The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
» Coronavirus complicates scouting college players,
Dimitroff waiting to see what rules league puts in place.
The Falcons are preparing to scout college games if any are played this season, and the NFL lifts the ban on campus visits during the coronavirus pandemic.
“I believe it’s going to be complicated,” Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff said on SiriusXM NFL Radio on Monday. “I believe it’s going to take more and more video, of course. We’re going to have to really dig in.”
The NFL banned campus visits in March just as the predraft period and most college pro days were set to kickoff. The NFL’s 2020 draft was held virtually.
The Falcons are ready to continue using technology but are hopeful to do some in-person scouting.
“We are going to have to spend our virtual interviews with these people, of course where appropriate,” Dimitroff said. “It’s going to really force our scouting staff and our personnel staff to work creatively with how they gather their information.
“We’re in the process right now of trying to decide if the league in fact does continue to mandate against visits to these schools, even if some schools do open, which is where it is right now. We are trying to come up with the proper scheduling of sending our scouts to games.”
The SEC, ACC and Big 12 are still trying to play games, while the Big Ten and Pac12 have postponed football for this year.
“We are trying to decide on how we are logistically going to manage that,” Dimitroff said. “That in and of itself is going to be complicated, but again we have to come up with our best-case scenario and get creative with it where we are going to get our information.”
Teams will face a challenge when trying to find players from conferences that are not playing.
“Those falling-under-the-cracks sort of players, I’m going to be pressing our area scouts, ‘You be an expert in your area,’” Dimitroff said. “That is imperative that our area scouts know their area through and through. Quite honestly, our feeling is, they should know that player prior to this season anyway.
“But yes, some of them jump (out) as the season goes on, I get it. But if they are truly dialed into their teams and their area, they should have an inkling of who the players may be. Then they can try to focus on them in a different way. That said, it will be very complicated.”