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It is my hope that this can shed some light on how teams evaluate talent. I am going to focus on the Cowboys so that names can be put to the process.
First of all talent evaluation is broken down into 2 sections, college and Pro. The Coordinator of Pro Scouting for the Cowboys is Judd Garrett. The Coordinator of College Scouting is Chris Hall. They both answer to Tom Ciskowski whose title with the Cowboys is Assistant Director of Player Personnel. As many of you know I maintain that he is the person whose job most here would associate with being the General Manager.
In truth, as a recent article in the News Zone indicates, the day to day operations of the Dallas Cowboys actually falls into the lap of Stephen Jones. Assisting him with contracts, financial information, and all around general football administration is Todd Williams and Adam Prasifka. Stephen and Todd are our Salary Cap department.
The most important talent evaluator on the football team is the Head Coach. This is often overlooked but shouldn't be. He has to be able to visualize how players will fit into his systems. To this end, talent evaluation from the coaching staff is like a funnel. Each of the position coaches are required to take the information they receive on Pro and college players, watch the film themselves, and give feedback on each player to the Coordinators.
The entire coaching staff is involved in the evaluation process of each player. All information is funneled from the position coaches through the coordinators to the Head Coach.
The Scouting department also acts as a funnel. The regional scouts funnel their information to either Chris Hall or Judd Garrett who in turn funnel their information to Tom Ciskowski.
There is a file on literally every player who is available. We've all heard the phrase "off the board." There are players who are taken out of such files due to things the team decides to avoid. It could be drugs or any number of other factors which might indicate character issues. Some think having too many "choir boys" on a football team makes that team soft. I disagree. I think you cannot have enough people who simply love the game and focus on it.
Each college player is given a grade. This grade is determined by the Head Coach, staff and scouting department all determining how this player would fit into the team. A great example is DeMarco Murray. The Cowboys had him ranked much higher than a lot of scouting services and fans had him. This was for particular reasons. Jason Garrett ultimately felt that he fit his Offense with the way he picks up blitzes, runs hard, and catches the ball.
So when he was there in the 3rd round and they had him rated much higher, they took him. No hesitation.
Now, I want to make something clear about the Draft Grades players get. Injuries usually do not factor into Draft Grades. They are considered of course because if the team feels like they can get a player in the 4th round, they may roll the dice. For example, Chris Canty had a much higher Draft Grade for us than 4th round, but when he was still there due to his eye injury they made the pick. On some players the Grade can be so high that they will not gamble at all. Sean Lee and Bruce Carter are exactly examples. Dallas had both players rated in their top 20 picks as players they felt could help the team.
Okay, so let's take a fictional look at a player Dallas will be analyzing right now. For the sake this I am going to say this player is my personal favorite, David DeCastro.
First the Regional Scout is going to have to have watched all tape of him and will have to have made notations on strengths, weaknesses, and possibly even observations from people who know the young man. They are going to want to know details down to who he dates. Does he go to parties on campus? Has he ever been drunk and disorderly at these parties? What injuries has he sustained in the course of play and did he play through them? This file gets sent to Chris Hall and Tom Ciskowski.
The film is sent to the position coaches. In this case it will be Wes Phillips and Bill Callahan. They will first focus on plays that we run that he has also run. Remember, how does he fit into our systems? Then they will focus on plays we don't run. How can our system further grow with his talent? This too makes it's way to Tom Ciskowski, but also to Jason Garrett.
Now, it is Ciskowski's job to slot the player into a where we would take him scenario, and who else is likely to try and acquire him before we do. He has to know for example that a team picking behind us might move ahead of us to grab him. For the purpose of this discussion let's say it is New England who wants a bookend for Logan Mankins. Attached to this information will also be all other options for us.
Now the Regional Scout is going to again be consulted on how hard we should go after this player. Some scouts will "stand on the table" for a player. This is the phrase that means someone refuses to be shouted over and makes a spectacle of himself or shows his religious zeal for a player. One such player from past years was Larry Allen. I forget the name of the Regional Scout, but the story was widely told that he stood on the table for drafting Larry Allen.
