Feb. 23, 2018
Greetings! 

This email is directed at anyone in the pro and college football business. Already a client? Here's a review of the week. Not a client? We'd love to have you aboard.
The Week in Football: Feb. 17-23
Years from now, when people think about the 2017 NFL Draft, they'll think about several exciting players. They include Jaguars OH Leonard Fournette (1/4, LSU), Bears QB Mitch Trubisky (1/2, North Carolina), Texans QB Deshaun Watson (1/10, Clemson), Chiefs OH Kareem Hunt (3/28, Toledo), Rams WO Cooper Kupp (3/69, Eastern Washington), Browns DE Myles Garrett (1/1, Texas A&M), Bills DC Tre'Davious White (1/27, Bills) and several others. Several teams, including the Bears, Jaguars, Texans and Vikings, had sterling drafts last year. However, no team was able to pull impact players on both sides of the ball out of the draft the way the New Orleans Saints did. That's why the Saints have been selected by voters from across the scouting and evaluation community as the inaugural winners of the Top 2017 NFL Draft
Rookie Alvin Kamara gave the Saints offense a jolt this year, and his selection helped propel the team to earning the Top Draft Class Award for 2017.
Class as awarded by Inside the League and The Scouting Network. The Saints claimed 86 percent of the vote, with only the Jaguars and the Bears also earning first-place votes. It's no surprise the vote wasn't close. With the No. 11 pick in the draft, the Saints chose Ohio State DC Marshon Lattimore, and he was the shutdown cornerback the team has lacked for years. He went on to be the winner of the Associate Press' NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Award. Meanwhile, on offense, OH Alvin Kamara (3/67, Tennessee) turned out to be a lethal weapon for head coach Sean Payton, taking home the AP's NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Award. It was the first time since 1967 (Detroit with DC Lem Barney and OH Mel Farr) that players from one team took home both awards. Both Lattimore and Kamara were part of the Saints' six-player contingent that landed in the Pro Bowl, the team's largest representation since its Super Bowl-winning season of 2009. Lattimore and Kamara were far from New Orleans' first-year difference-makers, however. Offensive tackle Ryan Ramczyk (1/32, Wisconsin) played every down for the team, bouncing between the left and right sides, while FS Marcus Williams (2/42, Utah) helped Lattimore seal the back end of the secondary. The Saints' other picks - OB Alex Anzalone (3/76, Florida), DE Trey Hendrickson (3/103, Florida Atlantic) and DE Al-Quadin Muhammad (6/196, Miami) - also look like solid building blocks for the future. On Wednesday, Feb. 28, at 7 p.m. in Room 126 of the Indiana Convention Center, the Saints will be honored for their performance on draft weekend last year. Assistant GM Jeff Ireland, who has helped turn around the team's draft fortunes since he was hired in 2015, will accept the award, followed by a few brief remarks. Since Ireland arrived in New Orleans for a full draft cycle, the team has selected WO Michael Thomas (2/47, Ohio State), DT Sheldon Rankins (1/12, Louisville) and SS Vonn Bell (2/61, Ohio State), as well as signing DC Ken Crawley (Colorado) as an undrafted free agent. And though the Saints will be honored Wednesday night, that's far from the only thing on the agenda. Capital Preservation Partners' Leo Gjoni will welcome everyone, while Shawn Zobel of Zobel Sports Consulting will introduce The Scouting Network, the new society for people in football scouting and evaluation that will be backed by Inside the League. We'll cap the evening with a four-member panel of ex-NFL scouts who'll discuss the business, how to get a job, what teams are looking for (both in players as well as potential scouting hires) and a number of other topics related to the business. Check out our blog, Succeed in Football, to get a more detailed rundown of the night's agenda, as well as names and backgrounds of the scouts who'll make up our panel. For a sneak peek at what to expect, check out this video with highlights from our previous seminars and presentations in Indianapolis and all over the country. It's going to be a special night, and if you're part of the Inside the League family, we want you there! Haven't received your invitation yet? Let us know and we'll send you a link where you can register. Here's a look at what else we saw, heard, read and said in the world of football in the past week.
 
ITL Scouting Department: These days, our scouts and executives have a little time on their hands as interview skills training is pretty much over with and most agents are done seeking opinions on members of the 2018 draft class. But that's OK, because we're starting to look at the '19 draft class and put together the ITL 250 for next April. If you need a look at a specific player in the next, or a future, draft class, or you have a last-minute issue in your client's background that might not go over easily with NFL scouts, we're here and we're ready. We can put you with the right person, and often in your neighborhood, quickly. All you have to do is hit us up.
 
