Scouting Football Games

If a football team doesn’t have a good scouting department, its prospects aren’t very good. First, the team needs to evaluate lower-level talent to know which players to draft. Second, teams must be able to tell what their upcoming opponents will do. Scouting is a subjective art. You can’t just plug numbers into a computer and have a great scouting report. You have to observe a team and use experience to evaluate the talent on the field and know what the coaches are thinking to try and predict future moves. Here’s how to scout football games.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Stopwatch
• Clipboard
• Binoculars

Scouting Football Games

1. Bring the proper equipment. You’ll need a stopwatch, a clipboard and binoculars, at the very least. You may want to bring a camera so you can snap photos of a team’s formations. Take notes about specific players as well as the plays being called. If a team is calling primarily passing plays when on offense, they could have a lot of confidence in their quarterback’s arm.

2. Make a list before the game about players to watch. Unfortunately, not everyone on a team is worth scouting. Spend your time on evaluating that great cornerback or running back you’ve heard so much about. Make a page in your notebook for each of them and jot down your honest impressions regarding each facet of the game. Does the player get off the line of scrimmage particularly fast? Did he make a mental mistake and find himself out of position?

3. Use the stopwatch to track running times for the players, especially the ones who need to dash downfield. How quickly does the wide receiver cover 30 yards? If a defender keeps up with a really fast player, he probably has some skills, too.

4. While you should make notes about positive and negative plays, allow some room for your subjective evaluations. Do you feel a quarterback shows poise under pressure? Does his throwing motion remind you of another quarterback's? Applying shorthand to your evaluations can help the people who read your scouting reports quickly understand what you mean. For example, if you call a quarterback “a sidearm Troy Smith who can’t stay in the pocket,” they’ll have a good idea what you mean.

5. Transform your notes into a form your bosses and players can understand. If you don’t have a standard form for scouting teams or players, make one. Let everyone know the bottom line: “If we play this team, we should run the ball as much as possible to take advantage of their weak defensive line.” If you’re evaluating a player, say something like, “This player would be a reliable second-team receiver but likely won’t be able to play at the highest level.”

Resources

• This site is a huge resource for football recruitment at the professional, college and high school levels.

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