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The internet is fascinating.
There are a number of people with contacts within the NFL, but there also are a number of scouts in the NFL.
One thing you have to remember when you see tweets or stories quoting scouts is that the number of scouts in the league is absurd.
For instance, the Arizona Cardinals have 16 staff members listed as scouts, multiply that by 32 teams we are talking over 500 voices.
Moreover, only the opinion of about half of those scouts listed on team staffs matter. Many are tasked with being more private investigator than actual talent evaluator.
Now, all of this is to say, when someone tweets out that they reached out to the scouts they know or talk to, myself included, know that those numbers are likely limited. It is not to say the information is not good, it is just that the opinion is… of one or a few or a small population.
I say all of this because Ben Allbright, a guy I know, talk to, and trust had an interesting tweet today:
Survey of scouting contacts: "Who would be top QB taken if all eligible declared?"
— Benjamin Allbright (@AllbrightNFL) July 17, 2017
72% - Josh Allen
27% - Sam Darnold
1 vote - B. Mayfield?
Josh Allen has been discussed quite a bit on these pages, as has Sam Darnold, but to see that high of a discrepancy, again this could be 20, 50, maybe 100 scouts out of 500+, preferring Allen is quite interesting.
Allen's work has been good at times, but he's never quite shown to be a high end prospect, at least to me.
If he performs at the same level again in 2017, what will these scouts say come draft time?
My buddy Jeff Risdon, a keen observer and good scouting mind, had this to say:
We should run a book on this one. I'll take Allen going 99th overall but only if he raises his completion percentage above 56.
— Jeff Risdon (@JeffRisdon) July 17, 2017
Will be fun to watch, bit it is already getting thick.