Agents by Total Clients: This week, we had our monthly look at how many clients the top agents in the business (minimum 10 active clients) have on their lists, and this week, there was a change since last month as three agents from CAA (Todd France with 71, Tom Condon with 49 and Jimmy Sexton with 48) landed in the top five. There were no changes, however, at the top (Drew Rosenhaus with 109) and third (Joel Segal with 54) slots. In all, 108 contract advisors had at least 10 clients, in line with the usual total of about 110. Here's a complete look at last month's numbers for comparison.
 
Rep Rumblings: Though the football world was mostly focused on tapering for the combine and putting the final touches on interview prep, we were vacuuming up info scraps from around the game. On Monday, we had a look at January's SRA report, breaking down a few trends and looking at the numbers. We also had an update on a non-NFL football roster that's filling up (and looks legit). Tuesday, we looked at a former agent who found an unusual route to the team side of things, plus a free agent who made a recent agent change and more buzz. Thursday, after reviewing the latest SRA list, we looked at some of the street free agents who've gotten signed this winter and their stories, some of which make Uncle Rico look like a first-rounder comparatively.
 
Profile Reports: It's just around the corner: our annual school-by-school trip through FBS football, which will begin in April. It's our 10 th big year of doing it, and this year, we think we'll have the best numbers and addresses of parents that we've ever had. We think it will make for our most comprehensive recruiting tool available to our valued clients. Remember, you can review our work over the past nine years by clicking here.
 
The grids: The Combine is coming and almost here. We'll be doubling up our efforts this weekend and Monday to fill in as many slots as we can in our 2018 grid before we land in Indianapolis. We'll also be working hard to fill in the various pro days we lack - we're still about 100 behind where we want to be - and we have a whole lot of updating to do on our big board of signings.
 
The ITL Rising Contract Advisors Newsletter: Last week's editions of our weekly newsletter were focused on interview prep (Monday), what new agents need to know about pro days (Tuesday and Wednesday) and how to save money and get around efficiently in Indianapolis (Thursday). Monday, we'll look at the questions our panel of scouts will entertain Thursday, and on Tuesday, we'll have highlights from our previous seminars. Wednesday, we'll go into a bit more detail on our previous speakers, and Thursday, we'll have a brief recap of Wednesday's seminar. Once again, it will be a big week filled with plenty of relevant info for new and learning agents. It's good stuff, and you can have it if you're an ITL client.
 
Next week: What's ahead in the next seven days is pretty intuitive to anyone even narrowly award of the football world. The ITL team will hit Indy on Tuesday night, then stick around Wednesday, Thursday and Friday before wheels up for home (to get on the schedule with ITL's Neil Stratton this week, make sure to email him). We'll be tracking everything in Indianapolis happening with the pro football community, and more so than usual, we're expecting an interesting week. "I got some (problems) on my chest" with the NFLPA, texted one contract advisor today. We've got a feeling it has something to do with the new 'Continuing Education' Exam ahead for certified contract advisors in June. By the way, have we mentioned that we have a practice exam and a study guide that can help get you through that exam? Anyway, our guess is he's not the only one who's got grumbles, and for that reason, it's going to be an especially spicy NFLPA Seminar on Thursday. Naturally, we'll gather reaction from as many agents as possible after NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith faces the (potential) fireworks, and we'll have it in our Rep Rumblings. Anyway, we'll also have the usual - the scouting world's goings-on, the hirings and firings among the '18 draft class, and any happenings on the training front. We'll also continue to plow forward with the ITL Rising Contract Advisors Newsletter, giving new agents a daily pep talk/instructional session on what to do and what not to do. We'll also hustle up on the 2018 NFL Combine Grid - we've still got about 50 players' pro days to locate and training locations for 54 others. While we're at it, we've got dozens more pro days to update for our 2018 Pro Day Grid and we'll keep hammering away at that board. We should have plenty to pass along from our trip around Indianapolis and we'll dish it up in our blog, Succeed in Football. We also owe readers the Agent Changes from January to February; hopefully, we'll be churning those out next week in-between meetings and appointments. Soon, we'll also be tracking the dates for NFL teams' local pro days. In short, as you might have guessed, it will be a very busy (and fun) week. We hope to see you there. Can't be there? Here's the next best thing.

Inside The League is the consulting service for the football industry. We work with the contract advisors for about two-thirds of active NFL players as well as the combine trainers, financial planners, scouts, coaches and other pro league organizers that make up the game. Cost is $29.95/month, and you can cancel at any time. To register, click here. Also check out our new free blog, Succeed in Football. Copyright Neil Stratton and ITL 2015.

Sincerely, Neil Stratton
President
Inside the League

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