This Week’s RLV: Music for Lammey to sip his upside-down, loop-de-loop latte’s to, Paul Richardson preview, GNR Meets Treme, and smart crows.

Listens – “Axl & Slash Meets Treme”

I’ll take it . . .

Welcome

If you’re new to the Rookie Scouting Portfolio blog, welcome. Every Friday, I post links to things I’m checking out when I’m online. You may not like everything listed here, but you’re bound to like something. It’s also my chance to thank you for reading my work and encourage you to follow the RSP blog and buy the Rookie Scouting Portfolio publication.

For those of you new to the Rookie Scouting Portfolio, the publication is available every April 1. You can learn more about the RSP here. If you want to see samples of the play-by-play notes I take to write the analysis, you can find them here. And to download past versions of the publication (2006-2012), go here.

In addition to the RSP and  the post-draft publication that comes with it a week after the NFL Draft, 10 percent of each sale is donated to Darkness to Light. This organization is a non-profit devoted to preventing and addressing sexual abuse through community training in schools, religious groups, and a variety of civic groups across the U.S.

Here is what the RSP donated to D2L this year. According to D2L, the RSP’s 2013 donation amount was enough to train 250 adults in communities across the country.

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I have a thing for crows (actually, I think they have a thing for me).

In Case You Missed It and What’s Ahead at The RSP Blog

Even the drop is exciting. Hell, I can’t even call it a drop. A more accurate assessment? “Centimeters from a sick catch.” More on Richardson soon . . .

• Picking on Jarvis Landry – I promise, I like Landry’s game, but you take good teaching opportunities when you get them.
• Futures: Louisville S Calvin Pryor – When it’s all said and done, Pryor might be the best safety prospect in this class.
• RSP Rorschach No.3 Cornell QB Jeff Mathews – Did he throw this pass too early or too late? Review the evidence and vote.
• Funny Thing Happened at the Senior Bowl – Only didn’t I get the full extent of the punchline until Sunday’s ground-breaking announcement.
• Coming Soon:The Little Things That Make Sammy Watkins A Big Deal
• Coming Soon: Underrated – Colorado WR Paul Richardson
• Coming Soon: Bruce Ellington – A Swiss Army Knife With A Butane Lighter That Doubles As A Jet Pack
• Coming Soon: No-Huddle Series: Cal TE Richard Rodgers- Lots of promise, but can he fulfill it?
• Coming Soon: WR Kelvin Benjamin Analysis – I haven’t decided whether this will be a Futures column or analysis entirely on this blog. Stay tuned.

Listens

You know you’re getting older when pop tunes like this one is coffee shop material – well done, but still something Cecil Lammey sips his upside-down, loop-dee-loop latte’s (oh, with four sugars, please) to. Thanks, Keith Overton.

Views – Star Wars Meets Sochi (Love the coach’s reaction)

Reads (Football)

• Ray Rice’s Potential To (Have a Fantasy) Rebound – Kyle Wachtel’s analysis of the situation.
• 10 Offseason StoryLines – Sigmund Bloom wrote something I can share. Cool.
• Professor on Former Student Russell Wilson, the Winning QB of the Super Bowl – I like how that sounds.
• Dolphins’ Report to the NFL commissioner’s office on Incognito/Martin – Light reading . . .
• MMQB Article on Haslam’s Pre-Spring Cleaning in Cleveland – In case you missed it.
• NFL Owners’ Matrix – A Mother Jones’ piece recommended by Sigmund Bloom.
• Football Perspective – If you’re new to my work and you want data with good sense behind it, Chase Stuart is your man.
• Big Book of Black Quarterbacks – Deadspin’s piece. Although I would suggest correction to the back story the author got on “The Asterisk.”

Reads (Non-Football)

• Ruthless Blurbs From Rejection Letters Sent to 10 Celebrated Authors – Don’t hate the player . . .
• What College Graduates Regret – Alicia was right, we need to encourage trade schools more often. As a guy that works in an academic institution, I can tell you that students value practice experience over book experience. However there are times that learning what’s in the book and the lecture is equal or greater in value.
• Crow Brains Reveal The Secretes of Their Intelligence – You follow, Riddle?
• Police Officers Who Shoot Dogs – There are times where it’s good judgment, but this video is an egregious act of violence on a domesticated animal and a more common problem than we may realize.
• The Unknown Unknowns of the NSA – Vice.com doing its due diligence.
• The Girl Who Died From Drinking Too Much Soda – There’s a difference between punishment, abuse, and torture.
• Hot Tone Music – Good stuff . . .

Views – Surreal . . .

Coming This Spring: RSP Writers Project (RSPWP)

The RSP Writers Project is an event I’ve hosted for two years at this blog that features football writers from around the country engaged in an exercise designed to make these scribes and readers think about the complexities of the game in a different light. RSPWP1 was a team-building exercise where we assembled teams with a salary cap (try it yourself by downloading the spreadsheet here) and presented these squads with posts that discussed our player-personnel choices and strategic philosophy for the offensive and defensive units.

Here is one of my two teams with a post that discusses the roster and a second post that presents the strategic philosophy through a Q&A format.

RSPWP2 was a 32-team draft with over 20 rounds held on Twitter (#RSPWP2) and draft commentary hosted here.  In recent weeks, I’ve had more than a few writers ask me if there will be an RSPWP3. The answer is yes.

And in the spirit of the RSPWP, the third incarnation of this exercise will take a different approach. The RSPWP3 writers will inherit teams with a specific set of personnel, conditions, and circumstances. Their job will be to present a three-year strategic plan to ownership.

Each owner will present their plan as a post on the RSP blog. Readers will be given access to each team well before the presentations are made so they can play at home.  More details soon.

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