In-depth film analysis of NFL Draft Prospects With a Fantasy Football Lens - by Matt Waldman ©2025
Russ Lande is a former NFL scout with the Rams and Browns who produces the draft publication GM Jr. and provides content for The Sporting News, including its annual draft guide. Lande has also appeared on television, including The Big 10 Network and ESPN2. Here’s a Q&A I did with Lande in the New York Times Fifth Down a couple of years ago at the Senior Bowl.
Lande’s RSP Writers Team has a makeup of players that is largely unique from other squads Continue reading
Something I emphasize when it comes to fan expectations of young players transitioning from college to the NFL is to account for the Great Emotional Divide. College football is an insulated world where university athletic programs fill its players’ time with a full slate of activities so there is little idle time. Moreover, these programs often employ staff to monitor participation in each of these activities.
The NFL is not as tightly managed because the players are too old to be treated as anything less than men. Colleges and universities exist in that gray area where 95 percent of its students are still socially young men, or even boys, transitioning into manhood. College football programs can use this gray area to its advantage by protecting its investment with rules that minimize the potential for law-breaking behavior.
That’s a topic for another time. Another consequence of these “live your life by the numbers” schedules imposed on college football players is that they are not use to the freedom that comes when they leave NCAA programs and enter the real world. Despite the fact that football players make unreal money as professionals, the looser schedules and expectation for players to train and study on their own is as real as it gets.
These new freedoms combined with significantly tougher competition, more complex mental components of the game, and vastly higher expectations can lead to something that these young athletes aren’t use to doing on the football field that can hold them back: thinking. When an athlete starts thinking on the field of play he hesitates. When he hesitates, he’s a step slower. And when he’s a step slower, he’s behind. And when he’s behind, he makes mistakes or misses opportunities he should have exploited.
Remember this last paragraph as you spend this summer reading Continue reading
About Russ Lande
Russ Lande began his football career as a scout with an unpaid position as a part-time recruiting intern with the UCLA Bruins. The next year, Lande was a pro scouting intern with the Los Angeles Rams and then transitioned into the role of scouting administrator from 1994-1998. He learned from the likes of Jack Faulkner, Dick Vermeil, Mike White, Bud Carson, Charley Armey, and Nick Aliotti.
Lande founded GM Jr Scouting and published his first annual GM Jr’s Guide to the NFL Draft (“The Guide”), starting with the 1999 NFL Draft. He also worked in the XFL as an east coast scout and later earned a job with CBS Sports’ television show NFL Today as an editorial consultant. Soon after, the Cleveland Browns hired Lande as a Midwest Blesto Scout responsible for evaluating senior players at over 70 colleges and universities. Since 2007, Lande has been the draft expert for The Sporting News. His company, GM Jr. Scouting LLC supplies The Sporting News all NFL content for the NFL and NFL Draft, both online and in their annual Sporting News Pro Football Draft publication.
Lande’s RSP Writers Team was originally composed with a $140 million cap through a miscommunication that we had about the rules (which was my fault). When I gave him more time to redo his team with the extra $10 million, he made tweaks to his quarterback depth and added Matt Hasselbeck. I think this is important to note, because I believe Lande is confident enough in hi selections that the extra $10 million didn’t make a huge difference except at one position.
Because I regard Lande as an industry peer when it comes to studying prospects, I enjoyed discovering players we both like: Hasselbeck, Juron Criner, Donald Brown, Taylor Thompson, Glenn Dorsey, and Cordy Glenn. The fact that Criner reminds me of Cris Carter and Lande describes the rookie as having “the best Continue reading
The Template for Modern Quarterbacking
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Four Skill Players to Monitor In August
One of the things we discuss regularly on the Thursday night Audible podcast is the importance of following the reports that the media files on players. These stories provide a brick-by-brick foundation about these players. Although these reports aren’t infallible, learning to filter truth from perception can have value. Below are players I’m monitoring this off season. Continue reading
I was raised on cornerbacks Hanford Dixon and Frank Minnifield playing bump and run in Cleveland. It was a big reason why I wanted Darrelle Revis and added some young, promising corners with man coverage skill to my squad. I have a brother-in-arms in that department with Sam Monson. The Pro Football Focus writer unveiled his RSP Writers team yesterday and if you appreciate the skill of man coverage, you’re going to love what he did.
