Fins Scouting in Depth

by white1 Sat Oct 23, 2021 8:24 am

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/miami-dolphins/fl-sp-hyde-dolphins-scouting-20211023-h5g7lmhevzbbzkyyj2z5zec2da-story.html

A good read on scouting and it focuses on west region

by **JMP** Sun Oct 24, 2021 2:34 pm

Thanks for posting. I'll check it out when I have a chance.

by white1 Mon Oct 25, 2021 9:47 am

What I like about this one is Hyde dissects picks made out of the west, the Dolphins scouts there and how they have advanced over time. Pretty compelling read and I hope Ross reads it as well, and asks Grier for his thoughts on our scouting department.

by **JMP** Mon Oct 25, 2021 12:43 pm

Damn paywall! I'm intrigued, but need to figure out how to bypass the paywall. Going to a private window no longer works...

by DolFan 316 Mon Oct 25, 2021 7:09 pm

JMP wrote:Damn paywall! I'm intrigued, but need to figure out how to bypass the paywall. Going to a private window no longer works...

The Sun Sentinel has had a paywall for a couple of years now at least, which is why I don't read anything from them. For a second I thought white1 had found a way to bypass it. Oh well Crying or Very sad

The weird thing is, Madden recently changed their entire scouting system and now players have regional scouts and a national scout just like NFL teams IRL. Another weird thing is that I actually personally know the guy in charge of doing this.

by white1 Mon Oct 25, 2021 7:23 pm

Let me post a couple snippets with the link, so we don't get in trouble.

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/miami-dolphins/fl-sp-hyde-dolphins-scouting-20211023-h5g7lmhevzbbzkyyj2z5zec2da-story.html

First two busts out of the west discussed were Jonathan Martin and Dion Jordan. The common link?

But Martin had serious emotional issues, since made public, that “other teams knew about and we didn’t,” one former Dolphins insider said. “People on other teams asked me, ‘How did you guys not know about that?’ ‘’

Article goes on to talk about the several busts and misses out of the West region

In sum, the woven picture is haunting. Martin and Jordan were the two costliest draft picks in team history. Passing on Herbert might prove a worse decision. From the full decade, Ajayi’s one season is the lone positive pick from big expenses in the West.

Of all the draft capital expended, we got one good season from a single player. ONE.

What does it all mean to us and why is it relevant now? Well, here you go:

The constants in this area: Chris Grier, who joined the Dolphins in 2000, rose over the last decade from director of college scouting to general manager; and Adam Engroff, who joined the Dolphins in 1999, lives in Boise, Idaho, and was promoted from nine years of scouting the West after the 2012 draft (the Jordan trade) to director of college scouting. He’s now the team’s co-director of pro personnel.

When Engroff was promoted, Cory Ragan became the West scout. Lenny McGill has been it since 2015.

What’s it all mean? That’s for someone inside to untangle. Maybe it’s a geographical coincidence that all that awful is in one region. Maybe the region scout isn’t being heard – or not doing his job.

Maybe the national scout or college director got it all wrong. Maybe the GM didn’t listen – or didn’t get complete answers. Then again there’s an old line in football is you let the coach pick the quarterback.

Maybe it’s all or any of the above.

by DolFan 316 Mon Oct 25, 2021 7:34 pm

That Holland guy seems to be doing well from what I hear, though. Maybe he's the nut the blind squirrels finally found?

EDIT: Whoops, forgot about Gaskin. Not that he's set the league on fire, but being the best RB on a team has to count for *something* right?

BTW here's a list of all players from the current Pac 12 this team has drafted since 2000. It's surprisingly short, but man oh man look at all those busts and bums Evil or Very Mad

https://stathead.com/football/draft_finder.cgi?request=1&order_by_asc=0&order_by=default&draft_year_min=2000&draft_year_max=2021&pick_type=overall&team_id=mia&conference=pac12&show=all

And here's two more lists covering the same period, with players from the Mountain West and WAC.

https://stathead.com/football/draft_finder.cgi?request=1&order_by_asc=0&order_by=default&draft_year_min=2000&draft_year_max=2021&draft_slot_min=1&draft_slot_max=500&pick_type=overall&team_id=mia&conference=mwc&show=all

https://stathead.com/football/draft_finder.cgi?request=1&order_by_asc=0&order_by=default&draft_year_min=2000&draft_year_max=2021&draft_slot_min=1&draft_slot_max=500&pick_type=overall&team_id=mia&conference=wac&show=all

by white1 Mon Oct 25, 2021 8:32 pm

Holland and Gaskin are good points. Does that indicate the problem moved with promotion of the area scout? Because maybe now not isolated to just one region…

by **JMP** Mon Oct 25, 2021 9:03 pm

Wow, crazy stuff. Thanks for posting.

Sounds like this guy Engroff has too much power. He lives in Boise and we drafted 3 players from Boise State over the past several years: Curtis Weaver (2020), Jay Ajayi (2015) and Jamar Taylor (2013). Coincidence? scratch

by white1 Tue Oct 26, 2021 10:09 am

Exactly. Credit to Hyde for laying this all out. I'll point back to this article if Grier ultimately gets fired after the season. Because to me, it screams that the solution is hire a new GM and do a total house cleaning. These scouts have been entrenched for the last two decades of mediocrity.

Regarding some of the picks we have hit on, I'm wondering if McKenzie / Allen (the two most recent Grier hires) have had a somewhat positive influence on evaluating talent.

Still, clearly it's not enough. Success rate is one thing, all teams miss on picks, but we have totally failed to land JUST ONE blue-chip talent with all the first round picks expended. That is just absurd.

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