How the Giants Overcame One of the Scouting Season's Toughest Challenges
If the Giants thought last year was challenging enough to scout players, this year was even worse.
Unlike last year, scores of draft prospects didn’t play college football last autumn, be that by choice or because their school’s programs were canceled because of the global pandemic. As a result, when it came time to evaluate game tape, considered the holy grail of information for a scout, some prospects had more tape available than others.
That presented a unique challenge for the NFL to overcome, especially given all the time that’s passed since some of these prospects last put the pads on.
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How did the Giants adapt?
“Well, with the opt-out guys specifically, we watched all of their film that they did play in ‘19 and going back, we went over it and over it again as much as possible because that was it, that was all we had,” said director of college scouting Chris Pettit.
“Really, it was sit back and wait and get them at their pro days – I mean, that was it, that was our opportunity, so we made it a point, myself especially, anyone that opted out I tried to get to that pro day to get my eyes on them. Some of these guys you watch as they come up, you know who they are, but that was it. You really just had to sit and wait on these opt-out guys.”
Gettleman, who’s been in the business a long time, said the challenge of having to complete dossiers on players who opted out is like nothing else he’s ever experienced.
“You know, you’re almost with a handful of these guys, it’s almost like the NBA one-and-done: they go to college for a year and now, bang, they’re in the NBA,” he said. “So, you have to do it on a case by case basis.”
Gettleman insisted that he’s not going to hold a player’s decision to opt-out due to the pandemic against him when determining a player’s value. “It’s what you do between the white lines that gives you your value as a player. Then, obviously you’re judging the character piece as well,” he said.
Gettleman did reveal that on Zoom calls with college prospects, the topic of why the player chose to opt-out does come up in the discussion. “We ask them specifically, ‘Tell me your story about the opt out. What’s your journey like? Are you glad you did it?’ You know, you go through that process, but again it’s hard especially because there are guys that were 19 years old the last time they played football and oh, by the way, this will be 20 months from the last time they put pads on.”
Unlike last year when the pandemic brought the pro days to a screeching halt, this year, NFL teams were able to send a small contingency to each school’s pro day to get their eyes on a prospect in person.
“Some of the opt-out kids did a great job, showed up at their pro days and were outstanding,” Gettleman said. “And there were a few of the opt-out guys who showed up looking like me, so that wasn’t really good for them. So you do it on a case by case basis. You look at the film and you make a decision on them.”
That the Giants have a coaching staff with many guys who are not too far removed from their tenures as college coaches have helped the evaluation process.
“Very helpful,” Gettleman said of having that resource. “And they’ve known these guys. They’ve touched these guys, which we unfortunately haven’t been able to do as much, so it’s quite helpful.”
“We go back when some of these guys were recruited, they may not have gone to certain colleges, but these guys recruited them, so they give us another look and another view when they were in high school in the recruiting process,” added Pettit.
“But, again, the scouts also can work the coaches from another angle, so you get all different opinions, and we finally get to a group decision.”
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