Coffee & Cigarettes: Rookie Scouting Portfolio reads

Some analysis from Matt Waldman. Check out his RSP as well. I'll be reading mine on my vacation.

Discerning Errors From Deficiencies: A WR’s Hands | The Rookie Scouting Portfolio
No prospect is perfect. Although I can hear some of you thinking Andrew Luck’s name (or maybe that’s the voice in my head and I just don’t want to admit it), this isn’t a post about the Stanford quarterback. It’s about learning to project a player’s potential by his errors.

Talent and Production: The Great Emotional Divide | The Rookie Scouting Portfolio
This is my seventh year studying the on-field performance of football players. I can say unequivocally that I know more about the techniques and strategy of the game than I knew when I began. I’m also beginning to realize that I have learned just as much about player evaluation during the four months I have spent creating content for this blog. However, much of what I have learned from my interviews of colleagues has less to do with technique, strategy, or what to physically seek from a player and more to do with what none of us know.

Futures: The Hybrid RB Evolution | The Rookie Scouting Portfolio
That brief one-sided conversation reminded me of something Doug Farrar observed while having lunch at the Senior Bowl: Southern folk seem more accepting of eccentric behavior. I thought he was referring to someone else until that moment. That Farrar is a perceptive guy.

Instinct or Practice: Demystifying the Nature of Running Back | The Rookie Scouting Portfolio
Is it instinct or practice? Nothing is as simple as it looks. Here’s a 2nd-and-five run by USC running back Silas Redd in the middle of the second quarter against Utah this year that begs the question.

YouTube Chalkboard: Six WRs Who Will School You | The Rookie Scouting Portfolio
Welcome to a master class on receiving. Our guest lecturers will be Tim Brown, Isaac Bruce, Austin Collie, Derrick Mason, Sterling Sharpe, and Reggie Wayne. You’re familiar with their body of work. Now it’s time to examine them under the microscope.

YouTube Chalkboard: Three `90s RBs to Learn From | The Rookie Scouting Portfolio
Walking into the lobby of the Pro Football Hall of Fame a couple of weeks ago, the banner of 2011 inductee Marshall Faulk got me thinking about the runners who came into the league in the mid-to-late `90s.

Execution | The Rookie Scouting Portfolio
While researching YouTube highlights for my last blog post, I came across a series of short videos on fundamentals for wide receiver and tight end. One set of these videos features former Packers, Chiefs, and Vikings tight end Paul Coffman, who does a fantastic job of demonstrating fundamental techniques for blocking, releases, routes, and pass catching. The other set has current NFL pros demonstrating the same fundamentals.

Jokers | The Rookie Scouting Portfolio
One of the pervading themes in this blog has been discussion of the hybridization of football players: