You want the truth? You can’t handle to the truth…
One of Chris Ballard’s first things he did after becoming the G.M. in Indianapolis was to hire Brian Decker, a former Green Beret who helps the team interview draft prospects.
Via ESPN:
“[H]is unique interviewing techniques help us strip away the agent-speak and happy talk that surround so many players in the draft process,” Ballard writes.
Careful not to reveal “any trade secrets,” Ballard explains the five general questions that Decker tries to answer:
(1) whether the player has a favorable developmental profile;
(2) whether he has a profile that supports handling pressure and adversity;
(3) whether he has a good learning and decision-making capacity;
(4) whether he is a character risk, and, if so, whether the team can do anything to support him; and
(5) whether he’s a fit.
“I can’t sit here and say I knew exactly what his role was going to be, but I did have a strong conviction that Decker would really help us get to the core of a player’s football character, which in turn would help us in our hit rate in the draft,” Ballard writes. “His role has really grown in two years and has become a valuable resource to our coaches, scouts, and players.”
Lots of money at stake, and a GM can only keep his job if he wins.
Sometimes out of the box thinking is what separates the good ones from the great ones.
Nice hire.
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