Doug Whaley explains Buffalo Bills' philosophy on scouting underclassmen...

[daryls61]

Tim Graham had a column about how the Bills are one of the teams that does not scout underclassmen until they declare. He did not paint a flattering picture of this philosophy. Waly explains the Bills thought process:


This week, the NFL released the official list of 95 underclassmen who have declared for the 2017 NFL Draft. These days, that number is the norm. In 2016, 96 underclassmen entered the draft with 30 of them going undrafted. A record 98 underclassmen declared for the 2014 NFL Draft. With an increasing number of underclassmen in the draft, a team's procedure for scouting them becomes critical. At the Senior Bowl on Tuesday, Buffalo Bills general manager Doug Whaley was asked what his philosophy is when it comes to scouting underclassmen."Well, it's a league rule," Whaley said. "You cannot comment, and if you do before they officially announce, then you're subject to a fine and possible draft picks. So we don't comment on junior until they declare officially, unless you want to pay my fine and tell Terry, 'Hey, guess what? We just lost a draft pick for commenting.' I just don't see the point." Forget commenting, though. What about doing the scouting work? Back when not as many underclassmen declared, it made sense for teams to focus their in-season scouting on seniors. What about now?

http://www.newyorkupstate.com/buffalo-bills/index.ssf/2017/01/doug_whaley_explains_buffalo_bills_philosophy_on_scouting_underclassmen.html

[SpikedLemonade]

Whaley has to go.

Terry just needs to purchase Kim a gold plated dildo to replace Doug's member.

[OpIv37]

So, it's inefficient to evaluate underclassmen during the typical in-season evaluation process, but somehow efficient to evaluate 95+ players in 2.5 months and somehow integrate them into the draft board with the previously scouted players when none of them can actually be observed in live action?

I'm no expert on scouting but I find that hard to believe.

[ghz in pittsburgh]

They do. All teams do. Just that they can't say it.

[OpIv37]

They do. All teams do. Just that they can't say it.

The rule is that you cannot comment on individual players who aren't seniors until they declare. There is no rule about scouting whomever they want as long as they don't discuss it publicly.

Besides, what's the worst that can happen? The guy doesn't declare and go have a head start on next year's scouting.

[ghz in pittsburgh]

What do you expect Whaley to say? That they visit the underclassmen high school, talked to their former teammates relatives? NFL scouts probably worked scouting most of their lives. I bet most of them can cite some list of high school recruit rankings. I don't anyone will take Whaley's not looking at underclassmen until they declare seriously, just like his statement of not knowing why Rex was fired.

Looks to me Whaley has adopted "when in doubt, deny, deny, deny" public speaking approach.

[Mace]

What do you expect Whaley to say? That they visit the underclassmen high school, talked to their former teammates relatives? NFL scouts probably worked scouting most of their lives. I bet most of them can cite some list of high school recruit rankings. I don't anyone will take Whaley's not looking at underclassmen until they declare seriously, just like his statement of not knowing why Rex was fired.

Looks to me Whaley has adopted "when in doubt, deny, deny, deny" public speaking approach.

If he wants to make himself and the organization look competent, he simply says, "We scout everyone we can, as much as we can." not :


There's plenty enough time from January to the end of April to get these guys, these juniors done. If we can't get them done by us, that's our fault.

Well yeah it is, we know this by all the stellar draft picks.

By now, teams are tuning their boards with bowls and combine ahead to polish them. It's self defeating to suddenly stop paying attention to the seniors and cram up on underclassmen, so now you're adding to your workload and diminishing efficiency by tuning up the seniors and starting fresh on underclassmen.

Lack of prep work on underclassmen, also makes you have to start fresh every year on just seniors ?

Makes no sense.

[YardRat]

I don't think it's a big deal, and don't believe it to begin with.

Kinda hard not to keep an eye on guys like Humphrey and Robinson, even though 'officially' you're in Alabama scouting Allen, Foster and Howard.

[Mace]

I don't think it's a big deal, and don't believe it to begin with.

Kinda hard not to keep an eye on guys like Humphrey and Robinson, even though 'officially' you're in Alabama scouting Allen, Foster and Howard.

So unless he's dishonest for the sake of it, why can he not articulate in a competent professional manner ?

[YardRat]

So unless he's dishonest for the sake of it, why can he not articulate in a competent professional manner ?

We all know public speaking and answering questions from the media isn't one of his strengths.

[Mace]

We all know public speaking and answering questions from the media isn't one of his strengths.

Then what makes you think his general thought process is any better ?

I mean that covers expressing your thoughts in terms of action, diplomacy, dynamic response, flexibility and adaptation. All of which are pretty much required GM traits. If you can't express yourself to your scouts, HC, owners, staff......well....or do you mean to say he only chokes when someone puts a light on him ? Not that an owner, draft board, HC would, mind you.

[YardRat]

Then what makes you think his general thought process is any better ?

