Plankton
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https://www.si.com/nfl/2018/02/21/2...ection-jeff-foster-national-football-scouting
Understand this: The NFL’s National Scouting Combine is a mammoth event. Over 300 NFL prospects fly into Indianapolis about two months before the NFL draft to undergo medical testing, sit down for interviews with all 32 teams and participate in on-field workouts. It’s also a symposium for sports tech companies; a networking event for NFL coaches, scouts and media; and the de facto kickoff to free agency, when the illegal negotiations for free agents, known as tampering when it happens before the official start to free agency, begin in earnest.
But before all that can start, Jeff Foster has to compile a list of invitees, a process he tweaked in 2017 as president of the National Football Scouting Inc. (NFS), which puts on the combine each year. Foster occasionally receives the ire of NFL agents, frustrated that their players did not make the cut, but more often than not, the job he does organizing the combine—and specifically, player selection—is applauded throughout the NFL. Here, he answers some questions about the process.
Robert Klemko: Many people often look at the players who go to the combine and don’t get drafted, and the guys that don’t get invited and do get drafted, as evidence that these teams and your service don’t do a good enough job picking the players. Are you constantly tweaking your approach to selection?
Jeff Foster: No question. During the time that I’ve been here, something that we’ve tried to improve upon is the selection process. We rely on the clubs to tell us who they want to see at the combine. And over the course of the 12 or 13 years I’ve been here, we’ve changed that process looking at some of the same things you’re looking at. How many guys are drafted every year that don’t get invited to the combine? Up until last year that number hovered somewhere around 40. Last year after we changed the process, and that that number dropped to 26. And then we have guys who are drafted who are not allowed to attend the combine. Like anything, trying to please 32 teams or understand what 32 teams want is a challenge.
Understand this: The NFL’s National Scouting Combine is a mammoth event. Over 300 NFL prospects fly into Indianapolis about two months before the NFL draft to undergo medical testing, sit down for interviews with all 32 teams and participate in on-field workouts. It’s also a symposium for sports tech companies; a networking event for NFL coaches, scouts and media; and the de facto kickoff to free agency, when the illegal negotiations for free agents, known as tampering when it happens before the official start to free agency, begin in earnest.
But before all that can start, Jeff Foster has to compile a list of invitees, a process he tweaked in 2017 as president of the National Football Scouting Inc. (NFS), which puts on the combine each year. Foster occasionally receives the ire of NFL agents, frustrated that their players did not make the cut, but more often than not, the job he does organizing the combine—and specifically, player selection—is applauded throughout the NFL. Here, he answers some questions about the process.
Robert Klemko: Many people often look at the players who go to the combine and don’t get drafted, and the guys that don’t get invited and do get drafted, as evidence that these teams and your service don’t do a good enough job picking the players. Are you constantly tweaking your approach to selection?
Jeff Foster: No question. During the time that I’ve been here, something that we’ve tried to improve upon is the selection process. We rely on the clubs to tell us who they want to see at the combine. And over the course of the 12 or 13 years I’ve been here, we’ve changed that process looking at some of the same things you’re looking at. How many guys are drafted every year that don’t get invited to the combine? Up until last year that number hovered somewhere around 40. Last year after we changed the process, and that that number dropped to 26. And then we have guys who are drafted who are not allowed to attend the combine. Like anything, trying to please 32 teams or understand what 32 teams want is a challenge.