Jan. 6-12

When it comes to an agency’s draft class, how do you gauge success? 

Obviously, it depends on the size and resources of the agency. The agency’s past success has a lot to do with it – some firms obviously have greater reputations (and expectations) than others. The pure number of agents is also relevant. Also, what’s more important, quantity or quality? And how do you truly judge the merit of an agency’s clients during the ever-changing run-up to the NFL draft, when a poor workout, a medical report, a lackluster interview or a character revelation could change draft fortunes significantly? What’s more, when’s the best time to take a snapshot of an agency’s class? At the end of January? Entering the NFL Combine? After it? It’s a valid question with recruiting ongoing slowing, but not completely over, as we move toward mid-January. At this point, most of the draft’s top picks are on SRA, but with the national championship just days ago and several Huskies and Wolverines still not signed, it feels a bit early.

For all these reasons, we’ve struggled to rank agencies’ draft classes, and in fact, never have. At least not in January, when there’s still so much to be determined. Still, it’s a constant question we get. Which firms are doing the best? Who’s got the top draft class? Where are the best players going for representation? 

With that in mind, we decided to take a look this year while conceding that beauty is very much in the eye of the beholder, especially at this early date. Let’s look at a few metrics. We’ll start by looking at the signings for the top five active agencies by total draft points since we started counting in 2007.

·      CAA: After placing second in the draft value points race for four straight years, CAA may be poised to wrest back the title from Athletes First. In North Carolina QB Drake Maye, Penn St. OT Olu Fashanu, Notre Dame OT Joe Alt, Illinois DT Jer’Zhan Newton, Penn St. DE Chop Robinson and Georgia OT Amarius Mims, the firm is stacked with signees that figure to go in the top half of the first round. Similarly, Oregon’s Bo Nix, Texas’ Xavier Worthy, South Carolina’s Xavier Legette and Clemson’s Nate Wiggins could have a great shot at being Day 1 selections. Washington QB Michael Penix could be the cherry on top if he signs with the firm, as is expected. In all, CAA has 21 signees, and virtually every one of them will go before Day 3.

·      Athletes First: Whereas once A1’s focus was on passers, this year, the firm shined brightest along the offensive line with clients such as Oregon St. OT Taliese Fuaga, BYU OT Kingsley Suamataia and Oklahoma’s Tyler Guyton. But that’s not all. LSU WO Brian Thomas, Iowa DC Cooper DeJean and Miami’s Kamren Kinchenshighlight the agency’s non-blockers for the 2024 class. With a couple other possibilities still to be signed, A1 may add further luster soon.

·      Independent Sports: After undergoing multiple lineup changes over the past decade, the agency has gotten ever more choosy about the players signed. As of today, we don’t have any confirmed signees with Independent. 

·      Rep1 Sports (now Excel Football): Rep1 has always gone with quality over quantity, and while the firm’s roster for 2024 is tight right now, we’re expecting a couple of players who competed in the CFP championship to firm up their client list for this spring’s draft. 

·      Sportstars: The New York City-based firm has always been known for its volume as well as its coast-to-coast reach, and this year is no exception. The firm scored highest in the Lone Star State, grabbing four stalwarts (DT Byron Murphy, TE Ja’Tavion Sanders, OH Jonathon Brooks and OT Christian Jones) to go along with a sprinkling of talent from all four corners of the country. To date, we count 29 clients for 2024 as Sportstars clients. 

Next, let’s look at the top five agencies by value points during the 2023 draft. Those five firms are, in order, Athletes First, CAA, Klutch Sports Group, Rep1 Sports (now Excel Football) and WME Sports. Since we’ve already chronicled three of the five, let’s focus on Klutch and WME.

·      Klutch Sports Group: Klutch’s seven clients so far are led by Alabama DC Terrion Arnold, but the agency is heaviest along the defensive line. Among its clients there are Alabama DE Chris Braswell, Clemson DT Tyler Davis and Texas DT T’Vondre Sweat.

·      WME Sports: The agency scored with two expected top-10 picks in Florida State DE Jared Verse and Georgia TE Brock Bowers, and while Georgia DC Kamari Lassiter isn’t expected to go quite so high, he won’t have long to wait.

Now let’s look at the Senior Bowl by agency. So far, the clear leader is Athletes First with 14 clients in the game. Coming in second is Wasserman Sports, which has 10. 

Let’s also look at the agencies based on which firms signed the most consensus first-rounders, based on our latest sweep of mock drafts (for lack of a better way). The top two vote-getters, USC’s Caleb Williams and Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr., have not yet chosen representation. The same is true for LSU’s Jayden Daniels, another one of the unanimous first-rounders. However, CAA represents Maye, Alt and Fashanu. WME Sports has two in Verse and Bowers, while Klutch landed one (Arnold) and Vayner Sports one (Alabama DC Kool-Aid McKinstry). 

