bills scouts question

[nuklz2594]

how many scouts do the bills have? are there regional scouts? are they paid well? seems like they must live out of a suitcase?

[WotAGuy]

This is a year old but will give some insight…

 

https://www.buffalorumblings.com/2024/6/30/24161970/buffalo-bills-make-moves-to-scouting-staff-ahead-of-2024-season-blesto-national-in-house-cfb-draft

[PromoTheRobot]

I don't know what the Bills do in particular, but scouts are the grunts in the hierarchy. Long hours, low pay, endless travel.

[gjv]

If I were a GM, I would be banging the desk to hire the best group of scouts money could buy. A GM's career primarily hinges on the talent he brings to the team, either through the Draft or free agency. I would not be pinching pennies with this group.

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

Too many to count...

I believe this troop was founded by Ray Bentley.  The 'Darby the Dinosaur' Troop 247.

 

[GunnerBill]

53 minutes ago, gjv said:

If I were a GM, I would be banging the desk to hire the best group of scouts money could buy. A GM's career primarily hinges on the talent he brings to the team, either through the Draft or free agency. I would not be pinching pennies with this group.

 

The Bills have a very good scouting department - partly because Pegs is willing to spend on it. 

 

That is why we do so well comparatively on day 3 of the draft.... aka - The Scouts Day.

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

1 minute ago, GunnerBill said:

 

The Bills have a very good scouting department - partly because Pegs is willing to spend on it. 

 

That is why we do so well comparatively on day 3 of the draft.... aka - The Scouts Day.

When Ralph owned the team, he used to put ads in college football towns newspapers' want ads.  Example: "Free tickets to upcoming USC home games.  Please watch how this Simpson kid plays, and send the report to War Memorial Stadium, Buffalo N.Y."

[The Jokeman]

29 minutes ago, Ridgewaycynic2013 said:

When Ralph owned the team, he used to put ads in college football towns newspapers' want ads.  Example: "Free tickets to upcoming USC home games.  Please watch how this Simpson kid plays, and send the report to War Memorial Stadium, Buffalo N.Y."

He must have done the same to make us take Al Cowlings in 1970 vs Mike Reid. 🤮

[Buffalo716]

5 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

I don't know what the Bills do in particular, but scouts are the grunts in the hierarchy. Long hours, low pay, endless travel.

There are multiple levels of scouts 

 

A blesto scout would certainly be at the bottom of the hierarchy 

 

The national scout certainly not.. still long hours and lots of travel but lot better perks than a blesto scout

5 hours ago, nuklz2594 said:

how many scouts do the bills have? are there regional scouts? are they paid well? seems like they must live out of a suitcase?

They generally have around 7-10 scouts

 

Pay depends on what type of scout and yeah most are on the road all the time 

 

You have lowest level blesto scouts

 

Area scouts

 

A national scout or 2

 

And a director of college scouting

 

And that's not counting the pro scouts scouting potential NFL free agents and waiver wire guys

Edited 21 hours ago by Buffalo716

[Breakout Squad]

I hope they know the rules of the road!

[MikePJ76]

Generally teams include their entire scouting department in their yearly media guide.

 

here is last years media guide

https://static.www.nfl.com/league/apps/league-site/media-guides/2024/BUF.pdf

 

the bills for some reason do not put their regional or area scouts in their media guides.

 

they just release updated and changes to staff from time to time like this one.

 

https://www.buffalobills.com/news/bills-announce-six-changes-to-team-s-scouting-staff

[Buffalo716]

38 minutes ago, MikePJ76 said:

Generally teams include their entire scouting department in their yearly media guide.

 

here is last years media guide

https://static.www.nfl.com/league/apps/league-site/media-guides/2024/BUF.pdf

 

the bills for some reason do not put their regional or area scouts in their media guides.

 

they just release updated and changes to staff from time to time like this one.

