It Was Wirth the Wait

September 22nd, 2015, a day that commemorated my first face-face conversation with NFL agent/scout Jack Wirth -- a professional football scout and agent who attended four Super Bowls, twenty seven scouting combines, and had 238 clients in his 35 years of experience. Having lived in the same town as Wirth (Harvard, Illinois), my grandpa gave me the unique opportunity to hear him speak at the Harvard Diggins Library. I couldn't resist the offer. Wirth’s story grabbed my attention when he explained how he never gave up on his ultimate dream, scouting for an NFL organization.

Despite starting out as a construction worker, Wirth began to devote his time into scouting in his early thirties. His experience as a high school football player gave him the insight to write several evaluations of college football players and he sent letters to National Football League teams who were looking to hire scouts, in hopes of landing a full time position. 

Although teams told Wirth he did not have the superlative experience that was required for the job, he never gave into discouragement. During his thirty five year journey, Wirth attended four Super Bowls, twenty seven scouting combines, and had 238 clients who played in the National Football League, Canadian Football League, or the United States Football League.

When I told Wirth about my aspiration for a management position with an NFL organization, he explained how difficult and competitive the field was. Wirth was, however, intrigued by my most recent project: rebuilding every NFL team from scratch. I explained the analytics and strategic methods I used during this hefty process. After noting my interest in scouting and explaining how I categorize some players strength and weaknesses, Wirth and I exchanged emails and asked if I was interested in comparing and exchanging mock drafts in April.

The idea of predicting all 253 picks of the NFL Draft is a perplexing, yet interesting process. For thirty years, Wirth predicted every pick of the draft, via a draft board. Wirth analyzed player's attributes, strengths, and weaknesses prior to making his predictions. With an immense bundle of player cards (each including scouting combine statistics and physical information about the player), Wirth placed the player card on his draft board, based on his predictions.

Wirth’s hobby and draft techniques encouraged me to incorporate more description to future draft predictions. As the draft approached, Wirth and I analyzed each teams weakest position and identified the best available prospect. I am grateful to be given the opportunity to work with such a distinguished mentor.