What Are Anonymous Scouts Saying About Players Mocked to the Los Angeles Chargers?

Anonymous scout season is silly. Let’s lean in.

We’re getting close to the NFL draft, which means we’re hitting the height of silly season – improbable rumors are treated as truth and teams and agents are in the midst of character assassination campaigns to manipulate the draft in their favor.

Along the way, you learn some pretty interesting nuggets, so long as you can separate the wheat from the chaff.

Instead of being careful about that, I wanted to take a look at what anonymous scouts saw fit to say about the players most commonly mocked to the Los Angeles Chargers.

Should you take media reports of what anonymous scouts say seriously? Probably not. Here’s a good reminder of some of the incredible things we hear during draft season from anonymous scouts, executives and coaches.

• On Andy Dalton, one coach told Peter King, “Has there ever been a red-headed quarterback in the NFL who’s really done well? It sounds idiotic, but is there any way that could be a factor? We’ve wondered.”
• On Kelechi Osemele, a scout told Bob McGinn, “I just don’t know if football is that important to him. He was raised by women, which bothers me. I mean, how tough can he be? It’s not his fault, but it’s still reality.”
• On Eli Apple, a scout told Bob McGinn, “I worry about him because of off-the-field issues. The kid has no life skills. At all. Can’t cook. Just a baby.” This one at least has the benefit of being hilarious.
• On D’Brickashaw Ferguson, one executive relayed what they were hearing to Luke Cyphers, “Some people are saying that because he learned a musical instrument he has other interests and he’s not committed to football.”
• On Matthew Stafford, the decidedly not anonymous Mike Singletary said, “If you’re going to look at drafting a guy in the first round, and you’re going to pay him millions of dollars, and asking him about a divorce about his parents, if that’s going to be an issue, uhhh, then you know what, maybe he doesn’t belong here.”

Those are weird character reports, but we should remember that scouts get it wrong with their evaluations, too. A number of them called Aaron Rodgers a system quarterback, compared Mackensie Alexander to Darrelle Revis and called Justin Herbert soft.

That said, these things sure are fun to read over. Let’s go over the reports on the players most often connected to the Chargers.

Joe Alt, OT Notre Dame

Joe Alt led the voting among the scouts polled by Go Long TD’s Bob McGinn as the top offensive lineman, with nine of 13 votes for first place and the most voting points in total. One scout compared Alt to his father, John Alt, a former left tackle for the Kansas City Chiefs. Alt made two Pro Bowls with the franchise. Despite measuring in at over 6’8”, another scout said, “He bends like a 6-4 guy… You can’t get any better than this.”

Another scout that McGinn talked to added, “I just don’t like anybody that tall. But he’s got ridiculous makeup, ridiculous pedigree. He’s steady and sturdy. Knows how to play. There’s going to be times where he’s going to get his ass rocked back because he’s 6-8. He’s probably the most consistent guy in the draft.”

There weren’t significant negatives for Alt among McGinn’s pool of sources.

When projecting top ten picks, NFL scouts told ESPN “I think building the trenches is smarter with the talent stacks in this draft… Get a tackle now, a wide receiver in Round 2 and a cornerback in Round 3. That’s how you win this draft — checking off premium positions of need in every round.”

Marvin Harrison Jr., WR Ohio State

Unsurprisingly, scouts loved Marvin Harrison Jr. More than one called him the number one overall player in the draft. Between 16 personnel people polled by McGinn, Harrison earned 11 first-place votes among receivers. Back-of-the-napkin math suggests he received three second-place votes, a third-place vote and a fourth-place vote.

One scout raved about his run-after-catch ability to McGinn, saying he wouldn’t win the 40-yard dash if he had run but might win a hypothetical 100-yard dash. He added, “What you don’t see, if he’s running a curl, a comebacker or a dig and he’s not already in full-speed stride, is the ruggedness, the passion. He has the ability to be a good run-after-catch guy who, to me, was playing his last year of college football protecting himself.”

Another compared him to Larry Fitzgerald when talking about YAC ability – not a lot of it coming out of college, but truly gifted at it. As one scout said during ESPN’s top-ten mock exercise when picking Harrison for the Cardinals, “We’re not answering the phone. MHJ is exactly what this team needs.”