 

https://www.buffalobills.com/news/bills-announce-six-changes-to-team-s-scouting-staff

They did for years until all the nitpicking of everything 

 

You see internet articles written about the low volume of the Cincinnati Bengals scouts.. and how they've been cheap on it for years.. and how they don't care etc 

 

As soon as fan started caring about how many scouts teams are carrying the bills took it off the page because they don't want people thinking they're being cheap with nine scouts in the college department

[MikePJ76]

1 hour ago, Buffalo716 said:

They did for years until all the nitpicking of everything 

 

You see internet articles written about the low volume of the Cincinnati Bengals scouts.. and how they've been cheap on it for years.. and how they don't care etc 

 

As soon as fan started caring about how many scouts teams are carrying the bills took it off the page because they don't want people thinking they're being cheap with nine scouts in the college department

Very odd reasoning.

 

i believe most teams have all of their front office and scouting department in their media guide and on the website.  The bills do not and it’s really odd to me.

 

 

[Buffalo716]

13 minutes ago, MikePJ76 said:

Very odd reasoning.

 

i believe most teams have all of their front office and scouting department in their media guide and on the website.  The bills do not and it’s really odd to me.

 

 

They did for a long time and they took it off  a couple years ago.. and I really feel like it was around the time where the bengals got blown up for only having four scouts

 

Maybe I'm reading too much between the lines but Bills fans would be the type of people to complain that they have nine collegiate scouts 

 

Again I'm spitballing but it used to always be available 

 

Right down to the lowest blesto scout

 

 

Edited 18 hours ago by Buffalo716

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

7 hours ago, Breakout Squad said:

I hope they know the rules of the road!

 

Eat light and drink heavy

 

That worked better 40 years ago when most expenses were all cash.

[Beck Water]

4 hours ago, Buffalo716 said:

They did for a long time and they took it off  a couple years ago.. and I really feel like it was around the time where the bengals got blown up for only having four scouts

 

Maybe I'm reading too much between the lines but Bills fans would be the type of people to complain that they have nine collegiate scouts 

 

Again I'm spitballing but it used to always be available 

 

Right down to the lowest blesto scout

 

The Bills took the names of a lot of their staff off their website a couple years ago.  You used to be able to find the names of the trainers, assistant trainers, team psychologist, chaplains, S&C staff, and then all the FO people not just scouts but maintenance etc.

 

They took all that off.

[machine gun kelly]

15 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

 

The Bills have a very good scouting department - partly because Pegs is willing to spend on it. 

 

That is why we do so well comparatively on day 3 of the draft.... aka - The Scouts Day.

GB, as usual written well as Terry puts his wallet into his team and Beane must have made the case that we will be a top flight team if the later rounds of the draft are hits like Milano (I know the year before Beane arrives), Benford, Dane is productive, and others.

 

As far as their compensation, my understanding is they make a reasonable wage, but as most in the front office, they start as scouts  so they are not breaking the bank.  It’s actually a pretty tough job, but these guys from what I understand love football, and want the next job.

 

To the OP, it was a good question and interesting you're inquiry.  I’m glad you’re here.

 

 

 

Edited 8 hours ago by machine gun kelly

[DJB]

16 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

 

The Bills have a very good scouting department - partly because Pegs is willing to spend on it. 

 

That is why we do so well comparatively on day 3 of the draft.... aka - The Scouts Day.

Then why do we struggle in round 2? And have mostly hit safer players in round 1? 

[Mr. WEO]

does a higher salary make one a better scout?

[BobbyC81]

15 hours ago, Buffalo716 said:

There are multiple levels of scouts 

 

A blesto scout would certainly be at the bottom of the hierarchy 

 

The national scout certainly not.. still long hours and lots of travel but lot better perks than a blesto scout

They generally have around 7-10 scouts

 

Pay depends on what type of scout and yeah most are on the road all the time 

 

You have lowest level blesto scouts

 

Area scouts

 

A national scout or 2

 

And a director of college scouting

 

And that's not counting the pro scouts scouting potential NFL free agents and waiver wire guys

Wasn’t it for the Sabres that the scouting staff was reduced and relied more on film?