Are the evaluations equal?

With the football draft coming up, many articles are appearing describing the strong and weak points of each prospective recruit. If you look carefully at the comments being made by coaches, scouts and general managers,you will see that they are different for almost all of the athletes even though they are for the same position.

For example in regard to comments made about tight ends you csn find the following: For Dustin Keller, “He moves fluidly, shows good balance in his feet and good body control to stay on his routes through contact. Not an every-down player. Not very elusive.

In regard to Martin Rucker, He is a natural athlete with a big frame and very long arms. Good movement skills. Is instinctive and has a knack for finding open areas when a play breaks down. Does not factor into the blocking game”.

In regard to John Carlson, comments include, Can extend outside his frame, pluck the ball out of the air and make difficult catches in traffic. Good concentration. Sustains blocks. Very smart and competitive. Plays with little power. Could improve in pass protection.”

In regard to Fred Davis, “While he is not flashy Davis gives you a consistent, solid all-around performance every time he puts on his pads. Looks the part with a thick, solid build and long arms. Still has room to get bigger. Not an elusive runner after the catch.”

In regard to Martellus Bennett, “Good agility and flexibility. Lines up in- line and in the slot and shows the ability to sustain blocks in-line and on the move. Flashes the agility to sidestep tacklers after the catch, but will also turn upfield and run with some power. Concerns about his work ethic could restrict him from becoming a type of pro he is capable of being.”

In regard to Jermichael Finley, “Adjusts well to poorly thrown and low passes, showing good body control while contorting in the air. Has the speed to run away from linebackers. Shows surprising strength as a blocker for as light as he is. Is still very raw and will require a lot of coaching.”

As you can see, the comments vary greatly. Few comments deal with the skills that the player must execute in the tight end position. For example, the ability to accelerate quickly, be able to execute quick and sharp cutting actions and be able to catch the ball are paramount. Blocking is also important but the trend appears to be more toward getting players who can catch the ball.

If you look over the comments, none of them address the ability to accelerate nor do they address the skill of executing quick and sharp cuts. Being elusive is too general as is agility to sidestep. Run with some power does not tell you if he is easily tackled or can break through would-be tacklers.

If comments are going to be made about the length of the arms then they should be measured on each player as is done in boxing. Also taken into consideration should be how wide his shoulders are and how tall the player is. These measurements indicate how far he can reach in addition to the ability to jump well which also plays a very important role — especially when it comes to catching passes in traffic. Yet not one comment was made about jumping ability.

From some of the comments it appears that agility is very important, but it is treated as a general factor. How sharply and how well the player executes a change in direction is not looked at. For example, Does he have good cutting actions while on the run? Must he stop before making a cutting action? Does he use a stutter step to make the change?

How good balance in his feet is evaluated is not explained with examples. If the player is capable of running well and executing movements it can be said that he is in balance. If the player being evaluated has good balance does it mean that the other players do not have good balance?

Even comments such as he is a natural athlete or is very athletic, mean little if these abilities are not equated to his position. For the most part it can be said that all athletes should show good athleticism. If not, how can they be good athletes?

With comments such as described above, it is no wonder that general managers and coaches have a difficult time figuring out which player they want to draft. Most likely they look more at the statistics chalked up by the athlete in college rather than his abilities demonstrated in play.

To best evaluate the players for each position, they need to come up with check lists on all the key skills that they need in order for them to be successful. They can then check each athlete in each skill and then perhaps, be able to make an intelligent decision. Until then all of their decisions will be more of a crapshoot rather than being assured of a successful player.