SmootSmack
10-31-2012, 01:34 PM
Did this a few years back, though I'd revisit it again. Here's a look at the Redskins FO and how the scouting process works
EVP/General Manager Bruce Allen (2009-year he assumed current position)
Focus: Oversees all personnel (scouts, trainers, video editors, etc.), long-term strategist for draft and free agency.
NFL Experience: Senior Executive Oakland Raiders (1996-2003) General Manager Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2004-2008)
Director of Player Personnel: Scott Campbell (2008)
Focus: Oversees all scouting, leads preparation leading up to draft day (think of him sort of as an Offensive Coordinator of scouting). He’s the point person in the off-season. A decision to draft say Roy Helu is largely based on his staff's input
NFL Experience: Scout with the Falcons (1990-1997), Director of Pro Personnel with the Bears (2000) and Redskins (2001,2006-2007), Director of College Scouting with the Redskins (2002-2005)
Area Scout: Cole Spencer (2012)
Focus: Colleges in the Northeast (like all scouts, he's given a mission statement essentially, put together by the top FO executives to find certain types of players and unearth hidden gems). A guy like Brian McNally (New Hampshire) signs with the Redskins off of Spencer's recommendation.
NFL Experience: Pro Personnel Intern with the Redskins (2010-2011)
Area Scout: Darryl Franklin (2012)
Focus: Colleges in the Northeast/BLESTO Scout (national scouting service shared by I believe 7 teams-Redskins, Lions, Vikings, Giants, Steelers, Bills, Dolphins)
NFL Experience: Player Personnel Intern with the Lions (2008)
Area Scout: Tim Gribble (2010)
Focus: Colleges in the Midwest
NFL Experience: Scouting Assistant with the Steelers (2001-2002), Various scouting roles with Redskins since 2002
Area Scout: Jim Zeches (2005)
Focus: Colleges in the West Coast
NFL Experience: Area scout with the Niners (2001-2004)
Area Scout: David Whittington (2012)
Focus: Colleges in the Southwest
NFL Experience: Redskins BLESTO Scout (2010-2011)
Area Scout: Kyle Smith (2012)
Focus: Colleges in the Southeast. He's the guy making the recommendation on Alfred Morris
NFL Experience: Intern with Redskins (2010), Scout with Redskins (2011)
Director of Pro Personnel: Morocco Brown
Focus: Oversees practice squad personnel, pro player evaluation (including free agents and other leagues such as CFL), in charge of advanced scouting of next opponent. He’s the point person in the regular season. A decision to sign say Ryan Grant is largely based on his staff's input
NFL Experience: Assistant Director of Pro Personnel Bears (2002-2007), assistant scout with the Redskins (2000-2001)
Pro Scout: Alex Santos (2009)
Focus: Assists Morocco Brown with advanced scouting and pro player evaluation, focus on CFL.
NFL Experience: Pro Personnel assistant with the Redskins (2006-2008)
Pro Scout: Richard Mann II (2010)
Focus: Same as Alex Santos, but he focuses on other leagues such as UFL and AFL. Both Santos and Mann evaluate NFL players as well
NFL Experience: Intern with Baltimore Ravens (2003), Pro Personnel Assistant with Tampa Bay (2007-2009)
VP Football Administration: Eric Shaffer (2004)
Focus: Manage the money
NFL Experience: Player agent with IMG
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Understanding the Scouting Process
Now let's look at how Adam Gettis, for example, becomes a Redskin. We'll also look at how they scout Carl Nicks. I'll do it in timeline fashion (the timeline is a rough approximation). I know this is how it was done prior to Shanahan. And from what I've heard the process has largely remained the same
August 2011: Tim Gribble, as college scout of the Midwest, will prepare his schedule of schools to watch which will include Iowa, for the college football season. Gribble will attend games, school practices, and watch film with the position coach, coordinator and head coach of each player he's targeting. He'll also try to do some digging on intangibles, for example he'll talk to professors about his character and demeanor in the classroom, his study habits, etc.
September 2011: Pro Scout Alex Santos begins a weekly process of reviewing every NFL game for the teams he has been assigned to and begins compiling reports on every player, with a particular focus toward impending free agents and potential trade options. Santos and Mann will follow the same pattern as Gribble, but with pro players
September 2011: In addition to his coaching responsibilities, Chris Foerster (since we're talking about Gettis, let's keep this to OL talk) is compiling weekly notes on the current players he's coaching. So guys like Chris Chester, Eric Cook, Will Montgomery, etc.
