The scouting scam

[PonyExpress]

I believe Nolan Nawrocki, the head draft analyst for Profootballweekly, contributes to the scouting reports for nfldraftscout.com and espn.com's "Scout's inc." as well. He sells his work to these other services in slightly varied form for their use with the understanding that his name be omitted. IOW, consumers who may choose to buy multiple services for a variance of opinion are in fact getting the same recycled info packaged differently. This creates the false impression that there is a consensus about a player when in fact multiple scouting reports are derived from the same source.

I should add that I appreciate Nawrocki's work, and applaud his industry and business savvy. However, buyer beware.

[BelichickFan]

Why do you believe this ?

[PonyExpress]

Because I have read the scouting report on Chris Houston in both Profootballweekly's draft preview and in nfldraftscout.com. The similarities are uncanny, as well as the final comparison with Ahmad Carroll. That kind of comparison is the work of a single individual with a strong and unusual opinion. DaBruinz alerted me to more of the same the other day with his reference to the fact that there was a consensus among paid sites that Siler is poor in zone coverage. Further investigation leads me to the conclusion that there is a pool of scouting info that is shared between these various sites by people in the industry, perhaps similar to the pool Ron Borges claims to have drawn from in his plagiarism scandal. This practice has been hinted at in the past, the purchasing of scouting reports by these sites from "professional" scouts working anonymously in order to augmnet their paychecks.

[BelichickFan]

Do you have the Lindy's preview ? It doesn't say who wrote the player reports but the stuff in the from is by the NFLDraftScout guys so I was assuming the player reports were too. I haven't acutally compared them to the on-line NFLDraftScout stuff though.

[BelichickFan]

As I mentioned in another thread, if you want a true "other opinion", get the Sporting News preview, it's done by GM Jr.'s Russ Lande. He has some solid references but some very different opinions than the others.

[PonyExpress]

On further consideration, I think there's a strong likelihood that an actual BLESTO or NATIONAL scout has sold his write-ups to various companies anonymously, and these various outlets are all paraphrasing his work to lesser or greater extent. The reason Lande and TheHuddleReport seem so bizarre in comparison is that they are actually producing original work, whereas the others are merely regurgitating the same info. Maybe Nawrocki isn't the man behind the curtain after all, but just another munchkin.

[DaBruinz]

Originally Posted by PonyExpress

On further consideration, I think there's a strong likelihood that an actual BLESTO or NATIONAL scout has sold his write-ups to various companies anonymously, and these various outlets are all paraphrasing his work to lesser or greater extent. The reason Lande and TheHuddleReport seem so bizarre in comparison is that they are actually producing original work, whereas the others are merely regurgitating the same info. Maybe Nawrocki isn't the man behind the curtain after all, but just another munchkin.

Well, I'd agree with you except for 2 things.

1) Scott Wright does his own scouting.
2) Frank Cooney and Rob Rang do their own scouting.

[PonyExpress]

Originally Posted by DaBruinz

Well, I'd agree with you except for 2 things.

1) Scott Wright does his own scouting.
2) Frank Cooney and Rob Rang do their own scouting.

I don't disagree. But there may be an original write-up which sets the board for them, to which they add there own salient observations. This would be a plausible way of constructing so enormous a data base of material. For example, if Rob Rang does his own scouting, why does he write that Chris Houston will be a bust like Ahmad Carroll, but then rank him as an elite prospect?

[PonyExpress]

There is of course, another possibility: That I am wrong, that my observations are lazy, and I am doing these various people a disservice by implying they are crooks. That would be a disgrace, and one for which I would be very sorry. Sometimes you can be too clever by half and show your @$$.

[Fencer]

What happened to Dave Te' Thomas? His writeups -- including for NFL.com and/or (CBS) Sportsline -- rocked.