I want to interject something here, no one in scouting can see down the road or into hidden closets. How will money change a player? For most of these kids they will come from poverty to prosperity so fast it will change them as a person. A perfect example is Darrell Russell. In 1997 Darrell Russell was the 2nd player Drafted. He was a "can't miss" kind of guy. For the most part, he was a miss. He never lived up to his Draft status. The biggest factor was how money changed him. I would say drastically. His parents were divorced and he was raised by his mother, but all reports on him were that he was a top notch character guy. And he was, all the way through USC. But once he got a taste of the fast life in the NFL, he was hooked.
No one could have foreseen what happened to that kid.
Another type of bust is Tony Mandarich. A can't miss player too. His failures are probably mostly due to Performance Enhancing Drugs. There were always rumors that he used them, even at Michigan State. Teams will know these types of rumors and will have to weigh them in their evaluations. I am going to be a little crass here. Most teams do not care if a player uses PEDs, as long as they do not affect the team. It is that way in college too. I personally saw coaches "look the other way" on players using PEDs because their careers are tied to how well that player does.
In other words folks, PEDs are like a political topic for coaches. How does it affect me, is usually the consideration. Team comes second. Harsh reality but true. If a coach feels like their career can be spring boarded by a player's ability, they will "look the other way." If the player gets caught, they claim innocence. Now if the team is hurt by said player's suspension, it doesn't reflect as highly on the coach, because if he had had all his tools, things would have been different.
Okay, so let's try to wrap this thing up after all this information and the segues too.
The Regional Scout has now been contacted again. Jason Garrett has to take the information he has from Bill Callahan, Tom Ciskowski, and the Regional Scout and he has to filter this into his vision for the team. Now I am going to briefly segue again. Do you want to know why Dallas selected Tyron Smith at number 9 over Nate Solder and Anthony Castanzo? Dallas had those 3 OTs rated almost equally. There were two bits of information that pushed Tyron Smith to the head of the list. One, his Regional Scout "stood on the table." The regional scouts for the other 2 players were enthusiastic, but less adamant.
So, Jason Garrett took the information for all three and he got the films he had already seen, including Combine films, etc. and he went to Mike Woicik. He asked Woicik to tell him what he sees as the physical potential of each player. Mike Woicik told him that Tyron Smith could put on 20 to 30 pounds of muscle, raise his bench press 50 to 75 pounds and not lose any speed.
The scales tipped.
Draft day 2012. Has the same Regional Scout "stood on the table" for David DeCastro? What is his ceiling on potential?
The Draft Board will have already been constructed by this time. That is handled by Tom Ciskowski and Jason Garrett almost exclusively. Players are rated by position and their Draft Grade.
Now the Scouts and position coaches are brought in to see the lists. They are consulted on what they agree with and what they disagree with. Ciskowski and Garrett along with the position coaches may go right back to films. They might even put stop watches on players to see who does a certain play faster, say a pulling guard on a toss sweep since I am taking about DeCastro here.
The board is finalized. The War Room is set. In that War Room and the surrounding offices will be every coach, scout, and executive on the team. We're at home or at the Draft, glued to the action.
By this time Dallas has a map of the course they hope to run and alternate routes for lack of a better term. For example, in 2007 we wanted Steve Smith in the 2nd round. When the Giants took him I was in the Chat Room with a lot of other fans and I said we would trade out of the 2nd round because that was our pick. Two picks later we sent our pick to Cleveland and they took Eric Wright. In that case, the route or the map changed.
Some may ask, where do Stephen and Jerry get involved? They receive every report that Jason Garrett does. They may offer him their input. Stephen absolutely does. I know that for a fact. He is very involved.
Ultimately Jason Garrett has the pick. Jerry Jones makes the phone call to the Draft pick, Tom Ciskowski makes the phone call to the NFL Draft and our guys there send the pick up to the Commissioner.
It isn't a perfect system, but none of them are because you cannot see how a player will change. I want to mention one such player as I close this, Robert Brewster. Many know he fizzled out here, but may not know why, because he was highly regarded by the team. He was also a single father and ultimately he put more weight on his responsibilities there than he did on earning a starting job on the team. Some may call him a bust, but I bet his little boy doesn't think so.
