By Staff
One look at how much money is involved in the world of football and you’ll see why there is such a focus on getting recruitment right. Nobody wants to spend tens of millions of dollars and end up with a player who just doesn’t have the abilities required. What are some of the skills seen time and time again in scouts?
Fans don’t always realize just how many people are involved in getting a deal done in the football world. For a starter, there are scouts. Scouts spend a lot of their time reviewing the footage of players and also going through the stats to see which players might be up to the task of leading the NFL.
An Understanding of Statistics and Strategy
Scouts need to know what they are reading when they go through endless sheets of statistics. Stats are now collected on pretty much every aspect of the game including running yards and even fitness levels. Football is a sport that throws out all kinds of different stats.
When trying to identify talent, analysis is a critical tool. Watching hours of game footage, a scout must identify the strengths and weaknesses of potential recruits. It’s not enough to notice a great tackle or a perfectly thrown pass; the scout must understand why it happened. Was it a fluke, or is it a sign of consistent skill? These are the questions that separate a good scout from a great one.
A lot of scouts showcase their analytical brains in their hobbies (whether they realize it or not). Many of them are known to play table games and casino games that may involve strategy – the crossover in skills needed for games where strategy plays a part is significant when compared to looking at statistics charts. Knowing the percentage of times that a certain hand is likely to win in blackjack, for instance. Playing blackjack online could be one of the things people who work in football are drawn to, especially as there is a big connection between casino brands and football in terms of sponsorship. A lot of all-time greats have also spoken about their passion for table games and blackjack. Tom Brady has played the game and is known as having one of the best brains in the sport.
Networking
People think that being a football scout is a case of just watching all the games and having an opinion. This is quite far from being all it is about. Networking skills are some of the most important of all for a scout, who will be dealing with people for much of their career. Guides on working in the behind-the-scenes aspects of football are often keen to point out the fact that people need to have contacts. This can take a long time to build and working at the lower levels of the game can sometimes be crucial for this.
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Good Instincts
This one is debatable but we think there’s something to be said for having a good instinct for the game. Everybody is looking for the next talent and potentially trading or using an early draft pick to take one. Sometimes, a scout recommends a top uncommitted player or talent that others have simply not spotted. Is this down to their instinct?
Some players might not shine on paper or in standard drills, but they possess an elusive quality—sometimes called the “it factor”—that sometimes only an experienced scout can recognize. Some people think that this is made up, but a lot of football scouts will know that trusting their gut can potentially pay off.
Being Adaptable
Scouting is not a nine-to-five job. It involves long hours as well as a potential need to adapt to unexpected situations. One day might be spent on the sidelines of a high school game in a small town, and the next could involve meetings in a major city with top college prospects and trying to get huge deals done. Scouts must be prepared for anything, and they need the resilience to handle the inevitable challenges that come with the job. Scouting may also involve a huge amount of travel.
Adaptability extends to their evaluations as well. A player might not fit the traditional mold, but an adaptable scout can see potential where others see only limitations. This flexibility in thinking allows scouts to find hidden gems that might be overlooked by those who rely too heavily on conventional wisdom.
Conclusion
Great scouts are hard to find. They can be influential in the teams they work for and can even save them millions of dollars and ensure they pick up talent affordably. In baseball, the “Moneyball” approach took an unconventional but successful approach to recruiting using statistics, and other sports are constantly looking for ways that they may be able to get ahead in finding the next talents of the game. The life of a scout is tough.
