Thanks for your responses Pool. I hear you. I can see you are purist. I respect that a great deal. Research is the same way. Objectivity is essential. You don't want to steer the results. You trust your eyes.
I am still grieving Joel Buschbaum heavily. I loved his work.
I remember being a kid and ESPN was new. It was pre-internet. The NFL draft was on in the middle of the day in the middle of the week. I was at school trying to find a way to get out of class to get to a tv or a radio to learn who had been selected. The draft was 8 rounds. Teams would take low round fliers on USFL players. Mel Kiper was young and could not hide his disdain. He was a bit feisty in his analysis of NFL GMs in real-time. Love the draft. It is fun that some things you enjoy your whole life.
It seems the art and science of scouting is a mix of trusting your eyes and empirical data. The blend of that mix varies. My understanding was Al Davis was primarily interested in measurables. He wanted bigger and faster players than the other team. Steve Ortmayer coming from the Raiders was in that school of thought which is how we end up with the infamous 96 draft including Eddie Kennison over Marvin Harrison and Lawrence Phillips (wonder if he had CTE?) over Eddie George.
Gil Brandt and later Jimmy Johnson should get some credit for being the founding grandfathers of the metrics phenomenon.
I wish I had access to HS coaching, position coaching interviews, the medical, the psych testing and the interviews. While Polite will still likely wash out it is interesting to have heard his "Cool Uncle" description of his McVay interview and his ending up a Ram. Polite did not seem to have many positive interview experiences. From the Netflix Aaron Hernandez biopic, it was interesting to see the social maturity score from the predraft work. Leaving HS for Florida early stood out as well. I take what I can get. So the combine numbers, draft publications compiled and posts have to suffice.
Not that it is a need or that the Rams have the selections to spare but I am thinking one of those 27 WRs will slip to the 4th round. Cooks with the concussions/dead money contract, Reynolds and Cupp being FAs after the season combined with a tight cap maybe there is temptation.
Thanks again for your work.
Post Script- I wish I could even daydream about the Rams getting #71.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/21/2020 11:49AM by Rams Junkie.