Freethinker, I realize a lot of these pre-season articles are merely fluff, mostly put out by "
super fans", with limited or zero real access to teams. SI.com, USA Today's affiliated
Wire, Bleacher Report, SBNation and even NFL.com have pretty much all gone on the "cheap" and are outright exploiting "
super fans" who fantasize about becoming sports writer *****
For real news, you really have to rely on local, bigger city beat-writers and other opinions from true "insiders", which are not easy get, as most of these publications are subscription only. But here's a decent free
article related to Connor O'Toole
Biggest takeaway from it isn't exactly the writers words, but him putting forth O'Toole's R.A.S. score:
The team signed him last offseason as an undrafted free agent. One might surmise that measurables would be an issue for someone with lower prospect pedigree, but that isn't true of O’Toole. His overall athletic testing ranked in the 94th percentile at his position, and every one of his speed, agility and explosiveness tests graded 84th percentile or better. He’s not the biggest at 246 pounds, but his 6’3 ⅜” frame suggests the Seahawks would’ve been able to add a bit more weight on over his first year in their organization.
So, reality is, O'Toole R.A.S. came out in the top 5th (or so) percentile of players at his position over a span of almost 40 years?
Sounds like the Hawks got themselves a 2nd to 3rd round caliber athlete on the cheap, undrafted free agent? However, for the foreseeable future O'Toole will have to deal with the "
scarlet letter" of being undrafted. Hence, year after year, DWF's will demand a "upgrade". You know a real athlete, named Leshondon or D'Anthony or mixed-breed named Keegan!
Also, I suppose your typical DWF would say O'Toole's R.A.S. is meaningless, because he did not post those numbers at the Combine? That's how the Caste system works, ignore these players when it comes to All-Star games and the Combine, therefore their superior Pro Day showing can be ignored?
**** I know Reddit is basically garbage, but here's a
decent discussion how these sites work. The quote below is the most informative in the discussion thread. Only thing, is I doubt they are allowed in "press boxes". My guess is they "cover" games the same as we do -- in front of TV's!
I’d guess this is something like SB Nation, or Bleacher Report, or Heavy, or Sports Illustrated or a similar outfit? They pay so little because there is an endless line of J-school graduates and other people who want to be sportswriters and sit in the press box and cover games and interview players in the locker room and do all that stuff that seems so cool from the outside but is really just work.
Hell, there are probably people who say they would do it for free, but for legal reasons they have to pay you something. So you get $20 for six hours’ worth of work, plus you pay all your own expenses. You’re being exploited. You have to assume that there isn’t going to be a “big break” that gets you moved up to the big time. You’ll get burned out and quit and they will find someone else who wants to be a sportswriter, and they’ll start that person at $15 an article and the cycle of life will continue. Sports, entertainment, gaming, fashion — there’s a glut of content about this stuff on the internet, and the pay reflects it.
