I had a chance to have lunch or dinner with each of these guys at least once in Mobile, but never at the right time to have them judge the caption. So I had some folks help me narrow the entries. Here are the top seven for the photo in a poll. Vote for the winner by Wednesday and I’ll announce Thursday morning Continue reading
Posts tagged Chad Reuter
Reads Listens Views 1/20/2012
It has been a little over 24 hours since I announced the RSP Photo Caption Contest and the response has been good. Cecil, Chad, Michael, and Wes will be judging the quality of the captions on Wednesday after Senior Bowl practices. Since I’m just the tiebreaker, I thought I’d list some of the early favorites (from my perspective) for a shot at a free RSP (contest details and entry form can be found on this page):
- “Failed Fathead concepts.”
- “Bravo’s new hit series: The Real House Husbands of Tampa Bay.”
- “Can you tell which man is wearing Depends?”
- “AVN’s winner for worst adult film of all time: The Island of Misfit Boys”
A special thanks to these guys for taking one for the team. Now, onto the reads, listens, and views of the week – including some LaVon Brazill highlights. Continue reading
RSP Caption Contest: Win a free RSP
I lifted this photo from Cecil Lammey’s Facebook page. You have one week from tonight to give me a fitting caption for this photo. Make it funny, but keep it (reasonably) cool. If you want the nomination to even come before the judges panel don’t cross the line.
Most likely we’ll all be having dinner together on Wednesday night. I want to have a strong collection of nominees to present to these four to judge the best caption to go with the photo. I will be the tie-breaker judge if needed. The winner gets a free Rookie Scouting Portfolio publication from 2006-2012. Second and third place winners get a free RSP from 2006-2011 or a 50 percent discount on the 2012 RSP.
You must answer every question on the form to qualify. I might give out more RSPs for really funny self-deprecating facts. If you’re going to win for potentially busting on these guys, you better be able to deliver something funny about yourself.
The Caption Contest is Over. Winners Announced Here
Suggested Reading
In recent weeks there have been a lot of new readers to the Rookie Scouting Portfolio. This site is constantly evolving and one of the things I intend to do during the next few weeks is to add a page that categorizes links to every article on the blog for easier navigation.
Whether you’re new to the site and haven’t had a chance to delve into it or you’ve been returning for a while, I thought it would be a good idea to provide some suggested reading:
Interviews
If you became acquainted with the RSP blog from the Greg Cosell or Dan Shonka conversations, I highly recommend checking out these posts.
Conversation with NFL Draft Scout’s Chad Reuter: This is the first part of a series of conversations I did with Reuter. It was pleasure to engage in football talk with a dedicated, intelligent evaluator of talent who uses his economics and player evaluation skills to present research information to NFL teams.
Conversation with National Football Post’s Wes Bunting: Just like Reuter, Bunting does the work. I should know, their processes sound eerily familiar to my early mornings. A very interesting read.
Film Study
Grinding Tape: Chad Spann – Stiff arms and Green Dogs: How often do you get to read an interview where the interviewer and the subject are studying football together? This excerpt from a 2-hour study session (Just search “Chad Spann” for more) includes play diagrams and explanations of what the NCAA’s 2010 touchdown leader was thinking about with each play.
Walk on The Wild Side
The Unwritten Rules of Football and Life: These are transcriptions of podcast editorials I occasionally deliver at The Audible’s Thursday Night Roundtable with Sigmund Bloom and Cecil Lammey.
I’ll suggest other pieces each week until I create the navigation page. I hope these are enjoyable reading for you.
Greg Cosell Part IV: The Craft of Evaluation
Entering my third year of studying film for The Rookie Scouting Portfolio, I had just finished a year of film study that included a player who continues to be one of the bigger lessons I have encountered, Arkansas running back Darren McFadden. The highly coveted prospect had some raving fans, but I wasn’t one of them.
I didn’t see what others thought even after studying a half-dozen games. And despite a strong 2010 campaign, I’m still not convinced he’ll be a consistent 1000-yard rusher as an every down back. I’m looking forward to seeing something from his game that will change my mind.
