Sport Scan Article Reviews
This project required me to sort through different articles collected by a scanning process. I would then go through these articles, involving the schools below, and take away information that I deemed to be valuable to note about the prospect. This could include injury, off-field situations, practices notes, positive and negative comments from coaches, and transfer news.
What Factors Effect Quarterback Draft Status?
For the second project of my mentorship with Jamie, I looked for trends in QB draft classes dating back to the 2014 NFL Draft. Then I conducted research as to some of the reasons draft prospects get selected when they do. There are a number of different factors that go into evaluating prospects and I was able to learn more of the complications and disconnects that actually occur during the overall draft process in regards to different prospects.
Players Who Did not Run a Pre-Draft 40-Yard Dash
In the third project of my mentorship as a project assistant, I was tasked with reviewing every player who was drafted in the 1st - 4th rounds of the NFL Draft (2012-2021) who did not run a 40 yard dash, either at the NFL Scouting Combine at their individual Pro Days on their schools' campus. The reasons for their lack of forty-time was either injury or opt-out due to well established draft stock. With that, I then noted their career achievements and when their career ended (or if they are still active). If the player is still playing in 2022, I was to note their project role (Starter, Depth, Fringe-Depth, Practice Squad, Fringe-Practice Squad/Journeyman Type, Free Agent). From this projects, different trends can be taken away as to what it means if a player misses their forty-yard dash during the draft process. Scouting is generally a case by case basis, but history can help be a predictive tool for the future in the scouting industry and therefore is something worth noting.
Median of Start Percentages : All Drafted Players vs No Forty Players
This project acted as more of an add-on to the the third project, rather than something entirely different. Jamie provided me with numbers from a chart he and his peers found that lists the median percentage of total games started by players drafted in specific rounds since 2010. Using these numbers I could compare them to the start percentage of players from the list of guys I complied that did not run a forty yard dash in the pre-draft process. Jamie told me the best way to present the information is in a "digestible" way. To do this I separated each draft round into a tab and used color coordination to show what players start percentages were versus the median provided (red = under : green = over). This information hopefully can help the Colts organization as a bit a predictive model to see what the data shows about players who have not run a forty yard dash.