Speaking of Vayner, the firm took a strong step forward with a standout class this year, landing not just McKinstry but also Penn St. DC Kalen King, Oregon OH Bucky Irving and several others, with another possible difference-maker possibly on the way. Others who impressed are Wasserman Sports (13 clients, led by UCLA DE Laiatu Latu), Rosenhaus Sports (Alabama OT J.C. Latham, Georgia DC Javon Bullard and Michigan OH Blake Corum lead the way) and 1 of 1 Agency, which has 11 clients and a heavy emphasis on the offensive line. 

In a year when three of the top 10 picks could go without representation, some firms still managed to shine. We’ll know more about who stood out the most in May, when final grades are in. In the meantime, here’s a look at what else was happening in the business of college and pro football this week.

Catching Up: Bruce McNorton, 64, spent 22 years in scouting, all with the Steelers, in addition to five years as a part-time evaluator for the Lions during Kevin Colbert’s days in Detroit. We caught up with him this week. 

• Where are you living and what are you doing now?: “I live in Daytona Beach, Fla., where I was born and raised, so I’m back home. I’m enjoying my life and enjoying being able to go to Michigan once or twice a month to see my grandkids. I also have a daughter in Washington, D.C. Then back in Daytona, I have real estate properties, and a building that will be an event center or a sport bar, and has been in the process of that for my six years having the building. It’s a nice, glorified, really big man cave, complete with a garage door I can pull my 300 ZX in and then let the garage door down. I got four 65-inch TVS on the wall, and all can play to one big picture. It’s 3,400 square feet, and I’m into arts and crafts, and so I do my arts and crafts there, and my friends come over.” 

• Do you miss the job? What do you miss most?: “What I miss the most is getting the chance to get out and see the young players and see the different types of talent, but mostly, I miss the camaraderie with the guys. That was one thing about the dudes at Pittsburgh: they all hang around each other. It was nothing for Coach (Mike) Tomlin to come in the bar with us, or for (former GM) Kevin Colbert to come out with us and have a good time. We had that in Pittsburgh, where with other teams, a scout might say, ‘here comes my GM, I’m gonna slip out the back.’ Pittsburgh is like that from top to bottom. When I first started playing (for the Lions),  BJ (my son) was playing middle school football. Mr. Rooney is very family-oriented, and he said, ‘Bruce, work your schedule around your son’s schedule, because you can’t get that (time) back. Now, once his season was over, I stayed out for a week (scouting) instead of four days. I only missed a few games, and that was amazing. The Steelers organization, they look out for their players as well as personnel people.”

• Do you keep in touch with any of your former colleagues?: “Yes, I do. I talk to my man (Mark) Gorscak. We talk periodically, and his brother stays in Port Orange, (Fla.). His oldest brother stays in Florida, so I keep in contact with him, and I texted the guys last week after they secured the position in the playoffs. I said congrats. So I talk with those guys periodically.” 

• Do you go to any live games (HS/college/pro)?: “I’ve been to high schools, and I went to a Jaguars game. It wasn’t a Steelers game. A friend of mine had tickets, so we drove up to Jacksonville from here. I’ve also been to some college games here in Daytona Beach, Bethune-Cookman, and then some local high school games.”

• Are there any players you love to watch and/or feel close to due to your work in the game? Do your relationships in the game affect who you root for?: “I’ve spent a lot of time in Michigan, but I had (an interest) for Washington this week because of (Steelers scout Mark Bruener). His son, Carson, plays for Washington. I’ve seen this kid grow right on up, and he’s playing big-time football. I was a little biased, but being in Michigan as long as I was, I became a Michigan fan. To go from college to NFL, I keep my eye on those guys, and there are a few from here in Daytona that have gone to the NFL, as well. I have a clinic I do every year, for 19 years, and (my son) BJ helps with it. I have some guys that came through that clinic like (former NFL defensive back) Ricardo Allen and (Seahawks DT) Leonard Williams. A lot of those guys are from this area. (Texans WO) Tank Dell is from Daytona Beach, too, so we used to get a lot of guys from Daytona that would come to my camp. The kids would walk over, so there’s a lot of young men that we’ve crossed paths with here and there. Hopefully, I had a positive impact.” 

Review the latest from other former NFL scouts and executives by accessing our Catching Up archive here. Want to hear from a former scout, or know someone who may be interested in being interviewed? Let us know.

This week in football: It was another busy week in the game. Here are a few highlights.

