Posts tagged Dave Razzano

Dan Shonka Part II: War Room Stories

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Even a player like Ray Lewis sometimes requires a scout like Dan Shonka to stand on the table for him. Photo by rubendn.

I think it’s accurate to describe Ourlads’ Dan Shonka as one of the ultimate practitioners of football evaluation. Shonka has 39 years of football experience as a player, college recruiter, college coach, and a combined 16 years as a NFL scout for National Scouting Service, the Philadelphia Eagles, the Washington Redskins, and the Kansas City Chiefs.

Last week, Shonka agreed to speak with me about scouting, players, and the NFL. The scheduled 60 minutes became two hours of football talk that flew by. Dan was afraid I got more than I bargained for, but I told him that I got exactly what I wanted – just more than I could have expected.

This segment of our conversation included war room stories about perhaps the greatest linebacker of a generation, a cornerback who had some great battles with Michael Irvin, a disruptive defensive tackle, and a backup running back from the University Texas whose first name is Anthony but went by a more holy moniker. Continue reading →

NFL Draft Scout’s Chad Reuter-Part III

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Despite the low success rate of first-round quarterbacks, Chad Reuter explains why drafting a QB in subsequent rounds who turns out even as productive as Matt Hasselbeck is a rarity. Photo by Matt McGee

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 →

Emerging NFL Talents: QB John Beck

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Mike Shanahan thought John Beck was the best quarterback in a draft class that included JaMarcus Russell, Kevin Kolb, Brady Quinn, Troy Smith, and Trent Edwards. Hardly a great group in hindsight, but you could say the same about Tom Brady's class with one noted exception, Brady's fellow sixth-round classmate. Photo by simplistic.designs http://www.flickr.com/photos/simplistic-designs/

Although my takes on the players in the next series of posts might be useful to fantasy owners, this isn’t a fantasy football article. I’m not projecting stats. I’m writing about talented players whose portfolio of work reveals techniques and behaviors that I think translate well to the NFL game. At the end of the year, you might look at the stats and conclude that the quantity of the production wasn’t eye-catching for each of these emerging talents. However, I believe their work will be impressive enough for opposing teams, fans, and more astute fantasy owners to take future notice.

Prologue

Once upon a time there was a Division I college quarterback. He had the minimum physical dimensions for NFL consideration, but he wasn’t an athletic phenomenon. The school he played for was a major program, but it was not a known commodity for quarterbacks. The lack of these quality bullet points on this player’s resume contributed to a lower draft stock. A noted exception were those who study film closely. These tape grinders saw a quarterback with an exceptionally quick release, good accuracy, and solid decision-making. Some of these analysts, (specifically this one) rated this quarterback among the top 3-4 in this class.

It didn’t make much of a difference. The quarterback was a sixth-round pick for a team that needed a better passer. But as with most sixth-round picks, that quarterback was waived.  The team didn’t regarded him as a player to develop. While this is speculation on my part, said player likely didn’t receive enough reps to even make an impression. Six years later, the team that cut our hero made a trade for a signal caller who turned this franchise around – much in part to a new head coach who I think might have taken a greater interest in our hero if the timing were right. But reality dictated that for the next five years this team would falter in large part to inconsistent quarterbacking. Continue reading →