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Reads, Listens, Views 11/11/11

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The best (and most underutilized) weapon in Cleveland. Hoping Cleveland changes this post haste.

Friday is the day of the week I like to thank you for being regular readers of the Rookie Scouting Portfolio blog. Hopefully you find the content as enjoyable to read as it is to write. I value the comments on the blog and email messages a great deal – keep ’em coming.

If you wish to show your appreciation while purchasing a gift that keeps on giving, Continue reading →

Scouting Abuse

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Sometimes these skills of evaluation I write about here apply to more vital parts of life. Today's post is one of those times. Photo by Hebedesign.

I’m sick of hearing about the Penn State scandal. You should be, too. What we’ve learned is vile.

I promise you that I’m not writing a piece that begins with “we need to pray for these kids,” and move onto talking about Sandusky, Spanier, Paterno, McQueary, or Penn State students. They aren’t worth the time I just spent writing their names. Football doesn’t even deserve to be a secondary subject.

This post is a plea for you to do something difficult. Continue reading →

Series Anouncement

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Jake Locker makes my top 20 prospect list for the RSP from 2006-2011. Find out why this week. Photo by NeonTommy.

The 2006-2011 RSP Rankings series that began last week with running backs will resume this week with the top 20 quarterbacks. Sundays and Mondays are usually pretty slammed, so expect to see the first installment of the quarterback rankings on Monday night.

By the way, I went 19-8 in my Fantasy Throwdown match ups this weekend and I only moved up two spots on the leaderboard. I’ve found the IDP challenges the most enjoyable. We had over 400 completed challenges last week. Join us.

Reads, Listens, Views 11/4

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“Welcome aboard the S.S. Campbell. This is your captain, Cecil Lammey!”

I couldn’t resist…

It’s that time of the week where I like to take a moment to thank all of you for making it a habit to read the Rookie Scouting Portfolio blog. Hopefully you find the content as enjoyable to read as it is to write. While I enjoy the comments on the blog and email messages a great deal – keep ’em coming – if you wish to show your appreciation and get a gift that keeps on giving order the 2011 Rookie Scouting Portfolio. It’s currently sold at what I call a “Lockout Jitters price” of $9.95. Get it while the aftershocks of those jitters is still in effect. Previous issues are available by emailing me (mattwaldmanrsp@gmail.com).

On behalf of the Footballguys staff and all of you who read his work, I’d like to wish Footballguy extraordinaire and RSP blog contributor Dr. Jene Bramel a speedy recovery. The good doctor did the fantasy football broadcast equivalent of “playing hurt,” by phoning in his segment on Thursday night’s Audible podcast from a hospital bed.

Continue reading →

Logic (Newton) or Chance (Luck)?

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By rookie QB standards Cam Newton has been incredible. In fact, he's been terrific by any standard. Photo by PDA.Photo

If you were in charge of player-personnel decisions for the NFL team that had the opportunity to choose between Cam Newton or Andrew Luck, which quarterback would you take? I think this is probably one of the most compelling questions I’ve seen all season. There are so many layers of analysis to explore with this type of question.

While Newton was considered a fine quarterback prospect, only a few really nailed him as a player capable of making a Peyton Manning/Carson Palmer impact early in his career. And even fewer did as good of a job debunking the “running quarterback” myth with Newton than Chris Kouffman and Simon Clancy. Their analysis of Cam Newton was dead-on this winter. I highly recommend you make this your lunchtime read. I think the work they did was most impressive and something to learn from.

But then there’s Luck, who is considered the best prospect in the last 20 years. Unlike Newton, Luck is a three-year starter in a pro-style offense that uses West Coast concepts. Luck also has freedom to change plays at the line of scrimmage with the authority of veteran pro quarterbacks while Newton played in what is conceptually recognized as a highly simplified offense by comparison at Auburn. Furthermore, Luck is an athletic quarterback who is more physically mobile along the lines of Ben Roethlisberger or Tarvaris Jackson than Peyton Manning or Tom Brady.

So what do you do, take arguably the “best quarterback prospect in the past 20 years” or take arguably “the best performing rookie quarterback in the past 20 years?” Continue reading →

Quick Announcement: New Series

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As an actual NFL player Laurence Mauroney was a bust, but he was a great prospect. How great? Find out in the coming days if he makes my RB list in a new series where I rank the top 10 prospects during my tenure of researching the Rookie Scouting Portfolio (2006-2011). Photo by Sean O'Brien.

