In-depth film analysis of NFL Draft Prospects With a Fantasy Football Lens - by Matt Waldman ©2025
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For Maximum Effect: Mute the sound on this Cliff Branch highlight and open a second window on your browser and check out my link to the Gap Band’s “You Dropped a Bomb On Me,” later in this post.
Thank you
The response to the publication of the 2012 Rookie Scouting Portfolio has been great. I appreciate the feedback from old and new readers alike. I’m already setting plans in motion to make 2013’s publication even better and I’m actually Continue reading
This week’s column on Russell Wilson is titled, “Studying the Asterisk.” I studied three games of Wilson’s junior season at N.C. State – FSU, UNC, and Va. Tech – and I think there’s ample evidence that demonstrates why Wilson is an underrated commodity in this draft. I also provide some footage and analysis of Drew Brees to illustrate how Wilson could be used in an NFL offense to help a team win games.
Enjoy!
I’m in a giving mood today and I also have to think of a name for my Football Outsider’s Saturday Column (as well as write it), which will cover college players with NFL prospects – similar to what I do here. So today, I’m having a contest:
The three people to correctly answer this question will win a past issue (2006-2011) of the Rookie Scouting Portfolio.
In addition, I’ll give away a 2012 RSP if you can suggest a name for my new column that I like enough to use. I can’t guarantee I’ll hear one I like enough to use, but would appreciate the ideas.
There’s also a different contest going on my Facebook page. Like that page and answer that three-part question correctly and you could earn a chance to win.
The NFL’s top-five rookie years for rushing yardage includes three backs who came from the same college. Name the college and the three backs.
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George Whitfield is quickly becoming known (by the media) as a QB guru. Here’s a cool segment breaking down Tim Tebow’s mechanics. Whitfield does not work with Tebow, but he believes Tebow can become “an effective…if not, great” NFL quarterback and he lays out how he’d help Tebow to achieve it.
If you’re looking for a chance to learn more about quarterbacking techniques – good and bad – this is an insightful watch.
I’ll be posting more analysis of players on this blog on Wednesday and next week I hope to begin breaking down players for 2013 – yes, 2013 😉
And as sincerely as I can convey this to you – thank you for reading this blog and thank you for being 2012 Rookie Scouting Portfolio readers. I have a loyal base or readers, which is one of the big ways I know I’m doing something right with this publication. If you’re considering the publication for the first time, these are some of the comments I get from readers every year.
I’m taking my wife out to dinner tonight – she deserves at least that for the support she provides for me to indulge in what can be an obsession.
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Weinke coached Cam Newton and Christian Ponder last year.
More on Tannehill:
This email bag includes topics pertaining to Robert Turbin, Blaine Gabbert, physical skills and techniques I value from players at each skill position, and of course, Mario Manningham.
(From Alexandra): When evaluating a player entering the draft, what are the positives of his skills that make a difference once in the NFL, and what are the negatives of his skills that are correctable in the NFL? Â Which negatives are not so correctable and therefore devalue the potential of the player in the NFL? Continue reading
For the next two weeks, I’m reviewing game notes, writing content, and constructing reports for the 2012 Rookie Scouting Portfolio available for download April 1. You can click the link and pre-order if you wish. Back issues (2006-2011) are available there for immediate download.
Today, I’m switching things up at the blog. Ask me a question in the form below about free agency, the draft, or the RSP and I’ll post and answer them here late tonight-early tomorrow.
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If there’s an alternate universe, I’m a running back in it. There isn’t a week that goes by that I walk along the field that held the first football game at the University of Georgia and daydream of ripping off a run like Garrison Hearst’s 96-yard touchdown versus the Jets. I just don’t act it out (although the urge is there). It’s probably why most of my analysis this month has been quarterbacks, receivers, and tight ends. I want to save the best stuff for last – the way your son or daughter might save a favorite dessert.
One of the running backs of the past 20 years whose game I had grown to admire was Warrick Dunn. He was listed at 5’8″, 187 pounds, but I bet 5’6″, 178 is closer to the truth. Even if his listed weight is correct, I like the tall tale version more – it befits a back of his size who carried the load for Alex Gibbs’ zone blocking scheme for the Falcons.
Since Dunn, Continue reading
Chad Spann is a reserve running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers after stops with the Colts and Buccaneers. I have interviewed Spann multiple times since this time last year. The former NIU walk-on who began his career ninth on the depth chart and ended it as the 2010 NCAA touchdown leader is a confident but grounded player who learned early that everything he’s going to get as a football player will be earned with hard work and persistence.
It won’t be a surprise to most fans if Pittsburgh drafts a running back in the mid-to-late rounds as a hedge for Rashard Mendenhall’s recovery from a knee injury. Even so, Spann is still the only healthy running back on the roster with change of pace, third-down skills. There’s a strong likelihood that Spann’s name becomes more common on the lips of beat writers this summer.
More stories about Spann at the RSP blog:
Bottom line, I liked Spann’s game before I had a chance to speak with him. However, I have no problem admitting Continue reading
John Wooden on true success
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Ahead at the RSP Blog
The 2012 Rookie Scouting Portfolio will be available on April 1 via a link to my shopping cart site. Learn more about the RSP process and content here.
Pre-order the 2012 RSP and buy past RSPs (2006-2011) here.
Steelers RB Chad Spann and I had a conversation a couple of weeks ago (preview below) and he has agreed to spend time studying a game of Ray Rice’s with me. Expect transcripts of that session in mid-April or early May.
The RSP Writers Project is still on, but I decided to push back the process of picking players until May since most of us doing the work are busy covering the draft. Expect an unveiling of teams in July and August.
Preview of Next Week’s Q&A Sessions with Chad Spann
Q: You talked with me in the past about what your Steelers teammates shared about your game and the advice they gave this year. One of those things was when Will Allen told you about maintaining your drive phase longer. For my audience, can you explain what that means and why it helps a running back?
Spann: If you watch a sprinter run the 100 meters Continue reading