Thanks: 

New to the Rookie Scouting Portfolio blog? Once a week I post links to all kinds of content I’m checking out. You may not like everything here, but if you like at least one link then I’ve done my job. If you don’t like anything I post here ever, then I can’t help you. But seriously, thank you for following the RSP blog. It’s my way of giving you a preview of the type of detail and insight that you can expect from my annual publication devoted to analysis of skill position prospects.

Available every April 1, the RSP is part online draft magazine filled with rankings, draft trends analysis, position-specific skill breakdowns for every player , overrated/underrated, and multi-dimensional player comparisons that actually make sense. And if that’s not enough for you, I show my work. I include every grading checklist and play-by-play note I take on the prospects I study for this publication and provide a glossary that defines my grading system and the criteria that I used to rate players.

All though the 120-200 pages of the draft magazine is sufficient for most, the reports make the RSP well over 1000 pages of information. It makes the RSP an excellent long-term resource to use when those third and fourth-year players “come out of nowhere” and begin to make their mark with an NFL roster or if you simply want to learn more about the game.

Since the RSP has a comprehensive set of embedded bookmarks, the publication is easy to navigate and has the feel of a magazine, but the insight of a reference book you’ll refer to long after the draft.

Plus, I provide a post-draft update the week after the draft that includes rankings weighted more to current team fit, early fantasy average draft values, fantasy value analysis based on draft data and my rankings, and a comprehensive fantasy cheat sheet. Most of my readers say this is worth the price of the RSP alone.

Download this year’s Rookie Scouting Portfolio for $19.95 or past publications (2006-2012) for $9.95. I donate 10 percent of every sale to Darkness to Light, a non-profit that provides community training to prevent and address sexual abuse so our society can do a better job of handling – and hopefully preventing – what happened at institutions like Penn State, because it’s not just a problem isolated in Happy Valley.

If you enjoy this blog , want to learn more about the game, earn an advantage in your fantasy leagues, and want to give a little back to society while supporting the efforts of someone who is doing the work so you don’t have to, download the RSP. I’m confident you’ll discover that the value exceeds the hype, which I know is not common these days.

Listens – The Dark Sorcerer of Piano With a Great Band

Herbie Hancock, Al Foster, Buster Williams, and Greg Osby playing Wayne Shorter’s excellent composition Footprints. Hancock is the master of creating musical moods that are soundtracks for the imagination. As far as drummers go, I’m a huge fan of Al Foster because he’s responsiveness and interaction with his fellow musicians is fantastic. Just a suggestion for those of you seeking a different way to spend quality time with someone you love:

Clear a space in the middle of a room in front of a TV and pile it with cushions and pillows or even a mattress dragged into the room loaded with pillows and blankets. Turn the TV onto one of those channels that films exotic locales or hook up your computer to your wide-screen and run a slide show filled with hundreds of photos of sights and nature (see below) from around the world and put on some music without lyrics. It could be Herbie, classical music, house music, whatever will give you and your special someone a quiet visual-aural adventure of the imagination.

Here’s some more Herbie Hancock with Michael Brecker. If my wife and I decide to have more children and we have a son, “Brecker” is on the short list of names.

And one more that I’d find just right with the vibe below . . .

Views – National Geographic Photo Contest 2013

Non-Football Reads

• Daily Habits That Will Make You Happier – H/T to Joe Bryant.
• Detained Border Crossers Are Sent to Freezers – A working definition for “punitive” punishment.
• Meet the Marines’ Humdrum Headless Miniature Pony – 198os Sci fi meets millennial reality.
• How the CIA Can Send A Killer Drone After Someone With A Mobile Phone – And turning the phone off won’t help you. 
  
• Pro Publica’s Muck Reads – Want good journalism, Pro Publica is your site.
• Why Immigrants are Being Deported for Minor Crimes 
• Filipino Fisherman Improvise Refrigerator Boats – The circumstances are horrific, but human ingenuity is inspiring.

Football Reads

• Football Perspective’s Fullback Report – Mad respect for Chase Stuart, who writes compelling work about things that he’s interested in reading (and so are we).
• Sports Reference Blog – Fertile ground for cool content.
• Josh Norris’ Weekly Prospect Matchups –  A few games with prominent prospects to watch this weekend.
• Alen Dumonjic: Ryan Tannehill Is Still Struggling in the Middle of the Field
• Alen Dumonjic: Keenan Allen Knows How To Get Open Consistently

Listens: The Mix – Northern Soul Radio

 Coming Soon at the RSP

• Later today: A Futures on DB Lamarcus Joyner  (what a fun player to watch).
• Borrowing an insight from Lance Zierlein about J.J. Watt and illustrating it with photos.
• Analysis of Michiagn WR Jeremy Gallon.
• Perhaps a look at FSU RB Devonta Freeman.