First of all talent evaluation is broken down into 2 sections, college and Pro. The Coordinator of Pro Scouting for the Cowboys is Judd Garrett. The Coordinator of College Scouting is Chris Hall. They both answer to Tom Ciskowski whose title with the Cowboys is Assistant Director of Player Personnel. As many of you know I maintain that he is the person whose job most here would associate with being the General Manager.
In truth, as a recent article in the News Zone indicates, the day to day operations of the Dallas Cowboys actually falls into the lap of Stephen Jones. Assisting him with contracts, financial information, and all around general football administration is Todd Williams and Adam Prasifka. Stephen and Todd are our Salary Cap department.
The most important talent evaluator on the football team is the Head Coach. This is often overlooked but shouldn't be. He has to be able to visualize how players will fit into his systems. To this end, talent evaluation from the coaching staff is like a funnel. Each of the position coaches are required to take the information they receive on Pro and college players, watch the film themselves, and give feedback on each player to the Coordinators.
The entire coaching staff is involved in the evaluation process of each player. All information is funneled from the position coaches through the coordinators to the Head Coach.
The Scouting department also acts as a funnel. The regional scouts funnel their information to either Chris Hall or Judd Garrett who in turn funnel their information to Tom Ciskowski.
There is a file on literally every player who is available. We've all heard the phrase "off the board." There are players who are taken out of such files due to things the team decides to avoid. It could be drugs or any number of other factors which might indicate character issues. Some think having too many "choir boys" on a football team makes that team soft. I disagree. I think you cannot have enough people who simply love the game and focus on it.
Each college player is given a grade. This grade is determined by the Head Coach, staff and scouting department all determining how this player would fit into the team. A great example is DeMarco Murray. The Cowboys had him ranked much higher than a lot of scouting services and fans had him. This was for particular reasons. Jason Garrett ultimately felt that he fit his Offense with the way he picks up blitzes, runs hard, and catches the ball.
So when he was there in the 3rd round and they had him rated much higher, they took him. No hesitation.
Now, I want to make something clear about the Draft Grades players get. Injuries usually do not factor into Draft Grades. They are considered of course because if the team feels like they can get a player in the 4th round, they may roll the dice. For example, Chris Canty had a much higher Draft Grade for us than 4th round, but when he was still there due to his eye injury they made the pick. On some players the Grade can be so high that they will not gamble at all. Sean Lee and Bruce Carter are exactly examples. Dallas had both players rated in their top 20 picks as players they felt could help the team.
Okay, so let's take a fictional look at a player Dallas will be analyzing right now. For the sake this I am going to say this player is my personal favorite, David DeCastro.
First the Regional Scout is going to have to have watched all tape of him and will have to have made notations on strengths, weaknesses, and possibly even observations from people who know the young man. They are going to want to know details down to who he dates. Does he go to parties on campus? Has he ever been drunk and disorderly at these parties? What injuries has he sustained in the course of play and did he play through them? This file gets sent to Chris Hall and Tom Ciskowski.
The film is sent to the position coaches. In this case it will be Wes Phillips and Bill Callahan. They will first focus on plays that we run that he has also run. Remember, how does he fit into our systems? Then they will focus on plays we don't run. How can our system further grow with his talent? This too makes it's way to Tom Ciskowski, but also to Jason Garrett.
Now, it is Ciskowski's job to slot the player into a where we would take him scenario, and who else is likely to try and acquire him before we do. He has to know for example that a team picking behind us might move ahead of us to grab him. For the purpose of this discussion let's say it is New England who wants a bookend for Logan Mankins. Attached to this information will also be all other options for us.
Now the Regional Scout is going to again be consulted on how hard we should go after this player. Some scouts will "stand on the table" for a player. This is the phrase that means someone refuses to be shouted over and makes a spectacle of himself or shows his religious zeal for a player. One such player from past years was Larry Allen. I forget the name of the Regional Scout, but the story was widely told that he stood on the table for drafting Larry Allen.
