In-depth film analysis of NFL Draft Prospects With a Fantasy Football Lens - by Matt Waldman ©2025
We fear what we don’t understand. And what we do understand is often rooted in the past. Statistics are a record of the past. Conventional thinking is also rooted in the past. But what is conventional today was revolutionary yesterday. And what was revolutionary yesterday was often met with skepticism, fear, and scorn.
The round earth theory was revolutionary. Democracy was revolutionary. Civil rights is (unfortunately still) revolutionary. Continue reading
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I love how all the non-football players in this peice are ranting about Hester as NFL Films’ No.1 return ace of all time, but the former players all see the truth before the stats proved it.
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If you haven’t purchased the 2011 RSP yet, it’s available here for a lockout price of $9.95 that was just plain stoopid.You can also email me if you would like to purchase the RSPs from 2006-2010. It’s my RSP customers that help make this blog possible and here is what they have to say about their investment.
Let’s kick off this week’s Read, Listens, Views… Continue reading
I think we’ve really lost in this country—and maybe in many countries—a certain value of leadership. The idea that power can be wielded for the common good is kind of up for grabs these days, because there are so many competing commercial interests on governance as we know it.
– Investigative reporter Jason Berry on the Penn State scandal
Many of you probably want this story to go away. I understand. It’s painful. But I think our country likes to be comfortably numb. Booze. Drugs. Video games. Sports. “Reality” TV.
There’s nothing wrong with having some escapism in your life. But expressing the initial horror over the Penn State story and then slipping back to a medicated or electronic semi-coma isn’t the answer. It doesn’t help us become more educated on the subject of preventing sexual abuse in our communities.
It also doesn’t teach us how to spot the evils that exist within a power structure that happen at every level of a university, business, or government institution. Moreover, we need to learn why the initial reactions to defend this power structure are not unusual and why we shouldn’t have been as surprised as we were.
Here are some links worth reading that I think will help us continue to become more cognizant of the big-picture issues as this story continues to unfold:
Matt Paknis’ blog entry – The former Penn State grad assistant talks about his experiences working with the football team and his impressions of the power structure as well as the behaviors he witnessed from Jerry Sandusky. Paknis did not witness sexual acts, but he did see Sandusky show questionable judgment with physical boundaries between the defensive coordinator and children in public. He also doesn’t mince words about what he thinks Joe Paterno knew. This is a must read. Here’s a podcast with him on Mike Francesca’s CBS show if you just don’t feel like reading.
What the Catholic Church Can Teach Us About the Penn State Scandal – The Atlantic features a Q&A between culture writer (and terrific sportswriter) Patrick Hruby with investigative reporter Jason Berry who has “written extensively about child molestation charges against the church.” Berry says there are striking parallels, but a lot more credit should be given to Penn State for its swift reaction.
Ranking players is perhaps the least important part of the analysis I do when I create the Rookie Scouting Portfolio.
I do realize that rankings are important to many of you who buy the RSP and the process I undertake to arrive at my lists is intensive. However, as me, Chad Reuter, Matt Williamson, Dan Shonka, Wes Bunting, Greg Cosell, or any analyst of NFL prospects not employed with an NFL team will tell you, our rankings lack the context of matching players to a specific teams’ schemes, they lack the extensive knowledge of these players as individuals, and they lack a thorough understanding of each teams’ needs. Therefore, using the NFL Draft as a measuring stick to determine the success of an independent analyst’s rankings of players is a limited exercise.
Rankings prior to a draft are not a good reflection of the likelihood of success. That likelihood changes for the player based on when and where he’s draft, if he stays healthy, if his teammates stay healthy, and whether he makes that emotional transition from college athlete to professional. The most accurate analysis we can offer comes from the time spent closely observing a player on film to determine what he can do – and more importantly, trying to discern the difference between what he can’t do right now with what he might never be able to do – that has the greatest value.
That is my preamble for this oft-requested feature of ranking these prospects across numerous years. These rankings aren’t what you’ll see in the Rookie Scouting Portfolios from years past because Continue reading
Fusue Vue via Twitter: Does Denarius Moore remind you of Brandon Lloyd?
MW: Fusue, I can see where Moore and Lloyd’s games have parallels. Both receivers do a tremendous job adjusting to the football. However, I think each player has some distinct differences.
I think Moore is a better player with the ball in his hands. He’s faster, a little more rugged, and he can also make defenders miss. The comparable player that immediately came to mind for me as a ball carrier as well as their physiques and skill at adjusting to the football was Continue reading
I think one of the best things about the community of football fans is its generosity with good causes. I think in light of the events at Penn State, I’d like to remind everyone that one of the organizations I had scheduled to donate a share of the revenue from the 2012 Rookie Scouting Portfolio is Darkness to Light.
[Just to be clear, while I would love for you to buy the RSP if you haven’t in the past – and I’m certainly going to use this as a way to make your decision a bit easier. But in the grand scheme of things, it’s more important that you donate to reputable organizations that focus on the prevention of these types of crimes – RSP or not.]
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I found Darkness to Light on Charity Navigator last year and chose it based on its mission:
“Darkness to Light is a national organization and initiative. Our mission is to empower people to prevent child sexual abuse. Darkness to Light’s public awareness campaign seeks to raise awareness of the prevalence and consequences of child sexual abuse.
Again, even if you don’t purchase the Rookie Scouting Portfolio publication I encourage you to find an organization like Darkness to Light or RAIN to assist.
If you are an annual reader of the Rookie Scouting Portfolio publications, I had a poll available on this page for you to determine how much of the allocated percentage of sales revenue I donate to Darkness to Light. I’ve decided instead that I’m going to play benevolent dictator on this decision. I’m giving that percentage solely to Darkness to Light.
Even if you don’t have the dough to spare, you can donate something far more important: your time and willingness to learn how to prevent this from happening in your life. This weekend, I have added pages to help us learn about this epidemic in our society and how to minimize its impact in our homes and communities. If you can learn football stats you should commit some of these stats about sexual abuse to memory. Once you read the facts, learn how to protect children from becoming another statistic.
I think as football fans it’s a good idea we send a message that while we get idiotic about the sport, we’re not a complete bunch of idiots.
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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
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
My piece Logic (Newton) or Chance (Luck)? got a comment the other day that sparked a thought I want to share. Here’s the comment and my response: Continue reading
Ranking players is perhaps the least important part of the analysis I do when I create the Rookie Scouting Portfolio. It’s the conversation starter. The attention-getter. The marketing schtick.
It’s the three-sentence summation of a complex subject that you need to learn to give at a cocktail party or you come across as David Fincher’s depiction of Mark Zuckerberg in the Social Network. As much as I value Twitter for attracting readers like you to the work I do, I’m not much on cocktail party chatter. My primary goal with the RSP is to profile skill position players and analyze their games to evaluate their current skills and potential. Continue reading