It's basically a series of interviews with football savvy guys -- whether you like them or not you may find their thoughts interesting. Hope you enjoy.
Conversation with NFL Draft Scout’s Chad Reuter Part I " The Rookie Scouting Portfolio: If you thought ESPN analyst Matt Williamson’s path to becoming a paid evaluator of talent was unusual, consider NFL Draft Scout.com senior analyst Chad Reuter. The Wisconsin native learned about the craft of personnel evaluation from a decade of interactions with NFL scouts and general managers. Although he lacks a football background, he managed to transform a hobby into a job because of his tremendous analytical skills, sincere passion for the game, and a veteran scout’s work ethic. In this multi-part conversation, Reuter and I spent a couple of hours discussing a variety of topics related to player evaluation. In this portion of the conversation, Chad and I talk about offensive line play, evaluating technique versus results, and balancing these two behaviors with the craft of projecting a player’s future in the NFL.
Conversation With NFL Draft Scout’s Chad Reuter-Part II " The Rookie Scouting Portfolio: In this portion of our discussion we cover his path to studying football as a full-time job, a defensive position that is difficult to evaluate, and why "instincts" and "intangibles" may not be innate after all.
NFL Draft Scout’s Chad Reuter-Part III " The Rookie Scouting Portfolio: In this segment, Chad and I discuss sabermetrics and football, the mathematical logic of drafting a quarterback in the first round, and the importance of tiers when building a draftboard.
NFL Draft Scout’s Chad Reuter – Part IV " The Rookie Scouting Portfolio: The final part of our conversation covers Reuter’s typical work process as a talent analyst and the resources he recommends to the general audience to become students of the game.
Conversation with Footballguys & Draftguys Sigmund Bloom " The Rookie Scouting Portfolio: Ask Sigmund Bloom who he became a football writer and draft analyst and he’ll tell you that its because he’s a compulsive talker, narcissist, and egomaniac and he found and audience that accepted it. As his colleague at Footballguys.com I can assure you that he’s not a narcissist or an egomaniac. However if you heard last week’s Audible Roundable podcast, you witnessed an impressive feat of compulsive talking when Bloom ran down just about every move made in a free agency period that has been slammed with moves in a compacted period of time. Bloom might be best known as a senior staff writer and podcast host at Footballguys.com but he is also a co-founder of Draftguys.com, a site that was one of the pioneers of using the Internet to broadcast video analysis of players they filmed at all-star practices. Personally, I think the "Bloom 100," is one of the best quick reference, fantasy-friendly rankings of draftable rookie prospects available. Bloom and I spent an hour discussing when he got the football bug, his love for the machinations of the game, and the role of stats in fantasy analysis.
Sigmund Bloom Part II " The Rookie Scouting Portfolio: In this part of my conversation with Sigmund Bloom, Footballguys senior staff writer and Draftguys co-founder, we discuss NFL trends, the appeal of the NFL Draft, and the value of the Game Recaps he does at Footballguys.com.
Sigmund Bloom Part III " The Rookie Scouting Portfolio: In this part of my conversation with Sigmund Bloom, Footballguys senior staff writer and Draftguys co-founder, we discuss under appreciated NFL players, emerging NFL players, the Bloom 100, what he’s watching when he’s evaluating players, and why he plays in 25-plus fantasy leagues .
ESPN Analyst Matt Williamson Part I " The Rookie Scouting Portfolio: ESPN analyst Matt Williamson is a former NFL scout for the Cleveland Browns. He agreed to talk about a variety of topics in a three-part interview at The Rookie Scouting Portfolio. In this post, Williamson discusses an emerging NFL offensive trend with personnel and then explains the difference between scouting for a football team and a media conglomerate.
ESPN Analyst Matt Williamson Part II " The Rookie Scouting Portfolio: In this post, Williamson tells the story of his ascent to football’s biggest stage despite never playing the game.
ESPN Analyst Matt Williamson Part III " The Rookie Scouting Portfolio: In this final installment, Williamson discusses his role with the Browns, his transition to ESPN, and the resources he uses to continue learning about the game and its players.
Follow @FieldGulls on Twitter | Like Field Gulls on Facebook