Several NFL general managers weren’t happy about the league’s decision to proceed with the draft as scheduled. Without adequate in-person scouting, they argued, their draft performance could suffer.
As it turns out, however, players could be at an even greater disadvantage.
“I think it’s probably the players who didn’t go to a Power Five school,” NFL Network analytics expert Cynthia Frelund said on After Hours with Amy Lawrence, when asked who is hurt most by the lack of Pro Days and in-person scouting. “Other schools, there is some shine, but often you’ll have these draft risers who aren’t from a Georgia or Alabama or Michigan – one of these programs that you see on TV a ton.”
NFL scouts, of course, do their homework on every prospect. But it’s easier to do your homework when watching elite talent perform against elite talent on film.
“These are great scouts. They know all of the smaller-school players,” Frelund said. “But sometimes there just isn’t enough hours in the day for a coach, once it gets to the level of the GM and the front office, to watch everyone. So I think the teams that do have the structure in place where their scouts are really able to communicate things throughout the season very clearly, I think they’ll be at an advantage for the smaller-school guys, whereas some of the teams with either new coaches or not as well-oiled machines when it comes to the front office, that could be a problem for those players who aren’t necessarily the premier-program players.”
Frelund said that Baltimore is particularly adept at finding prospects from smaller schools.
“Anything the Ravens do in the fourth and fifth round, write it down and then go watch that person on film,” she said. “They’re so good at stuff like that. You want to see who these good teams are taking. That’s kind of how I would look at it.”