Inside Look: Inside the Patriot's scouting department

Love this look from Chris Price.. http://itiswhatitis.weei.com/sports...n-most/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

A couple of highlights.

"In Foxboro, the Patriots have distinguished themselves by ranking prospects in a relatively non-traditional fashion. Instead of putting a grade on a player by round — as most teams do at this time of the year — more of a priority is placed on how that prospect might fit into the New England system."

"“They give their scouts a clear set of guidelines in what they are looking for,” according to Dan Hatman, who has worked as a scout for the Giants, Jets and Eagles and now is the chairman of scouting development at The Scouting Academy. “In talking to scouts from New England, it might be the ONLY team that I’m aware of with an internal scout school, for lack of a better term."

"“When they go out on the road for evaluations, they are given a very specific set of player profiles. They are not giving players grades by rounds like other teams. Instead, they look at how guys fit into their roster.”"

“My understanding is that the expose their football personnel people to both coaching and scouting elements, with the idea that coaches are better coaches when they understand the scouting process, and scouts are better scouts when they they understand the coaching process,”

"The role of the scouting staff really shifts based on the time of year and who is involved,” Hatman said. “In my experience, you get ownership much more involved and paying attention. You’re shifting from the evaluation stage to the valuation stage when you are looking at what you can get from a pick as a player. You’re integrating the coaching staff. There are more people involved in the process.”

Thought you guys/gals would dig this

I saw that and was interesting. It ties in with the grading system talked about in Patriot Reign that I mentioned and tried to use in my own Big Board thread.

When you see the Pats breaking prospects down into "starter, potential starter, backup or camp body" and remember that Harmon was drafted in the third round, it makes you realise that by the time the third round comes along, the Pats thinking is leaning towards backup rather than starter. That's a sobering perspective when thinking about whom the Pats might draft.

I'd give a lot to read a proper book on all of that, which of course will never happen... fascinating..

This is interesting:

“When they (regional scouts) go out on the road for evaluations, they are given a very specific set of player profiles.

Click to expand...

I take that to mean that these are the type of prospects we want you to find. Does anyone else read it that way?

manxman2601 said:

This is interesting:



I take that to mean that these are the type of prospects we want you to find. Does anyone else read it that way?

Click to expand...

Yup I took it that way too.. and def helps determine the type of guys they are going after.

Now we just have to crack the code