New York Giants Official Website

The Scouting Process - Part One
By Michael Eisen, Giants.com

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FEBRUARY 17, 2009

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - Joe Collins is approaching his 62nd birthday. His three-year-old Chevy Malibu Maxx has already logged 170,000 miles. He spends weeks at a time away from his wife, four grown children and five grandchildren. Much of his work is done in small, windowless rooms evaluating the pros and cons of hundreds of college football players, few of whom will ever directly impact his life.

But Collins loves his job, and wouldn't think of relinquishing it for anything but a comfortable retirement, which he is in no hurry to begin. Collins is an executive scout for the Giants and he's been studying, meeting and grading potential pros for 31 years. He's worked for the BLESTO scouting combine and the Jets, 49ers and Browns before joining the Giants in 2002. It's an unconventional lifestyle, but Collins can think of nothing else he would enjoy doing as much.

"I tell you what, I am not an office person - I tried that," said the gregarious Collins. "I enjoy the newness of the job, the excitement that every day it is going to be a different experience. I have a lot of friends in football. I get to see them and travel around the country. I just do the Southeast now, but I used to travel the whole country. I have made a lot of friends. I have been in every state in the union except Alaska to scout somebody.

"You are around a college atmosphere, you are around young people, you get to talk to young people, you get to see the people.  I think it has helped me kind of stay young, because you are around a different kind of atmosphere. You are around it every day for months and it is better than the real world, you know what I am saying?"

Yes, we do. Scouts are indispensible members of any football organization who do their work outside of the public eye. During the season, they are strangers to their own families, because they are scouring the country, trying to identify the college football players who will make the finest pros.

"The best scouts," Giants general manager Jerry Reese said, "love the thrill of the hunt."

The men who staff the Giants' renowned scouting staff certainly do. The department is headed by Marc Ross, the team's Director of College Scouting. Jerry Shay, a member of the scouting staff since 1973, Collins, Steve Verderosa and Jeremiah Davis are executive scouts. Steve Devine, Donnie Etheridge, Steve Malin, Ryan Jones and Chris Pettit are scouts. Christopher Watts is the team's BLESTO scout. Whitey Walsh is the staff's Director of Research and Development.

"Scouts are really the unsung heroes of pro football," Reese said. "They make a tremendous sacrifice to be on the road away from their families for 185-200 days a year. They are truly our lifeline and play major role in our success."

Reese has a special affinity for scouts. He joined the Giants organization as a scout late in the 1994 season. Reese was the assistant pro personnel director for three years before becoming the Director of Player Personnel on May 1, 2002. Scouting still courses through his veins. When Reese interviewed for the general manager position, he stressed to the team's owners that they would never lose him as a scout.

This week, the scouts, coaches and other personnel experts from every team will be in Indianapolis for the NFL's annual scouting combine, where prospects are measured, tested and interviewed. The players in Indiana will make up the majority of those selected in the annual draft, which will be held on April 25-26.

"Seeing guys from other teams that you have become friends with over the years, that is the best part about the combine," said Verderosa, who also scouts the Southeast. "But the combine itself to me is overblown. I know sitting in all these meetings over the years sometimes there is too much emphasis and I know talking to guys on other teams they put a tremendous amount of emphasis on the Senior Bowl and the combine more than we do.  I think the Giants' philosophy has always been what they do in the fall is still most important. We just use it as another tool, but watch a guy run around in shorts and T-shirts doing a bunch of drills to me is not football. It is just to solidify what you think he is athletically. The best thing about it now is to see how they handle themselves in that venue."

"I am going to have to disagree," Collins said. "First of all, you get all kinds of medical information. You are bringing everybody together and you really can compare. Ten years ago, there were a whole bunch of guys that wouldn't work out there. Now they are starting to do that. You can either make a big mistake or you can prevent yourself from making a big mistake once you see all these kids together. I like it because I can go talk to that kid one-on-one. The eye look, the handshake, and I ask them very simple questions. I want to know if they communicate, because an old scout told me 30 years ago if they can't make it in the locker room, they aren't going to make it out on the field."

Scouting is a demanding and often solitary and tedious job. But it is also very rewarding, particularly when a scout helps find a player who becomes a star or major contributor for the Giants.

"I love football, so this gives you an opportunity to build your team," said Verderosa, who joined the Giants in 1988. "Obviously, it has changed a lot over the years and some things are better and some things are not as good. What I don't like is the three major factors: You have the draft, you have free agency, and you have the salary cap and in my opinion the three work against each other. Some teams don't scout like we scout and they don't put into it what we put into it. The hardest thing that we do, the hardest question to answer, is 'Can he play or can't he play?'"

