Cornerback Chris Harris, Jr. is making headlines for his current contract impasse with the Denver Broncos. However that shakes out, it’s bound to end with him signing a deal making him one of the NFL’s highest-paid defensive backs. It’s an opportune time to review Harris’ journey from undrafted free agent to one of football’s best…
NFL teams prepare two draft boards in preparation for the NFL draft, a horizontal board and a vertical board. The horizontal board shows not only a round grade for each prospect but their rank within the position. This helps a team understand alternatives available at various points in the draft. If they pass on a…
NFL teams prepare two draft boards in preparation for the NFL draft, a horizontal board and a vertical board. The vertical board distills the scouting grade, need at the position, positional value, and any other relevant factors into one ranked list of the “best player available.” The first 11 players are gone? Take player 12.…
Since 2000, every franchise had selected a wide receiver in the first round—except the New England Patriots. That streak ended Thursday night, when New England tabbed Arizona State wideout N’Keal Harry with the 32nd selection. The Patriots’ spotty track record choosing receivers, along with concerns about elements of Harry’s game, raises some interesting questions. In…
NFL teams build vertical boards to help make sense of the individual talents in the draft class. Joseph Ferraiola put together a top 50 vertical board using an NFL-type grading scale, also commented on some of his favorites. The grading scale I’m using was developed by Dan Hatman last draft season. The scale allows you…
Since 2008, former NFL scout Dan Shonka of ourlads.com has been capturing “ball velocity” of quarterbacks throwing at the NFL combine, and posting it online. Some in the media have taken notice of the results and drawn conclusions from the historical data. “There has never been a QB who threw less than 54 mph with…
We are pleased to announce the Inside the Pylon 2018 Post-Draft Supplement is available! The 2018 Draft Guide contained detailed reports on 185 incoming rookies, following a rigorous process that mirrors that of NFL teams, but we didn’t cover everybody drafted. The post-draft supplement contains reports on 101 additional rookies in the same rigor and detail that you’ve come…
At Inside The Pylon, we get a little obsessed with the NFL Draft. Our team of 50 scouts wrote nearly 1,000 reports about more than 550 draft prospects, and we turned that into our ITP Draft Guide, which we feel is the premier product on the market. But we recognize that not everyone is as obsessed as…
As is always the case, we know nothing, Jon Snow. After months of buildup and speculation, the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft unfolded in unexpected fashion on Thursday night. Here Mark Schofield has instant reaction to the quarterbacks who were selected, and some thoughts as to who we might hear about on Friday…
Front offices have been trying to perfect draft and player evaluation for years in order to figure out how to get an upper hand on draft selections and draft trades. But the methods used for evaluation are outdated at best. Ethan Young has come up with a new model called Modified Approximate Value Evaluation Model…
Chuck Zodda and Mark Schofield try out “Numbers Wednesday” (we’ll work on the name) on to get you through the middle of the week by bringing on one of the newest members of Inside the Pylon, Ethan Young. Advanced statistical analysis is becoming more and more common in the NFL and scouting communities and Ethan…
With the 2nd round selection of Roberto Aguayo, a hot topic around NFL Draft media has been whether drafting a kicker early is worth the cost, and even whether drafting one at all is a good idea. Ethan Young turns to the data from 2005-2015 to see if drafting kickers and punter in the draft is…
With the first round of the NFL Draft upon us, Dan Hatman has prepared this look at the potential 31 selections in the opening round. This represents the players Dan believes will make the biggest impact to these franchises, not what a team may do. It also does not take into account detailed medical or…
While the 2016 NFL Draft may not have a surplus of elite talent, it is draft filled with quality depth players. Chris Dougherty’s 2016 NFL Draft Big Board highlights the top 100 players that NFL teams have spent the last year evaluating. Defensive players dominate the top 10 of Chris’ board, occupying 7 of those spots.…
Much has been written about problems with the NFL Draft, especially in recent years; however, few have explored the relationship between the draft and you. James Mastrangelo explores what the NFL Draft says about us as fans of football and members of society. [Editor’s Note: It has come to our attention that many people are…
The NFL Draft is here, and while quarterbacks are the hottest ticket in town, they must have someone to throw to. Rookie wide receivers don’t always make big impacts, but they’re important building blocks for any passing attack. Joseph Ferraiola breaks down former Baylor Bear Corey Coleman. At 5’11” and weighing 194 pounds, Corey Coleman is one of…