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Listening to the Whispers: Changes to 2015 RSP — Quarterbacks
Last week, I made changes to my scoring criteria for the RSP. This week, I share them with you. Appreciating the Subtleties of Life I’m learning to listen to the whispers before the voices become shouts. I believe there’s enormous power in becoming a dedicated observer of subtlety. This is especially true when it comes to your…
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Reads Listens Views 8/1/2014
Colossal Aquariums, Brady-Manning and Spot Passing, Secret Societies, Creativity and Buddhism, and RSP Post-Draft Views 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…
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Slippery: Falcons RB Devonta Freeman
Falcons RB Devonta Freeman has “Slippery Power.” Find out what this means and why “Phone Booth Quicks” are necessary. Ahmad Bradshaw is one of my favorite running backs of the past 10 years. It has nothing to do with his physical talent — there are dozens of runners with significantly better physiques and athleticism to…
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Vision Quest: The Artfulness of LeSean McCoy and Jamaal Charles
Vision is a magical term in football. It’s not a single skill, but an integration of several. It requires anticipation, awareness, confidence, creativity, pacing, and split-second processing of all these traits (and others) to determine optimal risk-reward. Vision is a dazzling illustration that the game of football is not a science, but performance art. Science…
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GM Scenario No. 4: Double Down or Stand Pat?
Do you trust your scouting intel on a player that you value higher than most or do you stick to your board? What is 2014’s Writer’s Project? This year’s RSPWP is a different take on team building. I will have 15-20 written scenarios based on true NFL stories provided to me from current and former…
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Teddy Bridgewater’s NFL Personality Assessment
An NFL source confirmed to me that Teddy Bridgewater has scored exceptionally well on a league-used personality assessment. I know how some bloggers have develop some disdain for the anonymous source when it comes to football news. If you’re one of them, this isn’t the post you want to read. If you don’t care, tonight…
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Reads Listens Views 5/2/2014 + My Take on MMQB Manziel Roundtable
My critique of Peter King’s Manziel roundtable, Beats Antique, Hangouts, Cramps and crablegs What is Reads Listens Views? If you’re new to the Rookie Scouting Portfolio blog, welcome. I post links on Friday to content I’m saving for later consumption or content I’ve viewed that I found compelling. You may not like everything listed here,…
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Futures: QB Tom Savage
Savage has the physical skills and flashes of on-field play that make him look like a first-rounder. Is his rumored late rise up draft boards a product of hyperbolic thinking? Futures: Pittsburgh QB Tom Savage By Matt Waldman Beware of the fast rising quarterback. This is what Football Outsiders newcomer Jason Lisk wrote in 2012…
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Gruden QB Camp: Tajh Boyd
Reader Advisory: This series is an experiment. The takes within are not anything that I’m willing to stand behind as enhancing or detracting from the “draft value” of the players I am profiling here. I developed this series to illustrate the subjectivity of a player interview. There will be plenty of armchair psychology and body language…
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Rehabbing the Wonderlic
The Wonderlic and the NFL’s misguided use of it continues to fascinate. I propose a solution. If you’ve seen the Audible Podcast where I commented on the Wonderlic exam, then you know my suggested alternative to the Wonderlic. This test was designed in 1936 and the military adopted it for measuring a pilot’s ability to think fast. One…