That question often is not definitely answered until the end of a long, detailed evaluation process. The scouts' season begins when they report to training camp at the same time as the players and coaches. For 10 days, they watch every practice, then contribute their opinions on each player in personnel meetings. After leaving Albany, they make a brief pit stop at home, then head out to college training camps in their area. They do so with a preliminary list of prospects they must pay particular attention to. But they keep their eye on other potential pros and their ears open for suggestions on players they should also look at.

"I fly home, trade suitcases with my wife and I head out to my first school," Collins said. "Training camp is when you see these guys at their healthiest. You can get a good read on them."

When the season begins, the scouts spent entire weeks studying players. They usually arrive at a school early Monday morning, which often requires a long drive. Jones is a New Jersey native who was a star defensive back at the University of New Hampshire. He now resides in his home state, but scouts the Midwest.

"Let's say I'm in Chicago - then I will drive down to Champaign to the University of Illinois on a Monday," Jones said. "I will get there between 6-6:30 - obviously I will call the week before to let them know I am coming. I will get set up and you have a list of players you want to watch. But you always ask them if there is anybody else on the list besides these guys before you start. You don't want to miss anybody.

"You start watching the tape and you tell them, 'Hey, I am downstairs, me and a bunch of guys from other teams, what is a good time to meet with you today?' Then you will find out when you will meet with the (pro) liaison, when you will meet with the strength coach, when will you meet with anybody else that you have to meet with, whether it be an academic advisor, whoever you want to meet with or some other contacts that you have there. You kind of set your day up early in the morning and it is a courtesy too to let them know that 'We understand you are busy too, but when you get a chance we are flexible and we can work around you and then we will do what we need to do.' Then based on those you watch your tape and you go from there and then you keep track of your appointments and either you go up to go meet them or they come down and meet you and talk over the guys and find out as much as you can about them. Then after you finish that, you have met all your appointments, you've finished your tape - that can take two days at big schools like Wisconsin or Michigan and they have 12, 13, 14, 15 guys to look at. After you finish that you go out to practice and watch the guys you are supposed to watch and then you also watch anybody else that, even though they ran the list, someone else that may catch your eye. You will say, 'Alright I didn't get a chance to watch tape on him, but I will know his name and number and I can watch him at a later date.'  ... So that would be a day and then after you finish that you go on to your next spot. From there I would probably go up to Wisconsin and then from Wisconsin I could come down and do Northern Illinois."

Verderosa lives outside of Raleigh, N.C. and his territory stretches from Virginia to Miami and West to Alabama.

"Sometimes it is a six-hour drive to Tennessee or a six-hour drive to Atlanta," Verderosa said. "I am at a major university by 7 a.m. on Monday morning and then Monday though Friday it is school after school. You get there as early as you can to try to interview position coaches before they go into their meeting, get set up with the tape; you are watching tape all day, you try to interview as many people as possible that are pertinent, whether it is the strength coach, sometimes you want to go see the academic advisor. The pro liaison usually sets up a time where the scouts can meet because a lot of times you are not going to be the only guy there. That fills most of your day. You might have a little lull before practice because the practice times vary. Some schools practice at 3 o'clock, some practice at seven at night. When it is a night practice now you are kind of stuck there, which puts you back behind the next day.  If you are in Columbia, SC at seven and they practice until nine, you are not going to get in your car and drive two and a half hours to get to Clemson. So now your next morning is off a little bit."

Collins resides in Amelia Island, Florida. If he has to go to LSU in Baton Rouge, it's a 9½ hour drive - and one that he gladly makes. "Louisiana is my favorite state to eat in so I don't mind," he said. "It is awesome. I try to stay for two weekend games out there at Louisiana."

And what does he do on those long drives?

"I am trying to learn French," Collins said. "My daughter married a guy from France. During the season I listen to sports talk radio, which in the South is a lot nastier than it is up here. But I am usually listening to my Rosetta Stone."

Jones, who was recently engaged for the first time at age 40, also enjoys time on the road - and his vehicle of choice.

"I drive a Dodge Intrepid - what a nice trunk, baby," he said. "I love that car. There is a nice office back there in the trunk." 

Many schools have private rooms for each scout. But when the talent evaluators must watch tape as a group, the key is to control the clicker. That, of course, gives one scout the power to watch the player or players he is most interested in, even if the other scouts in the room are more interested in other prospects.