McGinn’s piece opens with a discussion about skill position player testing and one NFC executive told McGinn that we probably just aren’t going to get testing numbers for top skill position players anymore. When asked to estimate Harrison’s 40-yard dash time, they gave a range between 4.43 and 4.56, though most stuck in the low 4.4s.

“If you asked every team or every scout that did all three, you might get a different order, with a consensus, maybe Marvin, but it could be [Malik] Nabers and it could be Rome [Odunze],” an NFL scout told Josh Weinfuss at ESPN. “It’s just like that. It’s like that close, just depending on what you’re looking at, what you’re looking for.”

That scout essentially characterized it as a split between explosive capability (Nabers) and technical polish (Harrison) with Odunze splitting the difference.

Malik Nabers,WR LSU

When asked whether the Nabers WR1 talk was legitimate, the panel at ESPN – Jordan Reid, Field Yates and Matt Miller – all agreed that it was. All had talked to some NFL personnel who had rated Nabers higher, primarily for his after-catch or explosive ability. Importantly, Miller makes the point that these preferences exist throughout the league but they are substantially in the minority.

Hearing scouts talk about Nabers feels like they’re talking about the ideal prospect, even though he’s not generally regarded as the top receiver. One told McGinn, “He’s that all-around, well-polished, freakishly athletic individual.”

One scout compared him to Justin Jefferson and another called him a special, high-floor player. They didn’t all agree, though. One doesn’t think he has that much more of a ceiling to hit, calling him “topped out.” As for the comparisons, another scout told McGinn, “He’s not Harrison. If you see that just ignore it. He’s more of the D.J. Moore kind of player. Thick running back build. He’s a good player, a really good player. I don’t think he has elite ball skills.”

There are all kinds of Hall of Fame-type expectations given to top prospects in any draft, but honestly a D.J. Moore-type outcome isn’t all that bad. He’s the best receiver of his draft class (2018) and a top-15 player regardless of his position in his class.

Brock Bowers, TE Georgia

Scouts were fine with Harrison skipping out on workouts but seemed upset about Bowers skipping out. That might be because tight ends need to do so much more to prove that they’re worth a top pick than a receiver. It could be because Harrison has a pedigree where Bowers does not. Regardless, 14 of 15 scouts that McGinn polled still ranked him as their top tight end and seemed largely happy with him.

“I think he’s hiding,” one interviewed personnel staff told McGinn. “Now the people that love him will go, ‘Oh, no, it’s OK.’ I don’t think he would have worked out well. I don’t think he can run. I think he’d run 4.8.”

4.8 was at the extreme range among the estimate; other scouts predicted between 4.53 and 4.65. As one AFC executive told McGinn, “I think people would be a little underwhelmed even though that’s still really good for what he is. I think he’s just trying to avoid the letdown and just keep his perfect resume he’s put on tape.”

One scout pointed out that Bowers isn’t like a classical tight end with height and weight, saying he has more of a “fullback body.” So don’t expect jump balls in the red zone; the scout went on to say “Most of his plays are run after catch. He’s excellent with the ball in his hand. That whole offense ran through Bowers. Outside, inside, motion, slot, backfield. They schemed him up and they’d get the ball to him quickly in the flat… [Fit] will be a real key to his success.”

The run-after-catch component is a theme, with one scout comparing it to Harrison’s ability in that area. “Of he catches it on the run, he’s a motherfucker,” said that scout. He also cautioned against valuing him like a traditional tight end, pointing out that he’s not a three-down player and may not be a point-of-attack blocker in the run game.

Bowers didn’t go in the top ten of the scout’s draft that ESPN held, with the only real option for his selection coming at tenth with the New York Jets, where the scouts saw a greater need at tackle and drafted Taliese Fuaga.

“He’s just a quiet guy,” a different scout told McGinn. “Keeps to himself. Does the right thing. Always on time.” Kirby Smart told Dane Brugler that “Agents called him and told him to sit out the season after the injury. Those people will not be representing him, I promise you that, because all it did was piss him off.”

One scout told Brugler that he saw the Broncos as a dark-horse landing spot – assuming they don’t land a quarterback in the first round – because of a desire to find playmakers.

