Contrary to popular belief, even the best scouts in the business of football can be wrong. This job is not an exact science in any sense. Judging the talent of an athlete is only part of it. There’s also getting a sense of character, work ethic, and whether they can handle the responsibilities of the NFL. Chicago Bears scout Jeff Shiver learned these lessons the hard way.
In an interview with Dan Pompei of The Athletic, the 62-year old revealed how his life as a scout for the Bears began back in 1987. There were inevitable growing pains but over time he started to earn a reputation for excellent work. Over the first 12 years, he had a big hand in helping secure players like Todd Perry, Chris Villarrial, Jim Flanigan, and Rosevelt Colvin.
All highly productive players for the franchise. However, even the best scouts have their humbling moments. For Shiver, his arrived in the 2000 draft. There he suffered teh dual humiliation of questioning a future home run pick by his team, but also the realization he’d failed to push harder for another.
Chicago Bears scout Jeff Shiver laments his Brian Urlacher hesitation
Shiver learned a major lesson in that draft when he realized how badly he had misjudged Tom Brady. While he’d been right on the money giving the Michigan quarterback a 6th round grade, time showed he and the entire NFL had woefully misjudged the future six-time Super Bowl champion.
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To be fair though, a lot of people experienced that same sting. No, the bigger slice of humble pie came at the start of the draft.
Shiver is quicker to talk about his misses than his hits though. He keeps a copy of his report about Tom Brady from 2000 on his phone “to keep me humble.” Shiver had a sixth-round grade on Brady, and made the notation: “Bad body award.”
He also remembers thinking Hatley and scout John Paul Young had lost their minds for thinking they could draft a safety from New Mexico with the ninth pick in 2000 and convert him to an inside linebacker. Turned out Brian Urlacher wasn’t such a bad pick.
“I still laugh about it with John Paul and Brian to this day,” he said.
That’s right. Shiver thought the Bears were crazy for drafting a future first ballot Hall of Famer because he had yet to play middle linebackers. Urlacher had spent most of his career as a safety at New Mexico. He clearly got fixated on the position and not the player. The kid was a freak of nature with more than enough size to handle the switch.
Shiver fell into a trap that plenty of evaluators had before and have since.