January 2012: Bruce Allen and Morocco Brown sit down with Alex Santos and Richard Mann and review the players in the NFL, CFL, Arena Football, etc. that they have graded high enough to be considered for the team
January 2012: Chris Foerster is given the list of players along with game films prepared by the pro scouts and does his own review and ranks the players
February 2012: Shanahan, Allen, Brown, Santos, Mann and select coaches begin an arduous process of evaluating each player at a position. It's generally about half dozen or so players. So let's say Alex Santos has reviewed NFC North teams and Carl Nicks on the list of players. Santos will present his review of Nicks, then Foerster will present his review. Ultimately Nicks will be given a grade let's say it's 8 on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest). The process in the repeated with the next player. Let's say Mann presents on Ben Grubbs and Grubbs is given a 7. So head to head Nicks has now been officially placed ahead of Grubbs. Once they have ranked the non-Redskins they then layer in the current Redskins OL. So let's say Chris Chester gets a 6. This doesn't mean they're going to go after Nicks necessarily because there are other factors/positions to consider. It just means from a strictly scouting perspective, the scouts and Foerster have determined that Nicks is more valuable than Chester. (note: this is just an example, this isn't what actually happened)
The process repeats for every position and then for college players as well. At what point they blend the rankings of pro and college players i forget
February 2012: Bruce Allen prepares the final report based on the meetings and presents it to Shanahan and Snyder for final approval. Snyder's role at this point is to approve spending the expected dollar amount, or be willing to exceed if deemed necessary, to land the free agents targeted by his staff. Eric Schaffer plays a prominent role here in determining the budget and preparing for negotiations. Though increasingly Allen has taken on the role of Snyder and Schaffer. Presenting the report to Snyder has become more a courtesy gesture than anything else.
March 2012: As the Redskins start preparing for the draft, Shanahan, Allen, Campbell (and probably a couple other people) will start grading across the board. So they'll try to determine if a OL rated a 6 is better or more necessary than a DB rated a 6, for example. And their big board is created for draft day.
Draft Day 2012: As the draft proceeds, each position coach ranks the best available players at his position versus current Redskins. Shahanan and Allen will take those rankings as the day proceeds and measure across the board as noted above. So when Gettis' name comes up on the board Shanahan and Allen see that they can take Gettis or Josh Norman (DB-Coastal Carolina). Based on their big board, Gettis and Norman are the highest ranked players. Gettis is ranked higher than say Maurice Hurt, but Josh Norman isn't ranked higher than Kevin Barnes. So they draft Gettis
EVP/General Manager Bruce Allen (2009-year he assumed current position)
Focus: Oversees all personnel (scouts, trainers, video editors, etc.), long-term strategist for draft and free agency.
NFL Experience: Senior Executive Oakland Raiders (1996-2003) General Manager Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2004-2008)
Director of Player Personnel: Scott Campbell (2008)
Focus: Oversees all scouting, leads preparation leading up to draft day (think of him sort of as an Offensive Coordinator of scouting). He’s the point person in the off-season. A decision to draft say Roy Helu is largely based on his staff's input
NFL Experience: Scout with the Falcons (1990-1997), Director of Pro Personnel with the Bears (2000) and Redskins (2001,2006-2007), Director of College Scouting with the Redskins (2002-2005)
Area Scout: Cole Spencer (2012)
Focus: Colleges in the Northeast (like all scouts, he's given a mission statement essentially, put together by the top FO executives to find certain types of players and unearth hidden gems). A guy like Brian McNally (New Hampshire) signs with the Redskins off of Spencer's recommendation.
NFL Experience: Pro Personnel Intern with the Redskins (2010-2011)
Area Scout: Darryl Franklin (2012)
Focus: Colleges in the Northeast/BLESTO Scout (national scouting service shared by I believe 7 teams-Redskins, Lions, Vikings, Giants, Steelers, Bills, Dolphins)
NFL Experience: Player Personnel Intern with the Lions (2008)
Area Scout: Tim Gribble (2010)
Focus: Colleges in the Midwest
NFL Experience: Scouting Assistant with the Steelers (2001-2002), Various scouting roles with Redskins since 2002
Area Scout: Jim Zeches (2005)
Focus: Colleges in the West Coast
NFL Experience: Area scout with the Niners (2001-2004)
Area Scout: David Whittington (2012)
Focus: Colleges in the Southwest
NFL Experience: Redskins BLESTO Scout (2010-2011)
Area Scout: Kyle Smith (2012)
Focus: Colleges in the Southeast. He's the guy making the recommendation on Alfred Morris
NFL Experience: Intern with Redskins (2010), Scout with Redskins (2011)
Director of Pro Personnel: Morocco Brown
Focus: Oversees practice squad personnel, pro player evaluation (including free agents and other leagues such as CFL), in charge of advanced scouting of next opponent. He’s the point person in the regular season. A decision to sign say Ryan Grant is largely based on his staff's input
NFL Experience: Assistant Director of Pro Personnel Bears (2002-2007), assistant scout with the Redskins (2000-2001)
Pro Scout: Alex Santos (2009)
Focus: Assists Morocco Brown with advanced scouting and pro player evaluation, focus on CFL.
