Bisciotti has a natural interest in anything personnel-related that involves recruiting people. It’s his greatest gift in the world, and he’s passionate about it. And it’s the one obvious parallel from his Aerotek business where he could add value with the Ravens – find the best people and you can be successful.
So for the Ravens, these trips are treated like a sales lead, a job interview, and a background check — all simultaneously.
Be the person who shows up an hour before anyone else gets there. Meet the secretary and anyone else near the place. Talk to people. Ask a lot of questions. Find out something personal about them. Find out what’s important to them. Send a ‘thank you’ note after the visit. Leave behind a small gift as a ‘thank you.’ Follow up and stay in touch. Continue to network.
These are all hallmarks of the “Bisciotti Way” of sales and growing a business. Any business.
Getting information that no one had in regard to Joe Flacco ultimately led to the team’s confidence in selecting him over the kid from Michigan.
It wasn’t a million dollar decision, picking Flacco. It was more like a $120 million decision, or what the Ravens would ultimately pay Flacco to remain a member of the Baltimore Ravens in March 2013 after he won Super Bowl XLVII. Add the value of five straight playoff berths and that victory in New Orleans and it’s almost priceless.
So, then, just how valuable are these reports and this information if you’re in the business of picking football players?
The Ravens already have a massive market advantage simply because their group has been together so long as a staff. They speak the same language. They have institutional knowledge that no other team can rely on because the system has been in place so long in Baltimore.
Many other NFL teams rely on Blesto reports, a pooled scouting service that virtually everyone uses for key information and measureables. But those reports are only as good as the scout writing it, and in Baltimore, Bisciotti wants to know his staff has “touched” these potential draftees.
The Cincinnati Bengals didn’t even have a scouting staff until this century when Marvin Lewis entered the world of the Brown family. Meanwhile, the Green Bay Packers rival the Ravens for the largest scouting staff in the league.
The Ravens spend more money on scouting than any team in the NFL. It’s a major point of pride and given the track record of making the playoffs, it’s clearly money well spent.
The Ravens scouting staff has made adjustments over the years. Technology and iPads have given scouts ample opportunity to watch players from college, anytime, anywhere. The infamous “box drill” that was profiled in “Purple Reign: Diary of Raven Maniac” and discussed by Savage, DeCosta, and Kokinis at length a decade ago has been jettisoned. It measured small space speed, strength and agility.
“It was a waste of time,” DeCosta said. “We’d rather spend time talking to a guy, getting to know him.”
Besides, every physical measureable is already on a sheet of paper from the combine, Pro Day and every time he runs a 40-yard dash.
And once the scouting is done in March, the Ravens put their board together with a variety of colors, notes and keys.
A black dot is a character issue, a serious issue that could move a player to the “leper board,” making him undraftable for the Ravens. An “S” indicates speed deficient. A “Z” is too small. An “X” is an injury question. A “D” is a developmental player. A “U” is an underachiever. A “C” is a character issue not serious enough to warrant a black dot.
The strange scouting numerical system finds players anywhere from a 5.0 – considered a reject – to 8.0, which is considered flawless. The Ravens try hard to draft players that are 6.0 or higher.
And sometimes everyone they have on their board at 6.0 or higher is gone by the 7th round. In 2002, they selected defensive back Chad Williams, who was a sub 6.0 player, in the 6th round with pick No. 209, and he played six years in the league.
Meanwhile, there’s a long list of first round NFL draft picks led by Tim Couch, Ryan Leaf, Akili Smith and JaMarcus Russell, all drafted in the Top 3, who couldn’t play a lick.
