New/Old Way Of Draft Prep
April 10th, 2020
“Jason, I shouldn’t be seeing a $700 tab from the Lubbock Hooters in your department’s expense report this month.”
Just about every football person will say not to pay attention to Pro Days or combine workouts but instead focus on game tape.
Now, NFL shot-callers won’t have any choice.
Thanks to the [national advertisers don’t like that word], NFL team headquarters are shuttered. Locked down. Employees — all employees — are forced to work from home. No business travel.
So without Pro Days and visits from specific targets, and without any private workouts, the main thing NFL suits have to study is good old fashioned game tape.
“I know you guys hear this all the time and we say it all the time – but the tape is about 90 percent of what the player is,” Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht said yesterday in a Zoom video conference chat. “We can tell how hard a player plays. We can tell how smart sometimes [that] a player is just by the way he plays.”
Pro Days are not just a mini-combine workout. NFL teams often take a specific prospect or two aside and have them run through drills before pulling them into a quiet space for a chalktalk. So it is not just dudes running 40s or cone drills.
That’s all gone, but not totally.
Licht mentioned agents are holding their own Pro Days and sending their clients’ videos of the “Pro Day” to all NFL teams. But these workouts are not always what teams want.
Licht said the Bucs are still interviewing players using various current technologies. This could be FaceTime, Skype or Zoom.
“We try to analyze the best we can,” he said. “It’s the same across the league. Sometimes in this process you can overanalyze a little bit and put too much stock into a workout.”
Now, Licht said, the focus is largely on game tape, not rehearsed interviews.
“In some regards, I’m excited about this draft to see if we’re going to get more of a pure evaluation and draft more off of a pure evaluation than over-analyzing,” Licht said.
And if the Bucs hit a home run in the draft with a greater focus on game tape, might that radically change how the team manages future drafts? Would the Bucs then scale back on sending more than one representative to a Pro Day or private workouts and the time and money it costs to do that?
They could instead have staff grinding on more film rather than eating up time and burning Team Glazer loot bunny-hopping all across the country each spring.
April 10th, 2020 at 8:06 am
The eye in the sky don’t lie!
April 10th, 2020 at 8:20 am
Over analyzing- taking a kicker in the second round.
April 10th, 2020 at 8:30 am
Not sure why they are even holding 2020 draft this year since there will be mo Professional sports played until 2021 at the earliest if indeed we are a year and a half away from a vacine there may ne no sports in 2022 as well, it could be 2023 before sports is played again, sad but a reality
April 10th, 2020 at 8:46 am
Roger are you going to say the same thing every article?
Do you say anything else?
April 10th, 2020 at 8:56 am
There will be NFL games……$5 BILLION TV rights say so……perhaps without fans….perhaps in neutral cities…..definitely with testing of Players, Coaches & Refs……GAME ON
And, Roger……explain exactly how that won’t work….
As for the draft…..this is a year to pick players with competition from major schools…..no cut picks, please.
April 10th, 2020 at 8:57 am
Maybe this year licht goes all chalk because he didnt get to see a player no other team will draft. Licht is the jaguars gm from the movie draft day.
April 10th, 2020 at 9:24 am
Combine results dont always translate to great play.
But Game Tape dont lie.
April 10th, 2020 at 9:25 am
Yup. There will be games. May not start on time. May not have a preseason (glory be!) but there will be games. If California still has stadiums locked up, the NFL will host games in empty stadiums in football-friendly states like Texas or some Midwestern states that haven’t been hit hard.
Way too much cash on the table to walk away from. For everyone.
April 10th, 2020 at 9:27 am
F.O. Roger
April 10th, 2020 at 9:32 am
If they’re truly looking at game tape, UVA’s Bryce Perkins should be climbing up draftboards. if they had a Pro Day for him, he’d be vaulting up boards. He is definitely worthy of a 5th-6th round pick.
April 10th, 2020 at 9:53 am
They need to experiment with Microsoft Teams for conference calls. This is app works fantastic if you’re in large groups.
April 10th, 2020 at 10:09 am
People need sports at a time like now. We have never experienced anything like this in our time
No one old enough for 1918 spanish flu
The entire world is shut the F down right now
People need sports and ROGER you need to take a hike
It may take years? Get lost
Now i dont for-see packed stadiums. That probably wont happen unless some crazy new testing comes out But modern day technology is amazing
April 10th, 2020 at 10:16 am
With the nfl season being more than likely delayed if not cancelled players that have season ending surgeries i.e. Lucas Naing should be looked at serioussly. He struggled some in 2019 because of his hip but played through the Texas game in which they won that showed a lot of grit and heart. In 2018 he handled Nick Bosa and Chase Young very well. It would be in the Bucs best interest to trade down and pick up an extra 2nd round pick. You could probably get Lucas Niang with a late second or third round pick.. Hes the 5th best tackle in the draft hands better than Josh Jones.
April 10th, 2020 at 12:44 pm
Music to my ears. Been complaining for years how GMs favor the underwear olympics too much. Old school says watch the tape and learn. Heart is often overlooked in the gym but hard to miss on tape. Glad the NFL didn’t cave to the critics and push back FA or the draft. The show must go on and life is never perfect. Can’t wait for the draft!
April 10th, 2020 at 1:41 pm
This the same vision(s) he had of his other vetted player he drafted? Might want to change that up GM.
April 10th, 2020 at 7:16 pm
@Brandon, great find on Perkins. If we take a QB in the 5th or 6th, he could be the prime candidate. Plus a nice change of pace QB for games where Brady did his job and we just need to run out the rest of the game.
April 11th, 2020 at 3:36 pm
Always remember…Tom Brady played incredible at Michigan, then his draft stock cratered then minute he got off the field for all the draft process.