Scouting Often Frustrates Koetter
February 25th, 2016
We all know what Dirk Koetter really thinks about the data freaks trying to dominate the game of football.
His raw emotion on the subject was there for all to see in November.
Weeks later, Koetter tried to back away from that wonderful takedown of the stat nerds, but Joe wasn’t buying it.
Yesterday, there was another beautiful moment alongside one of the NFL Scouting Combine podiums.
Koetter was talking about scouting and the reports he gets on college players. Joe got to see Dirk Koetter well up in frustration for a moment while thinking of all the paper and opinions he reads.
Koetter shook his head and said the conclusions of scouts’ can be frustrating. “You have no idea what they were asking him to do,” Koetter said, referring to scouts judging players without knowing a play call or his role on a play.
It was a neat glimpse into Koetter, who is as old school as they come. The son of a football coach, Koetter knew he wanted to coach 50 years ago.
Kotter, based on other comments he made yesterday, is a guy who seems to rank a college player’s raw talent and the magic mystery — whether a player really loves the game like Koetter does — higher than college performance.
Joe’s very curious to see the collective makeup of this 2016 draft class.
February 25th, 2016 at 10:29 am
I hope there are a few stats he is worried about, like wins vs losses and things like how many games was Mike Evans evicted from or how many unsportsmanlike like conduct penities he had all by running his mouth!
February 25th, 2016 at 10:29 am
Draft length and speed and develop. Everyone wants that finished product coming out of college but it doesn’t always work that way. There are years and years of 1st round busts through history to back that up.
Behind QB, I’d say one of the hardest finished products to find coming out of today’s college game is a straight up 4-3 DE. College pass rushers make an easier transition if they aren’t asked to put their hand in the dirt from the exact same spot on every single down. Draft tweeners, there is a surplus of them this year.
February 25th, 2016 at 10:38 am
A good example is that some try to prop up Dominick for drafting Barron who eventually became a half-way decent LB for another team…..
I buy the genius of the pick if Dominick immediately developed Barron as a LB….but he didn’t.
The point is…..you simply can’t miss with a 7th pick…..ME13 hasn’t been and won’t be a miss.
I don’t care what position we fill with the pick as long as he is a starter. Anything less than starting caliber is a miss.
February 25th, 2016 at 10:55 am
There’s a name I want to throw out there for the draft. First, below are the rookie sack leaders from 2015
1. Preston Smith DE, Washington Redskins – 8
2. Danielle Hunter DE, Minnesota Vikings – 6
3. Zadarius Smith OLB, Baltimore Ravens – 5.5
4. Bud Dupree OLB, Pittsburgh Steelers – 4
5. Eric Kendricks LB, Minnesota Vikings – 4
6. Hau’Oli Kikaha OLB, New Orleans Saints – 4
7. Shane Ray OLB, Denver Broncos – 4
8. Lorenzo Mauldin DE, New York Jets – 4
9. Markus Golden OLB, Arizona Cardinals – 4
10. Leonard Williams DE, New York Jets – 3.5
Pretty pathetic right? My point is that if we are counting on a rookie DE to provide the pass rush we so desperatly need then we will once again be screwed.
Now, imagine a linebacking corp of LVD, Kwon and Khalil Mack. Scary right?
Why no talk about Jaylon Smith at 9? The guy will almost certainly be there when we pick and would have been in consideration for the #1 overall pick had he not been injured.
Yea, he will probably need a redshirt year next year but thinking long term, adding a guy like that could give us one of the top LB corps in the league for the next 6-7 years. I watched a ton of ND games last year and I am telling you, this kid Smith is an absolute beast
February 25th, 2016 at 11:05 am
Koetter has a point!
February 25th, 2016 at 11:06 am
Cream
That’s they exact same thing Chris Landry of Landryfootball said yesterday. Even used the term ‘red-shirt’. I like Landry bc he seems to really know his stuff. Wasn’t Preston Smith a 2nd rnd pick? I would use the #9 for a starter and find some redshirt guys in the later rounds like after the third.
February 25th, 2016 at 11:12 am
DB55-
Ugh, I can’t stand Landry….I’m almost embarrassed to hear that him and I are on the same page here.
I understand the desire to find a “starter” or “impact player” at #9 — and at 9 you better find a starter and impact player. My point is that we can’t expect a double digit sack guy next year out of that spot. I mean look at that list. The first round leader in sacks as Bud Dupree with 4 — and he’s a 3-4 OLB not even a DE.
We need to add Bruce Irvin, JPP, or Vernon in FA. We have no choice about that if we actually have eyes for the playoffs next year. Yea, Spence or Lawson could end up eventually being double digit sack guys but if we’re counting on a rookie next year to provide us with our pass rush then we are going to be in a world of hurt once again.
I’m just a big fan of Jaylon Smith, the way he plays and the kind of guy he is. And I am just salivating at the thought of him, Kwon and LVD roaming the field in pewter and red.
February 25th, 2016 at 11:26 am
I’m no expert, but picking a draft pick seems comparable to cutting a deck of cards and getting the ace of spades 3 times is succession. I know they pay scouts good money to analyze year round for players compatible with the current regimes system. Hell they start looking at these kids in high school and track their performance for years.And still under no circumstance is this an exact science. Thats why a kid like Ali Marpet amazes me. Over the years I have monitored the first round of several drafts and found that after about the 5th pick all bets are off. I can understand why Dirk is frustrated, just like any fan who advocates his opinion in a mock draft and realizes for several months prior to the last weekend in April he has wasted valuable time that he won’t get back.
February 25th, 2016 at 12:01 pm
Cream
All good points. I’m in the wait and see mode right now.
February 25th, 2016 at 12:11 pm
key words here being “whether a player really loves the game”….I think a lot of today’s players don’t fit that criteria….Bucs need to focus on getting a team FULL of these type of players…and let the Dynasty begin!!!
February 25th, 2016 at 12:46 pm
Da haha!! Koetter thinks he was frustrated scouting aye? Lets see how his frustration is if he cannot turn the Bucs around from Losers to winners. I got a feeling that broad smile of his will need some work once the losing starts.
February 25th, 2016 at 1:23 pm
That’s the spirit, Mike!
February 25th, 2016 at 2:42 pm
William Walls Says
That was a great post. I’m still LMAO
February 25th, 2016 at 3:14 pm
It’s interesting that Joe would draw a connection between this comment and the “stat nerds” because this comment is not about data driven insights. It’s about traditional scouting and the fact that scouting in any form comes with unknowns. ie you didn’t know what the play call was… but few people do.
I like Koetter so far, but he’s beginning to sound a bit like a micro-manager. You can pull that off as a coordinator, but it’s not a good trait for a head coach. Simplifying the issue to “players who love football” sounds swell, romantic even, but we all know there’s more to it than that. Koetter knows it too, as his comments about not being able to beat the PAC12 powerhouses would suggest.
February 26th, 2016 at 12:32 am
Production in college means nothing. Being a great college player means nothing in the NFL. If you peak in college you will not last long in the NFL. But if you have great raw talent, work ethic, and passion for the game, you can be something in the NFL. Look at all the first round draft busts. They all had super productive careers in college, and had enough raw talent to get drafted in the top 32. But they didnt have passion and work ethic. The 2 biggest x factors in the NFL. Everyone has talent in the NFL. But not everyone has passion and work ethic.