It’s right there on Page 1 of the unofficial football scout’s handbook: be prepared for long hours on the road, including countless nights at hotels and so many airport stops one blurs into the other.
So, Winnipeg Blue Bombers national scout Craig Smith knew all this going in, especially after 18 years in the Canadian Football League scouring North America for talent.
Still…
“I’ve been to O’Hare (airport, in Chicago) six times,” said Smith this week after a day scouting the Carolina Panthers training camp in Spartanburg, S.C. “I’ve been to Kansas City twice. I drove to Cincinnati. I drove to Green Bay. I flew to Cleveland, flew to Minnesota… there have been a few stops.
“But O’Hare six times? It’s hilarious. I could absolutely work there I know it so well.”
Craig Smith
Smith, hired in June to replace Drew Morris after he landed a gig with the New York Jets, has been on the road for the Bombers since July 26th and will return after this weekend.
He’ll see nine NFL teams – other camps are being scouted by other Bombers staff – including the Panthers, Bears, Packers, Chiefs, Vikings, Bengals, Atlanta Falcons as well as the Denver Broncos and San Francisco 49ers.
Those two clubs are holding a combined practice on Thursday before meeting in a preseason game Saturday night in Denver. After that, Smith will be flying home to Winnipeg.
“I love getting on the road, but right around the third week you start thinking it would be good to be home,” said Smith. “This is a productive time for us, though. And very important.”
The Bombers are seeing the benefits of their scouting more than ever through the first eight weeks of the CFL schedule. Crushed by injuries to their receiving corps and secondary, regulars like Weston Dressler, Ryan Smith, Chris Randle, Macho Harris and Darvin Adams have been more-than-capably replaced by some of the new faces brought aboard this season, including Kevin Fogg, Thomas Mayo, C.J. Roberts, Terrence Frederick and 2016 CFL Draft pick Taylor Loffler. There is also new blood along the offensive line in Travis Bond and Manase Foketi – the latter having been doggedly pursued by the Bombers for two years.
That’s an example of how this recent scouting dividend is two to three years in the making. Scouts like Smith are working NFL camps looking for players on their last go-through and who may be considering the option of coming north this fall, and for prospects that will either be added to their negotiation list or placed on their radar screen after they finish exploring all avenues down south. Smith alone will provide approximately 320 individual player reports on this current trek through NFL camps. Almost every position will be evaluated, outside of fullback – which is traditionally stocked by Canadians – and tight ends.
“Every place you go there’s guys you’d just love to get. You wait and see what happens,” said Smith. “Hopefully once they’ve been through this (chasing the NFL dream) the kids will want to continue their careers. I’ve been in this league 18 years and sometimes a kid is just not going to come play in Canada. That’s the reality: he doesn’t want to leave the States if he doesn’t make it in the NFL.
“There are guys who are at different parts of their careers on every roster, guys that are exhausting their NFL spots who may want to come up and play football in the fall. And then there are the guys for down the road that you might not see for two or three years.
“It might be three years down the road where an agent calls and says, ‘I’ve got a guy who played with Atlanta…’ and I’ll go back and remember seeing him and liking him.” Smith said he won’t waste his time writing reports on NFL superstars, especially quarterbacks, but will study closely the pivots further down the depth chart.
In the here and now, the Bombers would like to beef up their defensive end spot, unearth a speed merchant-type for the receiving corps, and are always on the look for defensive backs and import offensive tackles. Typically, a day on the road includes taking in camp, then watching game film and writing reports at the end of the day.
With one of the better ones on the NFL. Admire him greatly! Kevin Simon! Atlanta Falcons!
A photo posted by Craig T Smith (@craigt.smith) on
“We’ve got all the information on height, weight, speed… all the testables,” Smith said. “That gives you an idea of the athleticism, but that doesn’t make a football player. It helps… you lift weights and do all that stuff to be a better football player and athlete. You throw all those testables into a bucket. But does he have smarts? Does he have heart? Does he have the instincts as a football player?”
What is absolutely critical for every team – and it’s why the Bombers were adamant they had a scout take in some portion of all 32 NFL training camps – is to constantly grow their network of contacts.
“That’s a given when you’re on the road,” said Smith. “I shook hands with (Atlanta Falcons GM) Thomas Dimitroff today. We didn’t speak for long because he’s so busy, but I had a Bomber hat on and he said, ‘That looks good on you.’
“You’re always doing that. Whenever you’re in an NFL camp you’re making contacts, you’re making friends and who knows what can happen down the road. Any time a guy gets cut I can call a number of guys and get information and I’m proud of that and proud of the relationships I’ve developed.”
