Y'know, I often wonder how the scouting department is organized. First of all, how many scouts do they employ? Are their scouting duties divided by region of the country (which makes sense from a travel standpoint)? Pro vs. college? Or are they divided positionally (which makes the most sense to me)?
I mean, it's pretty clear that Dante scouts for the O-line (though certainly not by himself) and probably has the final input for BB - turns in the prioritized "wish list" for BB to incorporate in the team draft board. I'd guess BB is primarily concerned with evaluating defensive prospects with input from Matt, Pepper and the rest of the defensive coaches.
But who scouts/evaluates WRs?
And who has been, over the years?
Has there ever been anyone specifically assigned to scouting WRs?
Since Branch and Givens in 2002, we've drafted Bethel Johnson ('03) and Chad Jackson ('06) and now Taylor Price.
We "missed" UDFAs Welker & Malcolm Floyd ('04), Lance Moore & Nate Washington ('05), Miles Austin ('06), Davone Bess ('08), Ajirotutu and Blair White ('10) - while picking up guys like Bam Childress, PK Sam, Buddy Farnham, etc.
In veteran pickups, we've had:
Patten ('01)
Donald Hayes ('02)
JJ Stokes & Dedric Ward ('03)
Kevin Kasper ('04)
Andre Davis & Tim Dwight ('05)
Gaffney, Caldwell, Gabriel & Kight ('06)
Welker, Moss, Stallworth & Washington ('07)
Aiken ('08)
Galloway & Lewis ('09)
Holt ('10).
I'll be the first to note that several of the above "WRs" were actually picked up for their return/special teams abilities, which is fine. Even so, the "misses" significantly outnumber the "hits" and the result has often been a lack of real depth at WR (which really hurt us in '09).
Now, I'm not trying to build a "hate case" here by any means.
Just noting the pattern and trying to figure out whether the results are due to poor evaluation or a lack of focus/priority on WR scouting.