Texans GM Nick Caserio names the hardest trait to scout for in the draft
Houston Texans director of college scouting James Liipfert does an excellent job of presenting his year-long work scouting college players to the decision-makers in the front office.
Liipfert has a new boss in general manager Nick Caserio, and as good as Liipfert is, there is one trait that is difficult for anyone to scout across all 32 teams in the NFL.
What type of work ethic will a prospect bring at the pro level?
“That’s one of the hardest things to ascertain because you don’t know how they’re going to respond to some of the other elements that come along with being a professional football player,” Caserio told Texans Radio play-by-play Marc Vandermeer and sideline reporter John Harris on April 20. “There’s a few more distractions. There’s some things that can kind of lead you astray. There’s more competition. No one is on scholarship. You go from being on a roster of 85 and 90. You get to keep 53 on your team and there are 12 on your practice squad. So, basically, you can work with 65 or 70 players. So, are you doing enough on a day to day basis to count for one of those spots? Do you deserve one of those spots? So, nobody is handed anything regardless of where you were drafted or where you were picked.”
Given that the Texans do not make their first selection until Round 3 at No. 67 overall, Houston will not necessarily have the best talent to choose from, which makes identifying work ethic pivotal.
“That’s kind of the most difficult thing, and you can’t measure it, and you don’t really know it until you actually see it and they actually get here,” said Caserio. “And that’s probably one of the more challenging things that you face because you can only rely on so much information. ‘Oh, he’s a great kid. He was great.’ Okay, well, that was in college. This is a totally different situation. How are they going to adapt? How are they going to adjust and do they actually embrace this as a profession, which is what it is?”
The Texans have had a dry spell in selecting players with staying power in the sixth and seventh rounds, the final two rounds of the draft. The last Texans player taken in that range who played out his rookie contract was defensive lineman Christian Covington, selected at No. 216 overall in Round 6 of the 2015 NFL draft.