"You have to get the clicker," Verderosa said. "Auburn has always been real good about letting you watch by yourself. They accommodate you. Some places will put you in one big meeting room with 20 other guys, so if you don't have the clicker you are behind the eight ball. Not everybody watches tape the same way we do. One thing that we have always been required to do, whether it was (former personnel directors) Tom Boisture or Marv (Sunderland) or Jerry Reese and now Marc, we have to do (a player's) production, which I like because then it is all documented. You think the guy is this because of this, you are not just watching the tape. Believe me I have been at some schools with some guys and they are speed scouters. That thing is going 100 miles per hour and you know you are going to have to watch it again, because you are only getting bits and pieces of what you need to get, you are not getting it all. I like the way we do it."

"If you like running the clicker get there 6-6:30 or earlier," Jones said. "The early bird gets the worm. I do like running the clicker. I do. I can't deny it. But you are courteous to other guys if they want to see something again. You all agree and understand to work together."

Well, not always. Collins, who can seemingly talk nonstop for a week about a scout's life on the road, has witnessed group scouting become contentious.

"Hell yes I have seen fistfights," Collins said. "It can get a little crowded. Tempers can flare at times. Somebody will say, 'What are you watching that guy for? He is a reject.' Another guy will say, 'Because he is on my list and I have to do him and I have to have something to say about him.'"

After spending a day at one school, the scouts repeat the process at another school. And then another. And the following week they to it again.

Of course, a big part of scouting is attending games. The recent proliferation of weeknight games has enabled scouts to attend more games than they did in the past. Scouts can now see live game action on almost any night of the week. Verderosa and Collins usually get to watch games from the press box in the Southeast. But Big Ten schools often force scouts to view games from the stands.

"I always go to games on Saturdays, sometimes doubleheaders," Verderosa said. "Living in North Carolina I have done a Duke game at 12, a UNC game at three and an N.C. State game at 8.

"Certain positions you need to see live. You want to see a quarterback live and you love to get matchups. Sometimes you get a great matchup, you'll get a corner on one team and a receiver on another team. We don't see a lot of good practices like we used to. The best practices you are going to see are in August, when the teams are first in camp before the season starts. Unfortunately, once the season starts you don't see a lot of live action in practice. Sometimes the pregame warmup is a better practice than you will see during the week, so you go down on the field before the game and get close to guys, you see how they handle themselves before the game, if they are all business or if some guys are young and immature and that is exactly how they carry themselves and they are kind of a turnoff. It is just another point of reference that I use. But if you like football you want to be at a game. Even though I am not involved with whatever school I am going to you still get your juices flowing going to the live game, the pageantry, the whole thing. College football is great."

"Scouting has changed, but you still have to go out there and see the people live," Collins said. "I have always believed this, there are two positions you have to see in a game if you are interested in drafting and that is a kicker and a quarterback. Because 30-40 percent of the job for a kicker and quarterback is the pressure of the game situation. You cannot simulate that pressure at a practice and you don't get the feel of that watching film or tape. Now if you watch T.V. tape in this day and age then you could probably get a little bit of a feel for that. But if you want to draft a guy a quarterback, kicker or punter high, you better go see him live under game conditions."

Jones likes to study defensive backs.

"I just like to see how they react, how they move, and how they do all those things," Jones said. "As a former defensive back I can really get a good feel for what kind of guy he is. How he handles inclement weather.  Do they get their feet up underneath them? Do they not?"

After the scouts have watched the tape, the practices and the games and after they have talked to everyone but the prospect's auto mechanic, they write detailed reports on each player. The personnel department meets first before the combine. When that ends, they attend the pro days held by all big football schools and get to time and inspect the prospects one last time. Then the scouts, Ross and Reese meet again in April prior to the draft to discuss every player they might be interested in drafting or signing as a free agent.

"This would be the greatest job in the world if you never had to write reports," Verderosa said. "I am still a bad typist even after all this time; I am still a hunt and peck guy. I am a little better than I used to be, but my wife will be at home typing and she can go a million miles per hour and I am still pretty slow."

"It would be a perfect job for me if I didn't have to type those reports," said Collins, who preferred it when he could write them in longhand.

But Jones said, "I think it is the good part of it, because you can really sit down and think about what you are doing with them. For me, I like to sit down and type the guys and think about them a little bit and compare, rather than just rush to get it in sometimes. I like to try to think them through and really think back and say, 'Well what kind of player is he?"

All scouts have stories about players they liked that became stars and others that were ultimately busts - or players they didn't favor who went on to greatness or validated their evaluation and report.

CLICK HERE FOR PART TWO OF THE "SCOUTING PROCESS"