Each NFL Draft is the culmination of over a year’s worth of work for personnel departments. Everything builds to draft weekend, and scouts get one final chance to stand on the table for their favorite prospects.
I worked for the Cleveland Browns for 10 years, seven as an in-house scout. The post-draft part of the schedule is when the department can finally take a breath. Everything lightens up, and the countdown is on for mandatory minicamp and summer break.
What’s going on in a Scouting Department
I’ll start with the serious portion of the post-draft time frame. The entire department is informed about their status for the next draft cycle fairly soon after the draft. Area scouts are typically told that first week post-draft, then the pro department, and so on down the line.
There’s turnover every year in most personnel departments, but you’re always a little tense until you’re told whether or not you’re in the clear.
College Department/Area Scouts
Scouts initially learn about prospects during the previous year’s pro day circuit. They then spend the next 13+ months learning everything possible about the kid while evaluating his on-field ability.
After the draft, college scouts write initial reports based on last year’s film to give the department a base grade for the prospect. These grades can change throughout the fall as more film comes in and the scout learns more about the player, but the initial grade is the starting point to determine if the player got better, worse, or stayed the same in his final college season.
While I was with the Browns, area scouts would head home after the draft and work on their summer reports there. They’d come back into town for mandatory minicamp week, but road scouts are at home most of the stretch from after the draft until training camp starts.
Pro Department/In-House Scouts
Life as an in-house scout gets a little easier after the draft, and a lot easier after rookie minicamp. RMC takes place the first or second weekend after the draft, and you have to be ready with an initial evaluation of every player there.
The Browns had scouting assistants and pro scouts handle any cuts. If someone needed to be sent home from RMC or a rostered player was released to make room for a tryout guy, we had to escort the player around the building as he went through the release process.
Post-draft is when in-house scouts put together team needs lists for the rest of the league. We’d also set up and rank emergency lists for in-season roster moves, and run free agent workouts.
A new wrinkle towards the end of my time with the Browns was spring leagues. The in-house staff had to watch any XFL, USFL, and UFL film in case there was anyone worth working out.
Everyone in-house, coaches included, is ultimately counting down to summer break. Offseason workout schedules typically have the players off on Fridays, so this is the one time of year when scouts can take a three-day weekend. We were also able to leave at a normal hour during the week. The post-draft period is fun, it’s much more chill, and allows scouts to reset themselves before the training camp and fall grind starts again.