Nix: Looking at everyone

Monday, Mar 29, 2004

Entry One: March 29, 2004 – Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The scouting system has really changed for the better since I’ve been with the Chargers. Thanks to Dean Spanos, we’ve been able to upgrade tremendously.

We use a customized system in which every scout travels with a laptop. There was a time very early in my career when all I carried with me on the road was a stop watch, a pencil and a pad. Fast forward to the 21^st century and now we’re able to track and catalogue every professional football player, along with all of the college players, in the same system. But I still carry my stop watch.

We’re an “area scout team,” meaning we designate a scout to a particular region of the country. Our player personnel department consists of 12 scouts, in addition to me. There are seven college scouts, two pro scouts and two of what we like to call “crossover scouts.” They do both professional and college scouting.

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve read a lot and heard a lot about people saying, “maybe they don’t know about this guy, or that guy....” Such isn’t the case; we know about EVERYBODY. If you play college football in this country—no matter how big or how small the school—we know about you, especially if you’re a potential NFL draftee.

We do not go into a draft thinking a guy runs a 4.6 (40 yard-dash), we know with certainty and a considerable amount of accuracy all the tangibles on a player.

Those potential NFL draftees of desirable height, weight and speed have at least two written professional scouting reports about them. Each report is available in our scouting computer system, that way it’s at my disposal at any given time. The number of draftable players can exceed 1,200 any give year. Now that’s a lot of ink, so to speak.

That also requires a lot of traveling. I never was an in-the-office type of guy. I enjoy being on the road and watching players on the “hoof” (that’s practice where I’m from). During the year, I coordinate my trips with that of the team’s game schedule. I never miss a Chargers game. Wherever the team plays on Sunday, I’m there, home or road. I hit the road again on Monday to scout more college players that would be a good fit with our team.

There also was a time even earlier in my career when scouting wasn’t necessarily a year-round job. These days, it never stops. I particularly enjoy the spring because I get to watch the workouts of some of the finest college football players in the country.

In my experience, you can’t write a guy and make an accurate assessment on his ability until you’ve watched him. I’ve never really changed my initial report on a player after watching him practice. There are some degrees of variance after watching a workout. That’s the primary reason I and the rest of the scouts spend so much time on the road evaluating players.

The entire month of March through the first week in April is filled with individual college and player workouts. Most recently we got a chance to conduct extended visits with who we consider three of the top quarterback prospects in this year’s draft class: North Carolina State’s Philip Rivers, Miami of Ohio’s Ben Roethlisberger and Ole Miss’ Eli Manning.

One of the advantages of owning the first pick is the availability of draft-eligible players. Scheduling a private workout is a phone call away, whereas it wouldn’t be that easy if we picked lower. This year, there’s no need to speculate which player is going to be there. We’re in the driver’s seat.

One might ask what we get out of meeting a guy over dinner instead of relying strictly on his ability to play football. The answer is simple: this is a job interview. You learn something about his demeanor, how he carries himself, whether or not he has a level head and can handle the pressure of being a quarterback in the National Football League.

When considering a quarterback, you’re more apt to conduct a work-out with him because that position is the hardest position to scout. The intangibles are relatively unknown. You can watch a guy throw, determine his arm strength, judge his accuracy and mobility, but how is he going to handle the leadership of a team? Can all that be summed up in one dinner? Of course not. However, it’s important to understand that, as scouts we’ve known about these guys since they arrived as freshman at their respective colleges.

We may miss on a guy because we’re humans dealing with other humans, but it won’t be for a lack of knowing about him, or a lack of preparation. There’s too much at stake. I love what I’m doing so I have to do it the best I can to be successful.

Nix has been evaluating NFL and college talent for 10 years. This is his third year with the Chargers.