My initial take on Darren McFadden in 2008 was how I became acquainted with NFL Films senior producer Greg Cosell. I read his Sporting News piece on McFadden and I was surprised to learn that we had similar takes on the runner. I sent Cosell my RSP analysis on McFadden and this fueled a longer conversation over the telephone. While Parts I, II, and III were from a recent conversation. Part IV is a conversation from 2008. Continue reading
Greg Cosell Part II:The Pats TE Duo and Rookies
Greg Cosell is the co-author of The Games That Changed the Game with former Eagles quarterback and ESPN analyst Ron Jaworski. The senior producer has watched decades of NFL coaches tape – the all-22 angle that very few people gain consistent access. In Part I of this conversation, Cosell graciously undergoes a voir dire of his knowledge of nearly two-dozen current players. In this portion of our conversation, Cosell supplies his take on the Patriots duo of second-year tight ends, quarterbacking in different eras of the pro game, and his thoughts on several rookies from the 2011 Draft class. Continue reading
NFL Draft Scout’s Chad Reuter – Part IV
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 lacks a football background, but 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 Part I of this conversation, Chad and I discuss why he enjoys studying offensive line play, evaluating technique versus results, and balancing these two behaviors with the craft of projecting a player’s future in the NFL. In Part II we covered Reuter’s 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. In Part III, 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.
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.
Waldman: Share with everyone what your typical day at work is like to completely a long-term project of scouting all draft-eligible players for a given season?
Reuter: The process occurs in stages. You study film for 12 months. A lot of the film work on rising seniors and juniors comes immediately after the draft. You want to get ready for the approaching season and to get the know the players. During that time and throughout the summer, you’re watching tape, you’re researching, and learning about the senior prospects and underclassmen with the end goal of producing our preseason draft guide in August. It’s not just a matter of watching tape, but also looking through media guide information. You’re also talking to sources to find out about any off-field stuff. You want to know as much as you can going into the year. During the summer, I’m working between 8am-6pm at a minimum during the week. During the weekends I try to put in anywhere between 4-8 hours each day depending on what else is going on – including trying to maintain some sort of life outside of this.
Waldman: How do you try to maintain a life outside of this?
Reuter: You try to schedule things in a way where you find time to work around those events. If we’re going out in the afternoon then I try to do work in the morning.
Waldman: Based on my own level of self-awareness, I would think it takes somewhat of an obsessive personality to do this job.
Reuter: Yeah, I think that’s right. Continue reading
NFL Draft Scout’s Chad Reuter-Part III
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 lacks a football background, but 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 Part I of this conversation, Chad and I discuss why he enjoys studying offensive line play, evaluating technique versus results, and balancing these two behaviors with the craft of projecting a player’s future in the NFL. In Part II we covered Reuter’s 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. 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.
Waldman: There’s a growing camp of sabermetricians in football as well as the football media. While many understand why Bill Belicheck might use data to learn the odds strategic decisions, there are others who believe football can never completely embrace the Moneyball route. It’s obvious that you are both fluent in statistics and the craft of film evaluation. What’s your take on these two camps?
Reuter: I think data analysis is little more than a study of history. And I think you have to be cognizant of history when you are evaluating players — not just on the statistical side, but grouping characteristics with guys such as similarities in styles, size, etc.
But you can’t be a slave to it. Continue reading
Conversation With NFL Draft Scout’s Chad Reuter-Part II
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 Part I of this conversation, Chad and I discuss why he enjoys studying offensive line play, evaluating technique versus results, and balancing these two behaviors with the craft of projecting a player’s future in the NFL. 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.
Waldman:Tell me about your background and how you got into this profession.
Reuter: I came into it kind of backwards. I’m not Mr. Athlete by any stretch. I was not a player. But I knew enough about the game. I think most athletes who get into scouting or work in a front office have the initial advantage of having played, but then they have to learn how to analyze what they are seeing when they are watching film. Obviously some of them may know their position, but they don’t know all of the positions. I came in backwards. I had the analytic skills and then I applied them to football.
I had a fan site called Packerdraft.com and I started in in 2000. I started applying my analytic skills to football in terms of what was being seen on the field, but also looking at the data side – analyzing trends and trying to figure out what some of the numbers really mean. So I started doing that and it earned me opportunities to work with teams doing some consulting. After a few years of that, I left my state government gig to do this full-time.
Waldman: What was that gig?
Reuter: I was a research analyst for the department of transportation. My education is in economics and public policy analysis.
Waldman: With that kind of education and position you must have a fairly extensive understanding of statistics.
Reuter: My job was more or less to ferret out information that was helpful for our decision makers in the building – not just putting a bunch of numbers in front of people. I spent a lot of time pointing to things that some people said had merit, but actually didn’t. Most of the time I was telling people that statistics could be misinterpreted and used to mislead people than actually used to help!
(Laughter)
I find it also being the same thing I do with football. Continue reading
Conversation with NFL Draft Scout’s Chad Reuter Part I
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.
Waldman: Are there any positions you enjoy evaluating more than others?
Reuter: I’m an offensive line guy. I love watching the line. I think it is one of the more under-appreciated positions in terms of scouting because it is not just about the physical or mental characteristics of the player. There is also a lot of differences with what coaches want.
Waldman: What are things the average person should appreciate more about line play? Continue reading