Teams are being forced to do their pre-draft business differently this year.
Some think they might do it better as a result.
Via Jennifer Lee Chan of NBCSportsBayArea.com, longtime agent Leigh Steinberg isn’t sure the additions of layers of information have made the scouting process better.
“When I first started in the industry in 1975 with Steve Bartkowski, there were no pro days, no team meetings, no combine,” Steinberg said. “If you look at statistics from players then, to those selected in 2005, the players in 1975 were more successful and productive.
“Teams obviously believe that the more information they have, the better, but at some point, it’s enough. I believe they have enough information to make educated and prudent choices.”
Because of the isolation forced by the coronavirus outbreak, teams aren’t able to have in-person meetings, and most pro days were shut down.
That will force evaluators to rely on what they have on hand already (e.g. game tape), which could lead them to make simpler decisions. Of course, plenty of teams made bad choices in 1975, which is part of the reason a talented player like Batkowski spent most of his career on some pretty shabby Falcons teams (which went 55-66 with him as their starter).
Regardless, teams still have the ability to over-think things, and if history as taught us anything, it’s that some of them certainly will.