On The 50-Yard Line: Your NFL Update

Weighing the Balance of a College Career

At what point will the science of scouting interfere with the proof embedded within a player's collegiate performance?

Later this month, on April 26 and 27, the NFL Entry Draft will take place at the Radio City Music Hall, in New York City's Rockefeller Center. To the average onlooker, this is the event that will keep the NFL ticking, simply providing the next crop of football players to duke it out each and every Sunday (from September to February). But to the NFL die-hards, this event represents their team's ultimate investment-- the future. This is the event where all 32 squads are eager to assemble the pieces of a championship team, by seeking out key players from the collegiate ranks, to fill the various needs on their respective rosters.

With the draft nearly 2 weeks away, there's a pretty onerous question among the NFL-elite right now, particularly, who do I pick? And how high how high do I draft them? And can they come on my roster day-one and be a starter for my franchise? These are the questions that saturate the minds of Coaches, General Managers, and team personnel professionals within the coming days. So how do scouts go about picking the right guy? How do they scientifically assess players and find the next Ladainian, or the next Peyton?

Like this.

They can measure the player's height, weight, the size of a players hand from pinky to thumb; how high the guy can jump at a dead stand-still, or even better, how fast the guy runs 40 yards... without pads on, without football in hand, and without cleats; they can measure how well he runs around pylons; or how many balls he catches in a rapid-fire gauntlet-- and draw their conclusions from these findings.

But does this translate to field?
My answer: no. My suggestion: turn on the game tape.

There is something unauthentic about defining a player by his post-season measurements, as opposed to the statistics and game tape that he spent 3 to 4 years compiling. Scouts are incredibly quick to criticize a sub-par 40 time, a player who is 2 inches too short or 20 pounds under weight. They seemingly forget the kid that rushed for 2000 yards in a single season, had 150 tackles, or returned 7 kicks/punts for touchdowns-- all regardless of hand size, height, weight, etc. Accolades on the field are the proverbial pudding, and recording monster stats are the proof. Don't count out the 169-pound DeSean Jackson (Cal.), the reportedly high-running, low-strength Darren McFadden (Ark.) , or the overweight Glen Dorsey(LSU). These guys will be stars at the next level. If you don't believe me, just go watch some game-tape.