I probably asked Monson more follow up questions than any writer thus far, including a mini-discussion about studying the game from a statistical perspective versus one of technique. I couldn’t agree with his answer more. We lead off with that question, using Seahawks wide receiver Golden Tate as the starting point for this stats vs. technique discussion. Continue reading
Sam Monson is an analyst at Pro Football Focus. He’s a sales and marketing director in Dublin, Ireland. Apparently, Monson is also a ball-hawking defensive back for his local football league (see his Twitter profile). Jene Bramel was sent across the pond to scout him. His report is forthcoming.
In the spirit of Monson’s football position, the PFF writer built a RSP team that I believe places heavy emphasis on taking away the pass as well as testing good passing defenses. He has a strong 1-2 punch at receiver, a promising all-around tight end, and throwing the ball to them is none other than Drew Brees, who makes his first appearance on a RSP Writers Project Team.
Just from the initial scan of Monson’s roster, he has built a unit with defensive backs capable of sticking to receivers like flypaper and relentless edge rushers along the defensive line. While I’m not a fan of some of his depth, it’s easy to nitpick any of these teams in that department. What I do know is that Monson’s team will be competitive as long as it stays healthy and when I say competitive, I mean compiling stats in the left-hand column labeled “W.” Continue reading
Bleacher Report’s NFL Draft Lead Writer, Matt Miller is the founder of the NFL draft site New Era Scouting. Matt’s work has been featured in Madden 13, on ESPN radio, SiriusXM, NFL.com, SI.com, and USA Today. NFL, CFL and AFL teams have utilized his services. Matt was the secondary and special teams coordinator for the three-time league champion Joplin Crusaders of the Central Football League.
Miller presents his roster with the unwavering belief that he selected personnel that will be the makings of a great football team – not to mention the bravado to believe he got tremendous value with players at the higher end of this exercise’s pay scale. Readers may see it as spin typical of NFL owners and GMs heading into training camp, but what I like is Miller’s steadfast belief in players that may not have lived up to initial expectations. It’s an indication that Miller stands by his work as an evaluator. Continue reading
Do you judge a player’s decisions play-by-play or with a group of plays? There is no clear answer. Michael Dyer’s performance against Clemson is a good example
A common refrain that ESPN radio host and Footballguys writer Cecil Lammey used to describe former Texas A&M running back Cyrus Gray before the Chiefs drafted him was that he was ‘too patient.’ Can a running back be too patient? I think the answer is yes, but it is a thorny judgment call. So is evaluating plays one by one rather than seeking an overall context.
Watching former Auburn running back Michael Dyer during a sequence of three, first-quarter runs against Clemson in 2011 brought this to mind. Continue reading
…it is that “box” that I think most often times gets coaches fired. Fear of trying something new. Given the size, speed, and intelligence of defenders today, I need coaches that can give defenses pause when trying to play w/ the attacking, intimidating style that they love to use.
-Ryan Booher on his coaching and strategy
Somehow, in the mass of RSP Project submissions, I forgot to post Ryan Booher’s roster Q&A. I’m not sure why, because I was fascinated with his desire to use high-tempo, Oregon/West Virginia/Oklahoma State spread looks in the NFL. I love his willingness to embrace an aggressive offensive scheme.
Booher’s Q&A is an excellent presentation of a team and he’s one of the few writers/readers that I’ve seen thus far talk about the fit with chemistry between personnel, coaches, and strategy to build a strong team. While there is a difference between theory and practice, this is one of my favorite teams. I have follow up questions for him that I hope I can have answered tomorrow in time for Reads Listens Views.
Here’s Booher’s roster if you need a quick refresher of his personnel. Matt Miller, Jene Bramel, and Scott Kacsmar, and Chase Stuart have finished their rosters. Russ Lande is working on his right now. Great stuff ahead. Continue reading
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2. Justin Blackmon, Oklahoma St. (6-0, 207) [Highlights above differ from article in NY Times.]
Blackmon plays a physical brand of football despite the fact that he is smaller and slower than he appears when featured in this wide-open Oklahoma State offense. The Cowboy offense gives Blackmon a lot of opportunities to approach defenders in space with the ball in his hands and heading downhill. While he will consistently be playing in tighter spaces at the N.F.L. level and he is not as explosive as other top prospects, Blackmon has the strength, hands and balance to become a reliable “plus” possession receiver (Anquan Boldin, Brandon Marshall) in the league.
Blackmon’s skill after the catch is what separates him from most prospects in this class. He is tough to bring down in the open field because he is a fluid runner with enough burst, strength and balance to run through hits and wraps. Blackmon’s strong hand-eye coordination and tendency to attack the ball from his breaks places him in an aggressive position to get the jump on defenders in open space.
If he develops better [Click here to read the rest]