I want to interject something here, no one in scouting can see down the road or into hidden closets. How will money change a player? For most of these kids they will come from poverty to prosperity so fast it will change them as a person. A perfect example is Darrell Russell. In 1997 Darrell Russell was the 2nd player Drafted. He was a "can't miss" kind of guy. For the most part, he was a miss. He never lived up to his Draft status. The biggest factor was how money changed him. I would say drastically. His parents were divorced and he was raised by his mother, but all reports on him were that he was a top notch character guy. And he was, all the way through USC. But once he got a taste of the fast life in the NFL, he was hooked.
No one could have foreseen what happened to that kid.
Another type of bust is Tony Mandarich. A can't miss player too. His failures are probably mostly due to Performance Enhancing Drugs. There were always rumors that he used them, even at Michigan State. Teams will know these types of rumors and will have to weigh them in their evaluations. I am going to be a little crass here. Most teams do not care if a player uses PEDs, as long as they do not affect the team. It is that way in college too. I personally saw coaches "look the other way" on players using PEDs because their careers are tied to how well that player does.
In other words folks, PEDs are like a political topic for coaches. How does it affect me, is usually the consideration. Team comes second. Harsh reality but true. If a coach feels like their career can be spring boarded by a player's ability, they will "look the other way." If the player gets caught, they claim innocence. Now if the team is hurt by said player's suspension, it doesn't reflect as highly on the coach, because if he had had all his tools, things would have been different.
Okay, so let's try to wrap this thing up after all this information and the segues too.
The Regional Scout has now been contacted again. Jason Garrett has to take the information he has from Bill Callahan, Tom Ciskowski, and the Regional Scout and he has to filter this into his vision for the team. Now I am going to briefly segue again. Do you want to know why Dallas selected Tyron Smith at number 9 over Nate Solder and Anthony Castanzo? Dallas had those 3 OTs rated almost equally. There were two bits of information that pushed Tyron Smith to the head of the list. One, his Regional Scout "stood on the table." The regional scouts for the other 2 players were enthusiastic, but less adamant.
So, Jason Garrett took the information for all three and he got the films he had already seen, including Combine films, etc. and he went to Mike Woicik. He asked Woicik to tell him what he sees as the physical potential of each player. Mike Woicik told him that Tyron Smith could put on 20 to 30 pounds of muscle, raise his bench press 50 to 75 pounds and not lose any speed.
The scales tipped.
Draft day 2012. Has the same Regional Scout "stood on the table" for David DeCastro? What is his ceiling on potential?
The Draft Board will have already been constructed by this time. That is handled by Tom Ciskowski and Jason Garrett almost exclusively. Players are rated by position and their Draft Grade.
Now the Scouts and position coaches are brought in to see the lists. They are consulted on what they agree with and what they disagree with. Ciskowski and Garrett along with the position coaches may go right back to films. They might even put stop watches on players to see who does a certain play faster, say a pulling guard on a toss sweep since I am taking about DeCastro here.
The board is finalized. The War Room is set. In that War Room and the surrounding offices will be every coach, scout, and executive on the team. We're at home or at the Draft, glued to the action.
By this time Dallas has a map of the course they hope to run and alternate routes for lack of a better term. For example, in 2007 we wanted Steve Smith in the 2nd round. When the Giants took him I was in the Chat Room with a lot of other fans and I said we would trade out of the 2nd round because that was our pick. Two picks later we sent our pick to Cleveland and they took Eric Wright. In that case, the route or the map changed.
Some may ask, where do Stephen and Jerry get involved? They receive every report that Jason Garrett does. They may offer him their input. Stephen absolutely does. I know that for a fact. He is very involved.
Ultimately Jason Garrett has the pick. Jerry Jones makes the phone call to the Draft pick, Tom Ciskowski makes the phone call to the NFL Draft and our guys there send the pick up to the Commissioner.
It isn't a perfect system, but none of them are because you cannot see how a player will change. I want to mention one such player as I close this, Robert Brewster. Many know he fizzled out here, but may not know why, because he was highly regarded by the team. He was also a single father and ultimately he put more weight on his responsibilities there than he did on earning a starting job on the team. Some may call him a bust, but I bet his little boy doesn't think so.
