Sammy Watkins’ auspicious start, RSP Film Room Google Hangouts, How Gangs Took Over Prisons, Dancing Traffic Lights, and #whyistayed. 

Views – The Dancing Traffic Light

This fun, innovative solution got 81 percent more people to stop at red lights rather than try to cross intersections at the wrong time.

What is Reads Listens Views?

If you’re new to the Rookie Scouting Portfolio blog, welcome.  I post links on Fridays to content I’m saving for later consumption or pieces that I found compelling. You may not like everything listed here, but you’re bound to like something.

RSP Film Room Google Hangouts

I’ve been testing the waters with this concept for a couple of years, but didn’t feel comfortable posting them until recently. The one above is last week’s Film Room Hangout featuring the tape Wisconsin RB Melvin Gordon vs. LSU and assorted footage of Alabama WR Amari Cooper.

These are hour-long shows and I will have guests. Later today, I’ll post a Hangout with Sigmund Bloom. Future guests will include Rotoword’s Josh Norris, Draft Breakdown’s Ryan Lownes, Bleacher Report’s Ryan Riddle, and Footballguys’ Cecil Lammey.

I’ve had a couple of folks who especially enjoyed the series inquire about making this a podcast. I’m not sure how effective it will be without the visuals, but I’ll give it some thought.

Download the 2014 Rookie Scouting Portfolio + Post-Draft Update!

Friday’s are also my chance to thank you for reading my work, encourage you to follow the RSP blog, and download the Rookie Scouting Portfolio publication.

The 2014 Rookie Scouting Portfolio Post-Draft Add-On is ready for download.  If you’re in a dynasty league, the combination of the 2014 RSP and the RSP Post-Draft will have you prepared for this year and beyond. Want details? Need details? I have ’em right here:

• 84 pages
• How to use the RSP and RSP-Post Draft together
• Overrated/Underrated
• Good/Bad post-draft fits
• UDFAs to watch
• Long-term dynasty waiver wire gems
• Strategic overview of 2014 rookie drafts
• Tiered Value Chart Cheat Sheet across all positions
• Post-Draft rankings analysis and commentary–including notes about impending contracts years of competition on the depth charts
• Average Draft Position (ADP) Data of 19 dynasty drafts
• RSP Ranking-to-ADP Value Data
• Raw Data Worksheets to continue calculating additional ADP data for future drafts

Hell, take a video tour of the 2013 post-draft to see what I mean:

Seriously, this analysis is worth the price of the 2014 RSP package alone, but you get this as a part of your purchase with the 2014 RSP. Remember 10 percent of each sale is donated to Darkness to Light to prevent sexual abuse in communities across the United States. While that alone should get you to download the RSP package, do it because you will be blown away with the detail and insight of the analysis and content. It’s why the RSP has grown so much in the past nine years.

Best yet, 10 percent of each RSP sale is donated to Darkness to Light, 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.

Download the 2014 RSP and RSP Post-Draft here

In Case You Missed It/Coming Soon

• Futures: Miami RB Duke Johnson – Available Saturday 9/20/2014
• No-Huddle Series: Yabba Dabba Yeldon – I know corny, but  Alabama RB T.J. Yeldon has that Flintstone stride. How does it impact his NFL prospects?
• Futures: Alabama WR Amari Cooper – A promising player, but his NFL trajectory more Roddy White or Michael Crabtree?
• Boiler Room: Wisconsin RB Melvin Gordon – The two plays I share reveal a lot about Gordon’s footwork, quickness, and vision.
• Ray Rice, Pink Cleats, Ice Buckets, and Baseball Bats – My take on the Ray Rice situation as it was evolving Tuesday morning.

Reads/Views (Football)

• Sammy Watkins on Early Track to Impressive Rookie Season – Matt Bowen’s quality work on Watkins the young route runner and the system designed to assist him.
• Game Rewind: How Louisville Slowed Duke Johnson – No easy task despite Johnson’s low ypc vs. ranked teams.
• Fantasy Throwdown – Looking to get into the daily games space. Fantasy Throwdown is a fine site where you can play head-to-head for free or for money.
• Brandon Marshall, Mental Illness, And Making It All Ok –
• ‘Violence Is Violence’: Adrian Peterson and the Science of Spanking – Mike Tanier’s feature on this relevant topic.
• Missouri Football’s Rape Culture and So on and So Forth – I haven’t read this yet, but the Jameis Winston case that wasn’t leaves me curious about this issue in college football.
• Phil Savage: How We Evaluate Players For Our Game – That game being The Reese’s Senior Bowl
• NFL’s Elaborate Security Network Is Supposed to Protect League From Trouble  – a Washington Post feature. H/T to Joe Bryant.

Listens

A Time to Speak: A Speech by Charles Morgan

 Reads (Life In General)

 

• How Not To Teach Climate Change – “…instilling fear is not the most effective way to promote positive engagement and action.”
• How Gangs Took Over Prisons – Intellectually fascinating and utter terrifying.
• Confessions of an Abuser: Like Ray Rice, I Hit Women – Anthony Hamilton’s story about his cycle of abuse.
• Hastag #whyistayed – Read and learn about the abused and dynamics that make it difficult to leave abusers.
• 15 Things You May Not Know About ‘Slaughterhouse-Five’ –  If you’re a Vonnegut fan, you’ll enjoy this piece from Nick Greene.
• National Book Award Longlist for Poetry Announced – No Jene Bramel, you’re not on it, yet . . .
• Marine Biologists Release Incredible Video of a Borg-like Sea Creature – Video inside.
• All It Takes Is 10 Mindful Minutes  – a TED Talks on Meditation (sort of).
• The Case for Open Borders
• Mortician for the YouTube Generation – Death isn’t funny, but laughing about it could be good for all of us.
• 30 Famous Logos That Have A Hidden Message – For my wife who finds advertising an endlessly fascinating.
• 20 Years Late, Parts of Major Crime Bill Viewed As Terrible Mistake

Listens – Heather Headley

Listens – Sonny Rollins 1974 Rescued at Ronnie Scott’s

Listens –  Wilhelm Stenhammar – Intermezzo from Sangen, Op.44