Recommended Music Listening For This Article: Soulful Strut by Young-Holt Unlimited (loop it)
Hello friends, I’m Kevin Turner, but most people call me KT. Over the next few months, Jeff Cavanaugh and I will be pumping out oodles of NFL Draft content in preparation for the 2018 NFL Draft. We’ll have scouting reports, mock drafts, and other features as well. You’ll get to ride along with us as we go through the process leading to selection weekend. For my first article, I really wanted to shed some light on my NFL Draft preparation process.
When I transitioned from The Ticket to The Fan in 2013, I became really close with Jeff Cavanaugh. He’s turned into my best friend and I’d do anything for the guy. He also charges me a modest rent in our comfy two bedroom condo. Through the 2013 college and NFL season, Jeff and I started spending some time with Bryan Broaddus. Bryan is currently the lead football analyst at DallasCowboys.com as well as a contributor at 105.3 The Fan. Broaddus started out in the Green Bay Packers family, winning a Super Bowl with the 1996 Brett Favre team.
If you look around the NFL right now, you’ll find hoards of scouts, general managers, and front office men from that Ron Wolf tree of scouting in Green Bay. For example, current Seattle Seahawks general manager John Schneider was once Bryan’s intern. One day Elliott Wolf—the current director of football operations for the Packers—will run his own team, and Broaddus has babysat him. After that, he went to Philadelphia and ran the Eagles 1998 draft.
If you don’t believe me, here’s proof.
By the way, in that draft—which was voted the 5th best in Eagles history by PennLive.com—Broaddus selected Tra Thomas (a 3-time Pro Bowl offensive tackle), and Jeremiah Trotter (a 4-time Pro Bowl linebacker).
Bryan has connections all around the league and with all types of front office personnel, and he’s taught me more things about football than I can even put into one article.
But back to the story at hand…
One day, out of nowhere, Jeff mentioned he was going to watch tape of college players with Bryan and I was like, “Hey, can I tag along?”
One night turned into two nights, two into three, and so on and so forth. By the time the months passed by, Jeff and I had watched over 200 players and felt pretty good about what was happening in the 2014 NFL Draft. We picked right back up again the next year, and we’ve continued it until now: our 5th year covering the draft. Every year we will put our own draft board together and release it to the public. For example, here’s last year’s: NFL Draft Board 2017.
Doing the draft on the radio with Jeff, Bryan, and Dane Brugler over the last couple years has been some of the best days of my career; I can thank both Jeff and Bryan for that. What Broaddus has done for Jeff and I is really special: I know many would kill to have the experience we get to have going to the Cowboys facility and watching tape with Bryan.
We’ve already started the 2018 draft prep, so I wanted to explain our thought process, and how I personally approach evaluating players.
It’s an inexact science, in a world where there seems to be a lot of yelling and people thinking they are always right. There can be yelling in our process of watching players, but it’s usually friendly fire. That’s one of the things I like about watching these players, not only sharing my feelings on a player but also just hearing what someone else thinks. There’s no black or white in this process, and honestly, it has made me a better listener.
Basically, about 100 nights a year, Bryan, Jeff, and I meet at Bryan’s desk at 7pm and start watching players. There’s no order or rhyme or reason, we just randomly take turns suggesting players and going from there. We watch a number of games until we feel comfortable with who the player is. There will be some other factors that go into the evaluation, and if we aren’t completely sure about the player, we will go back and watch again at another time just to see how our notes stack up. The combine, Senior Bowl, and Shrine Bowl goes into (some) consideration as well.
Everyone is a little different, but here is how I watch players and some of the key things that I look for. My first rule is to keep it simple: type up what you see, and don’t try to craft some elegant sentence. Basically don’t doll up the situation. Trust your eyes and write what you see.
Every position is different, and consists of its own challenges. Jeff is the wide receiver savant, because he played college football at that position (and is still a noted local 7 on 7 deep threat). I personally feel like I have a decent feel for offensive lineman, as well as cornerbacks. I know that’s a weird combination (and quite dangerous considering the bust rate of cornerbacks), but my evaluations have come into fruition quite often at that position over the last couple years (looking at you Marcus Peters and Tre’Davious White).
So let’s start there: what do I look for and what is most important to me when evaluating specific positions?
CORNERBACKS
Quickness – This is #1 for me. There’s a correlation between quickness and instincts, but I’m not only talking about foot quickness. I’m talking about processing quickness as well. Knowing the wide receiver’s route before he runs it. That’s the number one thing I want out of a cornerback.
Speed – Long speed is crucial at the position. I rarely have high grades on corners running in the high 4.5’s. That’s not to say it doesn’t happen, but speed absolutely matters.