I mean that covers expressing your thoughts in terms of action, diplomacy, dynamic response, flexibility and adaptation. All of which are pretty much required GM traits. If you can't express yourself to your scouts, HC, owners, staff......well....or do you mean to say he only chokes when someone puts a light on him ? Not that an owner, draft board, HC would, mind you.
I don't think an individual's struggles with public speaking or the media is an indication of the same within the workplace, or process.

[Mace]

I don't think an individual's struggles with public speaking or the media is an indication of the same within the workplace, or process.

I do when the individual is all about presentation, and if you look at pics of Whaley, he's very carefully about presentation. It is not difficult to take a public speaking course, read a book, or even stick to your notes.

You're saying he chokes in public speaking or with the media. He prepared for this job for years, and he chokes at some part of it. You don't see him sweating or stammering though, his delivery is smooth and calculated. He's saying exactly what he means to, confidently. It's not a failure of public speaking ability.

[YardRat]

I do when the individual is all about presentation, and if you look at pics of Whaley, he's very carefully about presentation. It is not difficult to take a public speaking course, read a book, or even stick to your notes.

You're saying he chokes in public speaking or with the media. He prepared for this job for years, and he chokes at some part of it. You don't see him sweating or stammering though, his delivery is smooth and calculated. He's saying exactly what he means to, confidently. It's not a failure of public speaking ability.
Regardless of his demeanor and mannerisms, he has failed to accomplish getting his audience to believe what he is saying. To me, that is a failure in public speaking.

[Mace]

Regardless of his demeanor and mannerisms, he has failed to accomplish getting his audience to believe what he is saying. To me, that is a failure in public speaking.

Might be to you, to me it's a failure of having solid thoughts to express concretely as opposed to expressing scattershot thoughts that can be bendy as needed because you aren't really sold on them anyway.

[DesertFox24]

Did you guys read what he said. He cannot say he scouts underclassmen or bills will get fined or lose picks. I am sure he does he just cannot say it. We are talking about the no fun league they fine if you sneeze and don't cover your mouth during a press call conference.

The fact that that we have drafted several underclassmen and they have normally played well would indicate to me they do not have problems scouting underclassmen. Can we please drop this stupid topic.

[SpikedLemonade]

Doug Whaley will never truly be a real NFL GM.

He is no more than a head scout.

[Mouldsie]

If you ever want a great QB it might be a good idea to scout underclassmen

[Ingtar33]

wow. I'm a bit stunned at those comments from Whaley. It's been almost 2 decades since I was running around the big 10 scouting, but I had a book on pretty much everyone who played in a game in or against the big 10 when I was in the business.

That's what our front office demanded of the regional scouts. Even though we had a bastard Owner who liked to ignore what the GM and scouting department was telling him our GM was pure class and knew how to run a quality franchise. Whaley is a pure second rate if he doesn't have anyone looking at underclassmen.

[DraftBoy]

Did you guys read what he said. He cannot say he scouts underclassmen or bills will get fined or lose picks. I am sure he does he just cannot say it. We are talking about the no fun league they fine if you sneeze and don't cover your mouth during a press call conference.


He can't comment on specific underclassmen, but he can say that the Bills scouting department is aware of all the talent that is available in the draft and that they ensure to always be on the look out for new talent.

That's just one of about seventy different ways that he could of answered the question that doesn't make me question why there are people who run websites with deeper scouting knowledge and databases than the Bills.

[DesertFox24]

He can't comment on specific underclassmen, but he can say that the Bills scouting department is aware of all the talent that is available in the draft and that they ensure to always be on the look out for new talent.

That's just one of about seventy different ways that he could of answered the question that doesn't make me question why there are people who run websites with deeper scouting knowledge and databases than the Bills.
Hey man I agree with you Whaley digs his whole deeper whenever he talks.

Some people are terrible at speaking and he is one of them, probably why the guy does not do interviews.

Bottom line if we had qb and won no one would care they would be talking about the bills way. All i care about is whaley needs to find a QB or get canned.

[Mace]

Did you guys read what he said. He cannot say he scouts underclassmen or bills will get fined or lose picks. I am sure he does he just cannot say it. We are talking about the no fun league they fine if you sneeze and don't cover your mouth during a press call conference.

The fact that that we have drafted several underclassmen and they have normally played well would indicate to me they do not have problems scouting underclassmen. Can we please drop this stupid topic.

They can scout whoever they want, they just can't interview, background check, or discuss them with anyone outside the team before they declare.

If you're aggravated about Whaley/Brandon threads why are you posting in one ?

[DesertFox24]

I replied to
the fact people are calling him incompetent for not scouting underclassmen. He never said he did not scout underclassmen. He said he cannot comment and their are rules.

Bottom line is we have drafted underclassmen and some have been very good players so to make an assumption it is hurting us or he lacks the ability to do it is ignorance.

I will agree he is horrible speaker and could articulate this in a manner much like draft boy stated which is vague enough to avoid trouble but pretty much say of course we look at juniors aswell