NFL Experience: Pro Personnel assistant with the Redskins (2006-2008)
Pro Scout: Richard Mann II (2010)
Focus: Same as Alex Santos, but he focuses on other leagues such as UFL and AFL. Both Santos and Mann evaluate NFL players as well
NFL Experience: Intern with Baltimore Ravens (2003), Pro Personnel Assistant with Tampa Bay (2007-2009)
VP Football Administration: Eric Shaffer (2004)
Focus: Manage the money
NFL Experience: Player agent with IMG
################################################## ################################################## #################
Understanding the Scouting Process
Now let's look at how Adam Gettis, for example, becomes a Redskin. We'll also look at how they scout Carl Nicks. I'll do it in timeline fashion (the timeline is a rough approximation). I know this is how it was done prior to Shanahan. And from what I've heard the process has largely remained the same
August 2011: Tim Gribble, as college scout of the Midwest, will prepare his schedule of schools to watch which will include Iowa, for the college football season. Gribble will attend games, school practices, and watch film with the position coach, coordinator and head coach of each player he's targeting. He'll also try to do some digging on intangibles, for example he'll talk to professors about his character and demeanor in the classroom, his study habits, etc.
September 2011: Pro Scout Alex Santos begins a weekly process of reviewing every NFL game for the teams he has been assigned to and begins compiling reports on every player, with a particular focus toward impending free agents and potential trade options. Santos and Mann will follow the same pattern as Gribble, but with pro players
September 2011: In addition to his coaching responsibilities, Chris Foerster (since we're talking about Gettis, let's keep this to OL talk) is compiling weekly notes on the current players he's coaching. So guys like Chris Chester, Eric Cook, Will Montgomery, etc.
January 2012: Bruce Allen and Morocco Brown sit down with Alex Santos and Richard Mann and review the players in the NFL, CFL, Arena Football, etc. that they have graded high enough to be considered for the team
January 2012: Chris Foerster is given the list of players along with game films prepared by the pro scouts and does his own review and ranks the players
February 2012: Shanahan, Allen, Brown, Santos, Mann and select coaches begin an arduous process of evaluating each player at a position. It's generally about half dozen or so players. So let's say Alex Santos has reviewed NFC North teams and Carl Nicks on the list of players. Santos will present his review of Nicks, then Foerster will present his review. Ultimately Nicks will be given a grade let's say it's 8 on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest). The process in the repeated with the next player. Let's say Mann presents on Ben Grubbs and Grubbs is given a 7. So head to head Nicks has now been officially placed ahead of Grubbs. Once they have ranked the non-Redskins they then layer in the current Redskins OL. So let's say Chris Chester gets a 6. This doesn't mean they're going to go after Nicks necessarily because there are other factors/positions to consider. It just means from a strictly scouting perspective, the scouts and Foerster have determined that Nicks is more valuable than Chester. (note: this is just an example, this isn't what actually happened)
The process repeats for every position and then for college players as well. At what point they blend the rankings of pro and college players i forget
February 2012: Bruce Allen prepares the final report based on the meetings and presents it to Shanahan and Snyder for final approval. Snyder's role at this point is to approve spending the expected dollar amount, or be willing to exceed if deemed necessary, to land the free agents targeted by his staff. Eric Schaffer plays a prominent role here in determining the budget and preparing for negotiations. Though increasingly Allen has taken on the role of Snyder and Schaffer. Presenting the report to Snyder has become more a courtesy gesture than anything else.
March 2012: As the Redskins start preparing for the draft, Shanahan, Allen, Campbell (and probably a couple other people) will start grading across the board. So they'll try to determine if a OL rated a 6 is better or more necessary than a DB rated a 6, for example. And their big board is created for draft day.
Draft Day 2012: As the draft proceeds, each position coach ranks the best available players at his position versus current Redskins. Shahanan and Allen will take those rankings as the day proceeds and measure across the board as noted above. So when Gettis' name comes up on the board Shanahan and Allen see that they can take Gettis or Josh Norman (DB-Coastal Carolina). Based on their big board, Gettis and Norman are the highest ranked players. Gettis is ranked higher than say Maurice Hurt, but Josh Norman isn't ranked higher than Kevin Barnes. So they draft Gettis