TALES FROM THE SCOUTING TRAIL: Denver Broncos Camp
As the busiest month of the year for Canadian Football League scouts rolls along, I step away from the NFL preseason film for a moment here to give Blue Bombers fans an inside look at what a day on the road at NFL training camps is like.
(To find information on why Winnipeg’s scouting crew attends every NFL camp, check out my previous article on the topic (https://www.bluebombers.com/2023/08/01/tales-from-the-scouting-trail-scouting-nfl-training-camps/)
A typical day on the road starts at 6 a.m. as I wake up in Centennial, Colorado just outside of Denver and approximately 10 minutes from the Broncos’ training facility. I hop out of bed, do a quick workout in the hotel fitness center, and then get prepared for the day.
By 7 a.m. I am watching film and laying some groundwork for the upcoming practice by taking a deep look at college and NFL tape of the players on my watch list. While I have a handful of reports on incumbent players already on file from my previous two visits to Broncos’ training camp, I make sure to rewatch their film anyways and update my thoughts where possible.
At 9:15 I head downstairs and drive over to the team facility where I’m greeted by one of Denver’s pro scouts and led onto the field. With practice beginning at 10, I take this time beforehand to body type players on the field to get an accurate depiction of their physical makeup.
When practice begins, I go position group by position group and take vigorous notes on what I’m seeing from each individual player.
Between practice periods, I engage in chats with Broncos scouts on the sideline about their thoughts on some of the players on my watch list. This is incredibly helpful in understanding a player’s character and how likely they are to stick around in the NFL.
As practice wraps up at 12:30 p.m., I head over to a local lunch spot to grab a bite to eat and recharge my batteries. Practice is finished already, but the day is still far from over.
After returning to the hotel, I input the new information I learned at practice into my excel spreadsheet of player notes and comb over film of players on my watch list for the next several hours.
Approximately five hours later, I head out of the hotel to grab dinner with a close friend who works for the Broncos. Building and maintaining this type of relationship is very important for scouts hoping to get the best information possible. And getting to know people you meet on the road on a more personal level by sitting down and chatting with them about life outside of football is important.
Once our dinner has been scarfed down and it is now around 8:30 PM, I head back to the hotel to get to sleep early. There’s another day of practice to attend the next day, and a long road ahead throughout the rest of the month!
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Cyril Penn is a Blue Bombers U.S.-based scout who writes regularly for bluebombers.com
