The life of an NFL scout comes into focus during the pro day circuit when their presence is more visible and of interest to local and national reporters ahead of the NFL Draft, but their job goes pretty much year round. They must identify which players have the desired qualities to sustain a career at the highest level of the sport, and apply that framework to their specific organization to make sure the player will be a fit both on and off the field.
Steelers college scout Zach Crockett was a part of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ video series The Standard that aired on Friday evening, and described some of those qualities that he looks for while on the scouting trail.
“The eye in the sky never lies with those guys. When you watch the film, you saw production, you saw separation, you saw playmaking ability, you saw leg drive, you saw balance, you saw competitive edge,” Crockett said. “That’s what you wanted in guys like that. And that’s what I continue to look for, because that’s what I was taught from a young age. To look at the film, look at the player, make sure you know they got the heart and they love it.”
What he described is what makes scouting so difficult. It is an inexact science, or even an art form. Prospects must possess a certain skill set to succeed, but the “hearts and smarts,” as head coach Mike Tomlin has referred to them before, are just as important.
“Be truthful. Tell your story. Show your talent,” Crockett said of what he looks for at the combine. “There’s gonna be a lot of competition here. Don’t back down from it…How they interview, how they carry themselves, how they answer the questions, how they perform. Are they showing up ready? Are they showing up in shape? Are they showing up engaged? You can’t hide here.”
Teams get exposure to players in a large variety of ways. The scouts will go watch their games during the season, and the scouts’ connections to each individual program go a long way towards the information gathering process. There are also the various all-star games that take place, where teams get a chance to talk to prospects.
Then comes the combine, where players show off their physical gifts, but they also talk to teams in formal meetings. Finally, the pro days and the pre-draft visits where teams get their last look at prospects in the weeks leading up to the draft.
Each part of the process is a different piece of the puzzle when it comes to forming a final understanding of what a player might be capable of at the NFL level.
“Can you compete?” Crockett said. “That’s the one thing.”
Crockett was hired by the Steelers last offseason with Omar Khan rounding out his staff as the new General Manager of the team. He spent 13 years with the Las Vegas Raiders’ organization as their southeast area scout, and now holds the same role with the Steelers. As a former player from that area of the country, his reputation as a 13-year veteran of the NFL and a 13-year scout of the same set of schools serves him well in the information gathering process.
In the same video, Khan speaks highly of his connection to each of the schools that he scouts. In a short amount of time, Crockett has become a valuable member of the scouting staff. In his first year, the Steelers selected OT Broderick Jones in the first round out of the University of Georgia — a program that falls in the southeast area he is responsible for scouting.
“This was built for me,” Crockett said. “I think [scouting] was tailor-made for Zach Crockett.”