Tom Moore, one of my Twitter followers, asked me to rank Alabama’s Trent Richardson within the scope of the top RB prospects during the last 10 years of drafts. I thought it was a good idea, but I simply haven’t finished my due diligence on the 2012 draft class to feel comfortable compiling that kind of ranking. However I can do a series where I rank the top 10 prospects at each skill position for the duration I’ve been writing the Rookie Scouting Portfolio.

Expect this series to begin at the end of the week.

I’m still determining whether I will rank my players based on the potential I saw in them or a combo of potential and hindsight analysis based on their actual pro performance, but I hope this will be an entertaining series. It’s going to be fun to write, that’s for sure.

I’m also hoping to land an interview with Chris Brown and/or former Scout Dave Razzano for you guys, but I’ve had some trouble getting them to respond after initially expressing interest. Maybe those of you on Twitter can give them a nudge and tell them that you’d be interested in reading about them in a Q&A at the Rookie Scouting Portfolio (you know, “Power to the People” and all that good stuff).

If not, that’s okay. I’m good buddies with this certain S.O.B. who I’ve been waiting to interview, but biding my time to make the request of him. I think he’ll make time though.

 

Sunday Mailbag 10/23

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Sunday's mailbag always has some good variety. Photo by KLMircea.

Rob McClean: Now that San Diego and Indianapolis have released running backs Jordan Todman and Darren Evans, do either get a shot with the Detroit Lions after the voided Ronnie Brown trade?

Waldman: On the surface it would make sense that the Lions would take a look at this pair of rookies, but after a little more thought I don’t think it’s going to happen. The Lions are a young team, but they are a young team on the rise. I don’t believe they want to work with backs that are unproven in pass protection. This is the reason they sought Ronnie Brown and valued him over Jerome Harrison. Brown has veteran skills as a pass protector that Harrison lacked. The former Washington State runner is actually a player I would have preferred as a ball carrier to Brown, but pass protection is one of the reasons he’s bounced around the league and never earned a full-time gig as a starter.

Harrison would have been a situational reserve for the Eagles who knew the offense, but they didn’t need to rely on him due to the play of LeSean McCoy and rookie Dion Lewis. I believe that Philadelphia’s use of the shotgun passing game was a big reason the Lions targeted Brown and subsequently former Eagle Eldra Buckley. Matt Stafford is the franchise and they can’t take too many chances with backfield protection.

Todman, a rookie from the University of Connecticut, has some promise. Continue reading →

Reads Listens Views 10/21

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Check out Walter Payton’s 75-yard reception.

It’s been a great week at the RSP blog. Chad Spann not only provided great information for an enlightening interview series about his training camp experience with Indianapolis, but he’s now a part of the Buccaneers practice squad and in London for the team’s match up with the Chicago Bears. Jay Cutler gave us a rare, “take this job and shove it,” moment on Sunday night. And Jene Bramel writes a fantastic piece where he dissects a play from an angle that gives us a different conclusion than what television commentators saw at first glance.

The only downer was Skype failing me when I was going to deliver my “And Justice For All” defense parody of John Beck on The Audible Roundtable. Google Phone, we’re pals for now. Don’t let me down…

If you’re new to this blog, thank you for checking out the digs. Even more thanks if you liked enough of what you’ve seen to subscribe. Continue reading →

Why I Like Jay Cutler

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Jay Cutler cursing out Mike Martz on the field? Dare I saw awesome? I should say no, but..HECK YEAH! Photo by Mike Shadle.

I shouldn’t like Jay Cutler for what I’m about to share with you. But have you ever had a boss who has his head so far up his hind parts that he’s unwilling to deal with reason? In my Gut Check column at Footballguys.com I wrote that Martz is the textbook definition of a fanatic when it comes to his offensive philosophy. Today I came across the Mad Sports Gal’s blog where she shows that Jay Cutler sent a not-so-subtle message to Martz during the Vikings game.

And I liked it.

ESPN confirmed that Cutler didn’t deny doing it.

I like Jay Cutler as an anti-hero by NFL standards. He doesn’t care what people think and he doesn’t want to play the media game. Reporters hate him because he doesn’t care about them and doesn’t even treat them like they matter. Not something I want to teach my kid but I can get with not being phoney. If he’s going to be an ass, I’m down with it as long as he’s not going to complain about being treated like one.

He’s the John Constantine of football minus the chain smoking.

As you see, I’ve had some free time today.