Posts tagged RSP

RSP Contest Update and Reads, Listens, Views 12/2

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Hint: Hakeem Nicks is NOT one of the receivers in this week's Name the Prospect RSP Contest. Photo by Romec1

The Name the Prospect Contest has earned a great response and a lot of readers are asking me if I have revealed the answers. You’re going to have to wait a little longer because only 1 reader out of nearly 100 entries has correctly identified all three players. I love a good contest and the fact only 1 out of 100 entries were correct is a strong indicator that the question was a worthy one.

I’m going to let the contest run a full week. If I don’t get three readers with correct answers by the end of Day Seven, Continue reading →

Reads, Listens, Views 11/25

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Did you know 40 percent of Vince Young’s career wins are fourth quarter comebacks?

I Know How Kevin Smith Feels

I was going to play football today for the first time in 22 years – an annual post-Turkey day contest in the neighborhood where I grew up. Then I started running last week. Before you get the wrong idea, I’ve been biking 10 miles a day for nearly six months so I’m in decent cardiovascular shape.

I learned that your knees also need to work up to the pounding.  Continue reading →

RSP Flashback: Lions RB Kevin Smith

0 Comments read Players, Running Back
Welcome back Kevin Smith, nice to see you still had it in you. Photo by Carlos Osorio.

Here is a very brief overview I wrote in the 2008 Rookie Scouting Portfolio about Kevin Smith as an underrated player in the 2008 draft class.

Kevin Smith, University of Central Florida: How does a 2000-yard rusher qualify as underrated? When analysts and draftniks dismiss him as a baby-faced junior who is too thin, too easy to bring down, and indecisive at the point of attack. The only thing that they have right is the remark about his face—and that doesn’t win or lose football games. Smith is bigger than Darren McFadden and will likely add another 10 pounds of muscle as he matures because it’s his upper body that is on the thinner side. He already has a very muscular trunk and runs with good balance. The skills that make Smith special are his vision, hard-cutting style, and hip flexibility, which is reminiscent of no back I’ve seen since Marcus Allen.

Smith had nearly 1000 yards as a rookie third-round pick. Photo by Carlos Osorio.

Smith faced 9- and 10-men fronts and demonstrated a decisive style. I watched him have a very productive day against a stout Mississippi State defense that loaded up the box to stop him. Although he needs to do a better job of moving his legs when wrapped up, he has deceptive power and runs out of more hits and ankle tackles than advertised. The fact that he’s one of the best pure runners in this draft and he is still raw as a player makes Smith an underrated commodity.

In a few years Smith has a strong chance to be known as the best back in this class if he can capitalize on his vast talent. What will hold him back early is his need to improve his skills as a receiver. Nevertheless, Smith will excite teammates, fans, and fantasy owners with his running style. My only concern with Smith is his hard-cutting style. Some of the backs that share this aspect of his style suffered knee injuries that robbed them of their skill.

Reads, Listens, Views 11/18

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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.

Thanks. Thank you for reading. Thank you for subscribing. And thank you for recommending this blog to friends. Most of all, thank you for purchasing the Rookie Scouting Portfolio.

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 →

Best Offensive Play of the Year

0 Comments read Players, Running Back

Aaron Rodgers is amazing. His back shoulder throws and guided-missile burners through three levels of defenders in the middle of the field can leave you speechless. But for my money, there’s nothing better than the elemental force of a running back winning a battle with a linebacker.

Especially when that linebacker is perhaps the greatest football player the NFL has seen for the past 15 years. Maybe one of then 10 best, ever. Continue reading →

The RSP Blog’s Top 20 QBs (2006-2011) Part II (10-1)

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There was very little separation among the top 6 players on this list. Sam Bradford could have been has high as No.2. See where he landed. Photo by SD Dirk.

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 →

Sunday Mailbag 11/13

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Find out which rookie receiver reminds me of the late Chris Henry in this week's Mailbag. Photo by Donkerdink.

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 →

Donate to Sexual Abuse Prevention

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Let's do something to help prevent sexual abuse and promote greater awareness. Photo by Arianna Marchesani.

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.

The RSP Blog’s Top QBs (2006-2011)

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Jaguars QB Blaine Gabbert looks little like the prospect I watched at Missouri. Find out why, below. Photo by PDA.Photo.

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 →

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.