NFL General Managers, Head Coaches Talk Transfer Portal's Impact on Draft Scouting

Executives and coaches at the NFL scouting combine have made it clear that the transfer portal, and in some cases NIL, have changed how scouts evaluate a prospect.

Mar 3, 2024; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Banners featuring images of running back Bijan Robinson (left) and receiver Zay Flowers at the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

INDIANAPOLIS — The transfer portal in college athletics has left its mark over the last few seasons, but now it's trickling up into professional sports. For many NFL front offices and scouting departments, the transfer portal has created ripples in the scouting process.

Once a prospect has attended more than one school, it can make evaluating a skillset, character and leadership traits more of a challenge. The portal has also created a strong emphasis within NFL scouting departments on regional and area scouts to hammer down on information, despite players being at multiple stops.

The portal and its effects on scouting was a popular subject amongst front office members and head coaches on Tuesday, Feb. 25 at the NFL Combine.

"You got to do your research and you got to do your due diligence and you got to make sure you talk to all the people at those places to put the picture together," Tennessee Titans head coach Brian Callahan said. "10 years ago, you could have a pretty good profile built on a player over the course of three or four years."

One member of the Missouri Tigers who benefited from the transfer portal and is currently at the combine is wide receiver Theo Wease Jr. After transferring from Oklahoma and spending his final two years of college in Columbia, Missouri, Wease managed to have the two best seasons of his career by far.

Dec 30, 2024; Nashville, TN, USA; Missouri Tigers wide receiver Theo Wease Jr. (1) runs the ball against the Iowa Hawkeyes during the first half at Nissan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images | Steve Roberts-Imagn Images

With the portal in the spotlight of college football and players making multiple moves, sometimes across the country, strong regional scouting is more important than ever. Scouts were once able to construct a four-year summary of players because they were at one school, but now they must expend more resources to uncover all the information they need.

"You’re building four years' worth of a profile on a player but now these guys might transfer usually once, sometimes twice and now there are gaps in the information that the assistant coaches don’t know them as well, they don’t have the same depth of character evaluation that maybe you had before," Callahan said.

There is no doubt that the scouting process has changed in many ways, but the transfer portal is certainly a reason for it. There are now older players and guys with multiple schools under their belts by the time they are ready for the NFL.

Because of that, coaches and front offices are changing how they approach the scouting process. If they don't, flaws in prospects that normally would slip by could fall through the cracks, creating issues once a player is drafted to a team.

"Now, it’s become a little more normal. I think the guys adapt to that part of it," Atlanta Falcons head coach Raheem Morris said. "When guys move, you end up following those guys, you can get more answers and more people to talk about them, you’re able to get more things from them. You have more reasons, the moving up situation and I think it’s become a little more normal than it used to be." 

With the transfer portal and NIL deals being tossed at players, there are many cases where staying in college is a better investment for a prospect. This does give scouts another season, and sometimes more, to gather information about the player, but it does make them an older prospect.

"This particular draft, if you look at the numbers of 23, 24, 25 years old, it’s just a lot more than we’ve had in the past," Green Bay Packers general Manager Brian Gutenkust said. "I think a lot of that has to do with guys who would have come out in the last couple of drafts who had the opportunity to go back and make money instead of stay in and now they’re coming in."

For the Tigers, Wease is a perfect example of this. He was a veteran when he made his decision and even after one year with Missouri, he decided he wanted another to play with his teammates and boost his draft stock.

As prospects get older and continue to move around in college, it becomes clear that professional goals might be less important to some. If a prospect believes he can continue to boost his draft stock with a hypothetical sixth year of college football and can also make a reasonable amount of NIL money, that might be all the reason in the world to stay another season.

To some coaches and executives, scouting in the transfer portal era brings some positives. Depending on a front office's perspective, a prospect playing for two or more college programs could create more avenues to learn about the player.

“I don't see it as a challenge," Carolina Panthers head coach Dave Canales said. "I think the opportunity is you have two schools you can ask about the player. Do their stories corroborate, or was he one guy here and then somebody different?”

With more people to talk to, it's possible that scouts can get more than one answer on how a prospect behaves or reacts to certain situations. It might take time, but multiple voices, in some cases, can be better than one.

“So I think you have more eyes on these players, which does help us evaluate the character and kind of go into those things,” Canales said. 

The transfer portal is not going away and, potentially, could move more into the main stage of college sports. At this point, it's up to scouting departments to continue to adapt to the changing times of player movement.