-
Boiler Room: Geno Smith and Gradkowski Tangent
Geno Smith may not be a quarterback I’m super-excited about as an NFL prospect, but it doesn’t mean he won’t develop into a decent starter. Smith’s game travels to the Boiler Room where I distill what makes him a solid prospect at the position, including a tangent about a player who belongs in the family…
-
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.…
-
Character, Media, and the NFL Draft: A Sour Cocktail
I’m 43 years old. Since I was 15, I’ve held 16 types of jobs with 9 different companies. I’m not counting the four soul-sucking hours I spent as a stock boy at a Winn-Dixie. On my lunch hour at that job, I walked out the door and kept walking. Two miles later, I made a…
-
Behind the Scenes Thoughts on Tight Ends in 2013 RSP
With the launch of the 2013 RSP, Sigmund Bloom suggested that I share a behind the scenes retelling of my thoughts and feelings about players – something that delves deeper than rankings and profiles of skills ad potential. A few days ago, I wrote about running backs. Today, it’s tight end – a position where three years…
-
Reads Listens Views 4/5/2013
Would Josh Gordon have been the top option in the 2013 draft class if his college career wasn’t filled with off-field missteps? I thought he was an option in the late-first to early-second rounds of 2012 rookie drafts, which would have placed him in the conversation with this year’s class. If you wish to take a liberal…
-
Behind the Scenes Thoughts on Running Backs in 2013 RSP
In case you were on a covert mission in the jungles of southeast Asia to save the world from a mad scientist hunkered down in a secret lair who was just a step away from bringing the world to the brink of chemical warfare, the 2013 Rookie Scouting Portfolio is now available for download. The…
-
The Elusiveness Factor: Patterson-Austin-Woods By Nick Whalen
If you’re an NFL Draft junkie, this time of year feels like the weeks of anticipation leading to Christmas Day. When I was a kid, recordings of previous NFL Drafts were my “cartoons before bedtime,” before this blessed event that always brought a sense of euphoria when it finally arrived. I’m not normal. But I…
-
Futures: Unknown, 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…
-
2013 RSP: Download Now!
Standing at 1290 pages and covering 175 skill prospects, the 2013 Rookie Scouting Portfolio is now available for download at http://www.mattwaldman.com. Because a post-draft addendum is now a regular part of the RSP purchase, it has allowed me the luxury to weigh my rankings less on draft stock and more on talent until we see…
-
2013 RSP Publication Update
Good Morning. One day before the 2013 RSP will be available for download at mattwaldman.com and I thought you’d like a status update. I just finished writing the final section of the publication and tomorrow I will be reviewing edits and constructing the publication. As soon as the construction of the document is ready, I…