scouting Page 1 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Longtime Rangers scout Scott Littlefield dies at 59
Scott Littlefield, who worked with the Texas Rangers baseball operations department for the past 16 years, passed away Friday. He was 59.,Per the Rangers, Littlefield was in Houston on assignment in his role as a special assistant, player personnel. No cause of death was released by the club.,Little...
Dan Quinn plans to expand Commanders' contender culture
INDIANAPOLIS -- More than half of the 53-man roster in Washington is eligible for free agency, which makes maintaining the team's identity a top priority for second-year head coach Dan Quinn.,"Culture is how we get down every day: that's the identity of our team, our behaviors, our habits," Quinn sa...
On the defense: Travis Hunter to work out as DB at combine
Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter, who starred at Colorado at both cornerback and wide receiver, will work out with the defensive backs at the NFL Scouting Combine, which begins later this month.,Hunter's name was among the list of 329 prospects invited to the attend the combine, which runs from F...
Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Marvin Harrison Jr. are making the right call by not working out at the NFL Combine
In young people’s latest affront to the spirit of competition, the participation of some top NFL draft prospects in the upcoming scouting combine will be slim to none. Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels will not throw until their respective Pro Days. Marvin Harrison Jr. will not be participating in a...
Sports agency wants NFL prospects to avoid pre-Draft test that C.J. Stroud reportedly bombed
The S2 cognition test may go the way of the Wonderlic. According to a report from The Athletic one sports agency is directing its NFL Draft prospects to not participate in any cognition tests in their pre-draft process this year. The organization, Athletes First, emailed NFL teams last month to noti...
Stop glorifying NFL Pro Days — they’re just in-person highlight tapes
Before there was Hudl and YouTube, there were VHS cassettes. And before that, film. Studying and watching footage of your opponent, yourself, or a prospect has always been a vital part of sports. There’s nothing like seeing what someone does against live competition and the variables that occur duri...
The NFL combine isn’t intrusive enough
Welcome to Deadspin’s The Sports Nihilist, where all is for naught and we are but accidental jolts of electrified meat stuck to the surface of a rock in an indifferent universe. Fuck you....
Reimagining the NFL Combine
Just like your local jungle gym, the NFL Combine hasn’t been modernized in decades. They’re still using the same stale gym equipment and drills Al Bundy practiced with at Polk High School to measure the relative strength and athleticism of NFL prospects. It’s past due time for the NFL combine to und...
Will Levis has every chance to be the star of this year’s NFL Combine
Quarterbacks are always under the biggest microscope in football, that’s a given. And there’s not a more unnecessary magnifying glass on signal callers than the NFL Combine. Going through all the scouting drills appears important for about five minutes. How many analysts quoted Tom Brady or Peyton M...
Let's put an end to the NFL combine
This Super Bowl week has been a busy one. Jalen Hurts and Patrick Mahomes have dominated storylines as they’ll be the game’s first two Black quarterbacks. The Kelce brothers — Jason of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis of the Kansas City Chiefs — are playing on opposite teams. Rihanna is performing...
Is there any real relationship between NFL Combine performance and long-term success?
Every year around this time, football fans get bombarded with numbers, scores, and facts about a player’s athleticism based on their combine drills. “This guy ran a sub 4.6 40!” “Did you see so and so’s vertical?” “Joey Donuts over there has enormous hands!” Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Too often t...
The fastest NFL Combine ever created a new class of sonic boom or bust prospects
The NFL’s Underwear Olympics has always had a tangential connection to actual football. Bench press reps are the equivalent of Strong Man competitions, but until linemen are pulling trucks, they don’t move the needle. Besides, the best combine bench press numbers typically are posted by the lineman ...
The biggest NFL Combine busts
The NFL Scouting Combine starts this week, and top prospects from colleges throughout the country will travel to Indianapolis to perform a series of physical challenges and medical evaluations that may determine their future in the NFL....
The raging debate over the size of Kenny Pickett’s hands
Sure, the 2022 QB class isn’t the best we’ve ever seen. There’s not a Trevor Lawrence to fight over or a Joe Burrow to trade picks for. But is it really so bad that we have to continue to manufacture drama over poor Kenny Pickett’s hand size?...
From zero to hero: NFL stars whose stock dropped at the Combine
The combine giveth and the combine taketh away. As prospective NFLers from colleges throughout the country come together to mark down 40-yard dash times, 225-lb bench press reps, broad and vertical jumps, and more, there’s a real pressure to perform, particularly for those right on the cusp of getti...
Threat of boycott made NFL ditch its plans for a ‘bubble’ at the combine quickly
The boycott lasted less than 24 hours before the NFL walked back their restrictions....
Changes are coming to the NFL scouting combine that are long overdue
Today is one of those days in which the NFL has made a good decision. It doesn’t happen often. The decision to add an extra game to the schedule in a sport that can cause brain damage, during a world-wide pandemic, might be a short term financial win, but it’s making the product worse and is ethical...
Have You Ever Heard of a 'Raw and Toolsy,' 'Well-Spoken' White Player?
It’s not a surprise that Jo Adell noticed the coded language of baseball. It’s a sign of the times that a 21-year-old prospect, in a sport where the young traditionally have been seen and not heard, would feel comfortable voicing that it’s a problem. It’s definitely a new frontier for Major League B...
A Scout's Honor
You don’t get to choose which parts of your past are remembered. ...