Rome Odunze, WR Washington

Rome Odunze earned a single vote among the polled McGinn scouts to be the top receiver in the draft and the “any three” approach is seemingly more lip-service than reality. While Nabers drew comparisons to Jefferson, Odunze seemed to get A.J. Brown. “A better route-running A.J. Brown” from one scout to McGinn, with the requisite physicality to earn that comparison, even as a blocker.

“Size, speed, great makeup football and person,” another scout said to McGinn. “Competitive, tough, all about football. Wants to achieve. Good hands.” That scout finished with the ultimate scout compliment: “This guy’s a good football player.”

Some scouts projected him more as a No. 2 than a No. 1, with concerns about his separation and quickness. “Nothing special,” one said.

His personality seems to really attract scouts. One personnel evaluator told NY Post’s Ryan Dunleavy that Odunze aced interviews and “raved about [Odunze’s] ability to “articulate his message” and his “sense of comfort” in the high-pressure environment.”

In that piece, former Washington receiver coach JaMarcus Shephard told the Post that “There’s ‘Rome the Warrior’ and ‘Rome the Philosopher’,” adding that “Every general manager, everyone working in the dining hall, every person is going to fall in love with the Philosopher because he will mentally engage you in a special way.

“But when the Warrior comes out, there is a nasty, violent, physical monster whose expectation is to dominate every individual in his path on the way to accomplishing the team goals. The crazy part is he can lead from both personalities.”

Neat.

Olu Fashanu, OT Penn State

Fashanu was the subject of some fascination for the scouts that McGinn talked to; they remarked on his unusual build – small hands with a large frame. They didn’t know if that mattered.

One said to McGinn, “Those are girls’ hands.” And then they mused that it doesn’t mean anything. “If you put your arms inside on the guy’s chest, what difference does it make if your hands are 8 ½ or 10? It’s an inch and a half. People get excited about those things.”

Nine of the scouts McGinn talked to didn’t seem to mind the hand size issue, including the one quoted above. Two more scouts were unsure and six others thought it was probably a concern, though not entirely sure how. “I don’t see anywhere on film where the hand size showed up,” one said. Another mentioned that it might impact his grip strength.

“What’s happening in every (draft) room is if you like the tape and the person you’ll dig up everything you can for why it’ll be OK,” one scout told McGinn. “If you want to lower him on your board and you’re not sure about him and there’s other guys you have more conviction on it’s going to be, ‘OK, name me a tackle with less than 9-inch hands?’ No one’s going to be able to do it and they’ll move on to another guy.”

So, there’s that.

Aside from that, some were concerned that he looked more mechanical than fluid, which primarily shows up against elite competition like against Ohio State. One scout liked his footwork but didn’t like his handfighting.

“My big concern is durability,” another scout told McGinn. “He’s been hurt every year. He’s been hurt through the (spring). Great kid. He’s competitive. He wants to do well. He’s probably not the elite left tackle athlete initially I thought I was looking at. In a perfect world, he’s probably more of a right tackle because he is very strong. He’s stout. If he gets his hands on you, you ain’t moving. His anchor pass pro is really good.”

It seems, based on information told by scouts to McGinn, ESPN and Brugler that Fashanu is generally regarded as a competitive prospect who loves football.

Taliese Fuaga, OT Oregon State

Scouts seemed positive, but not excited by Fuaga. “I don’t know if he’ll be great but he’ll be good,” one scout told McGinn.

Another gave Fuaga the dreaded bust-proof label, “He is the true, prototypical right tackle,” the scout told McGinn. “Like in the old school. Better run blocker. Maybe a little stiffer and not as athletic as a pass protector. But he’s tough. He’s got range. Played well with his hands. I don’t think there’s much bust potential with him at all.”

Not every scout liked him. One “kept trying to like him,” but argued that he keeps getting in his own way with poor movement.

Brugler brought up the fact that Fuaga had received offers in both high school and college to transfer to more successful programs – which, if true, would probably be a violation of state high school association and NCAA rules – and chose not to, preferring to be part of the building process where he was.

He also mentioned that some teams see him as a guard and others view him as a right-tackle only prospect. Duke Manyweather, who works with both prospective and current NFL offensive linemen, compared Fuaga to guard Mike Iupati.

Hopefully this doesn’t change your minds too much. But if it does, at least let it be positive.