Cajones/Tackling – I’m dinging a guy in my evaluation if he’s not willing to tackle. It’s too important. Preventing big plays is a huge part of this league. We think about that in the passing game, but if your cornerback can’t get off a block from a receiver that is bigger than him, then he’s giving up the edge (and potentially a long touchdown run). I need guys who want to throw their body around and be aggressive in the run game as well.
Hips – If you can’t flip your hips quickly, you’re done. If you don’t believe me, just ask veteran actor Carl Weathers.
There are obviously more traits I look for, but for the sake of this article, I just wanted to focus on the big ones.
SAFETY
Brains – I need smart players who recognize coverages and never blow assignments.
Range – Can the safety cover sideline to sideline from centerfield in cover 2?
Tackling – Can the safety come up and make plays in the box? Can he serve as the last line of defense?
LINEBACKER
Intuition – How fast does he feel and see the play? Jaylon Smith’s number one trait—apart from his athleticism—was that he saw the play before it developed. Sean Lee does this as well, and I think it’s crucial.
Tackling – Obviously.
Cover Skills – Can he get to the running back on the swing pass to the flats? Is he comfortable dropping back into his zone?
DEFENSIVE TACKLES
Anticipation – What I call “get off”. Is he consistently the first guy off the line of scrimmage, the last guy, or just average?
Low – The low man almost always wins. Does he keep his pad level low when going to battle in the trenches?
Handplay – Does he have the quick hands and hand placement technique to control the man blocking him?
DEFENSIVE ENDS/EDGE PLAYERS
Bend – The 3-cone drill at the combine is a pretty good test of agility for pass rushers. Is he able to put his body in tough positions, and gumby around the corner while still being bothered by the offensive tackle?
Moves – Is he predictable when he’s going after the quarterback? Will he bolt inside occasionally? Does he use his hands and try different pass rush moves?
Strength – Can he get off blocks and set the edge against the run?
Defensive ends/Edge players have become a premium position, so there’s obviously a ton that goes into watching them, but these are the big three traits for this news reporter.
OFFENSIVE LINEMAN
This one is a little different because you might be looking for certain things out of centers, tackles, and guards. I’ll keep this brief. I’m looking at strength, are they light on their feet, and do they have strong hands?
WIDE RECEIVERS/TIGHT ENDS
Hands – I can’t have a dropper on my team. Drops are inexcusable.
Speed – The game continues to get faster; if I can employ speed guys, then I have the advantage.
Technique/Route Running – There are so many nuances to the wide receiver position, and you will see us discuss them in our scouting reports going forward.
Blocking – It goes without saying for tight ends, but a good blocking wide receiver can spring huge splash plays in the offense.
RUNNING BACKS
Vision – You have to be able to see things before they develop and also as they develop.
Receiving – In this day and age, I have to have a running back who is comfortable catching the football out of the backfield.
Pass Protection – My running back can’t get my quarterback killed. He must, at the least, be willing to sacrifice his body and take a blow.
QUARTERBACKS
Cognitive Procedure – The elite ones are advanced at this. Seeing coverages, anticipating who the open guy will be.
Pocket Prescence – Does my quarterback keep his eyes up downfield while stepping up in the pocket? Is he able to feel pressure and subtly move away from it?
Accuracy – Put it on the money. If you can’t do that, you have to leave the sport.
Now, I want to make this extremely clear…there are a million things that people look for when scouting players, this is just a very brief explanation of some of the more broad things that I’m always looking for.
Now that we’ve got that covered, hopefully you’ve enjoyed 5-10 minutes of Soulful Strut and are in a good mood.
Any questions or comments, drop it while it’s hot; that’s why we have a comment section here at The Upset. You’ll hear more from me soon, but for now, Happy New Year, and may all your dreams come true.
Andrew Robertson says
Awesome article! I believe last I saw, the Cowboys will be picking around 19 in the first round. In your opinion, what’s a realistic pick you could see the Dallas make at this spot?
Kevin Turner says
Lot of possible scenarios at this point, I believe the linebacker from Georgia Ro’Quan Smith will be gone by then.
Will be interesting to see, but i think they could take one of about 5 or 6 positions.
Andrew Robertson says
Yeah Ro’Quan Smith is definitely the best case scenario, but I doubt he’s there at 19
Kevin Turner says
Last night validated he’s likely a Top 10-15 player. If you wanted to trade your second you could move up 8 spots to get him. I don’t really wanna do that though.
Eric Cox says
Any chance you will look at Luis Perez out of Texas A&M Commerce? Yes, he’s a D-II guy, but I’m just curious.
Kevin Turner says
If We can find some tape we will do it!
Justin Ngo says
Great article KT! Loved the in depth analysis of your draft prep process, looking forward to reading more as the draft ambles towards us
Kevin Turner says
Thanks man, scouting reports and more coming soon. Hope everyone enjoys the fun ride along with us!