Futures at Football Outsiders 
Futures: WR Cordarrelle Patterson, Playmaker(0)
Cordarrelle Patterson may not be a playmaker according to Football Outsider’s Playmaker Score, but the elusive receiver with skills as a receiver that many top prospects-turned-busts lacked is worth the risk in my book. Find out where I think the Combine, production, and film study have a place in this discussion of this versatile, athletic,… Read More ›
Futures: Why Scouting Gets a Bum Rap – A Front Office Overhaul
Scouting gets a bum rap. “Of course Waldman would say this,” you proclaim. “He’s a scout!” I may perform the fundamental role of one, but I am not a scout. This elicits laughter from my friend Ryan Riddle. The Bleacher Report columnist who holds Cal’s single season sack record and played with the Raiders, Ravens,… Read More ›
Futures: OLBs Dion Jordan and Barkevious Mingo
Imagine you’re considering two final candidates for a job. Both possess top-drawer talent, which is what you’d expect at this point if their resumes are the remaining two on your desk. Candidate A is refined, smooth, and versatile. If you needed him to start today, he’d be up to speed and produce with minimal training…. Read More ›
Futures: Uknown, Unsung, and Underappreciated
When you’re in my line of work, the most memorable players are often the unknowns, the underappreciated, and the underdogs. One of the most memorable for me was a player I watched in September 2006, whose performance against a top-ranked Tennessee Volunteers defense was so good that it belied his 24-carry, 72-yard box-score entry. Here’s… Read More ›
Futures: The Hybrid RB Evolution
March is the month that I take 14-to-18 months of research and use it to generate rankings and analysis for the April 1 Rookie Scouting Portfolio publication. The labor involved in this compressed time period involves a workweek with hours averaging in the triple digits. I believe this will be the last year I have to… Read More ›
Football Outsiders: Three in the Boiler
A series I started this year at the RSP blog is The Boiler Room. One of the challenges involved with player analysis is to be succinct with delivering the goods. As the author of an annual tome, I’m often a spectacular failure in this respect. Even so, I will study a prospect and see a play unfold that… Read More ›
Futures: Duke QB Sean Renfree
The steal of the draft. That’s what Duke head coach David Cutcliffe says about Blue Devils quarterback Sean Renfree, a 6-foot-3, 219-pound senior. Renfree is the latest in the line of Cutcliffe disciples that includes Peyton and Eli Manning. That list also has current NFL backup Thaddeus Lewis and former Jets reserve Erik Ainge —… Read More ›
Futures: Arkansas RB Knile Davis
When I saw the 2012 Lewin Career Forecast, I had already studied Russell Wilson. In fact, I told a panel of draft analysts on a National Football Post podcast (beginning at the 17:42 mark) that included Josh Norris, Wes Bunting, and Josh Buchanan that Wilson was my sleeper quarterback in this draft. I was cynical… Read More ›
Futures at Football Outsiders: UNC Guard, Jonathan Cooper
Explosive, agile, and purposeful, Cooper has what it takes to play in the NFL for a decade if he can stay healthy. There was an important decision to be made at the offices of Futures this afternoon: the boss or the wife? The work boss saw Knile Davis run a 4.30-forty at Indy; calculated the… Read More ›
Futures: DE’s Bjoern Werner and Damontre Moore
As a football fan, odds are high that you at least had a brief love affair with professional wrestling. Mine lingered a while. It was an obsession lasting long enough that when I think of defensive ends, they remind me of the ultimate “heels” from professional wrestling promotions: big, bad, freakish athletes capable of putting… Read More ›