• In and out: Has there ever been a week when bigger names in the college and pro profession all stepped down at the same time? With vacancies at Seattle (Pete Carroll), Alabama (Nick Saban) and New England (Bill Belichick), some big shoes were vacated this week. We already learned that Jerod Mayo will follow Belichick as head coach in New England, but the front office still has an empty seat. The team doesn’t have to look far to find a respected and ready candidate as the next GM with Director of Scouting Eliot Wolf already in-house; his pedigree is unassailable given his work in Green Bay and Cleveland (and it doesn’t hurt that he’s Ron Wolf’s son, either). However, if the team wants to look outside Boston while seeking someone with Patriot roots, Texans Executive Director of Player Personnel James Liipfert would be a good candidate. Want someone outside the box? Check out Lions Director of Scouting Advancement Mike Martin. As Lions GM Brad Holmes’ right-hand man, Martin has played a key role in Detroit’s arrival as one of the top teams in the NFC.

• NCAA formalizing NIL: This week, the NCAA took steps to make name, image and likeness (NIL) a more structured process. They hope to do that by requiring registration by NIL agents, developing forms and contracts that players and their representative must use, and aggregating numbers and totals in an attempt to develop market prices for various services. While some may oppose any form of regulation, it could be a way to restore some sanity to the process without taking away players’ new revenue streams.  

• Peters takes command: The first new GM of the 2024 cycle has been hired as 49ers executive Adam Peters took the reins of the Commanders. Peters received plenty of support as a future GM in the spring of 2020 when we polled scouts and executives (incidentally, five of the 12 men named have risen to the GM slot). 

• Hula Bowl makes a splash: The organizers of the No. 3 all-star game did their best to bring the spirit of the island to Orlando this week. Mission accomplished. Owner Nick Logan, Executive Director Damond Talbot and staff put together a great week of practices, interview sessions, evening film review and even Haka lessons. The team hotel, the Caribe Royale, was the perfect venue, and though the weather wasn’t always perfect, we heard no complaints. 

Please vote: If you’re an active NFL scout, a separate email just hit your inbox. In it, you’ll find balloting for a couple new awards we’re presenting at the annual ITL Combine Seminar slated for the end of February in Indianapolis. You’ll also find a place to vote for the Best Draft Award – we have six valid contenders this year, and the voting will be tougher than ever – as well as our annual salary survey, which we use to help the community know what the going rate for evaluators is. Didn’t get a ballot? Please let us know by responding to this email. It’s our seventh year gathering information and honoring the best in the business, and we take it seriously. None of it works if you don’t participate, so please vote.

Scouting the League: You won’t want to miss this week’s edition of the Scouting the League podcast. Joining co-hosts Rodrik David and Neil Stratton this week was Russ Bolinger, who’s scouted for numerous NFL teams and had a lengthy playing career (he’s even crossed over into the entertainment industry). Here’s a taste of the topics discussed this week; obviously, the CFP Championship led the way, but the discussion ranged into coaching stories with a focus on the state of Michigan. Make sure to check out every episode of the podcast that’s especially for scouts and scouting enthusiasts here.

Next week: We’re well into the all-star cycle for 2024, with another game on the way next week and the early-entry deadline straight ahead. Here’s what we’ll be working on.

·      Black Monday is in the rear-view mirror, but the fallout is just starting. We’ll pass along all the buzz and analysis in our Rep Rumblings. We’ll also have the latest in the chase for LSU’s Jayden Daniels, USC’s Caleb Williams and several remaining unsigned prospects, and maybe we’ll even have a look at the latest goings-on in the United Football League.

·      We’ve got almost 700 names in our Signings Grid and many more are on the way. Make sure you’re checking it regularly to see who’s doing what as we steer toward the 2024 draft. 

·      Wishing there was a New Agent Zoom session this week? Hang in there. They’ll be back in February. 

·      We were in Orlando this week for the Hula Bowl, but we’ll be back in Central Florida in the coming week, as well, for the Tropical Bowl. ITL’s Neil Stratton lands Wednesday afternoon and departs Friday night.

·      This week for the Scouting the League podcast, the special guest for the new podcast co-hosted by Rodrik David and Neil Stratton is Jimmy Noel, whose work includes stops with the Browns, Chiefs, Army and more.

·      As always, we’ll be back with another post in our Succeed in Football series. Our focus will most likely be on this year’s edition of the Tropical Bowl, just as we touched on our thoughts and stories from the Hula Bowl in this week’s edition.

Obviously, this time of year, there’s a lot to talk about in the game. We’re doing a lot of it ourselves. Make sure you’re keeping up with everything going on in a busy offseason the best way possible: by joining us.