This week’s Futures makes a visit to the past. Matt Waldman lists the 10 most influential prospects in his development as a talent evaluator.

This will be the tenth season that I publish the Rookie Scouting Portfolio. One of the most frequent questions readers ask is, Who were your greatest hits and misses? It’s an important question, because it naturally leads to a more vital query: Which players have taught me the most about the craft of evaluation?

I could name far more, but in the spirit of the RSP reaching its first decade of existence, here are four players who taught me six memorable lessons about talent evaluation. I could share far more than a half-dozen things that I’ve learned, but these lessons transcend technique and address the philosophical nature of evaluating performance.

Some of these players were my biggest hits and misses, but others make this list for reasons beyond the bottom line of career success or failure. Note that there is no particular order to the players mentioned below.

Read the rest at Football Outsiders.