Although head coaches and general managers get the glory, scouts and player personnel directors are critical to the success of each CFL team. Creating depth by finding players through the scouting networks is the lifeblood of the CFL. And Ed Hervey and his Eskimos scouting staff are among the best at finding overlooked players.
Eskimos Scouting in the USA
At this time of year, CFL scouts are crisscrossing the USA looking for gems in the Indoor Football League, the Arena Football League, and a host of semi-pro leagues. Without the recommendations of scouts like Torey Hunter, Mitch Matuska, and Malvin Hunter to player personnel director Paul Jones, many players would not be evaluated at mini-camp by Jason Maas and general manager Ed Hervey.
Paul Jones and his Eskimos scouting team are more like NCAA recruiters. They act as both evaluators and salespeople, working to overcome players’ fears about a league that US-born players often know nothing about, in a foreign land thousands of miles away. The process starts with the connections and relationships that scouts have with coaches of prospects in their specific geographical area. Without these connections, the Eskimos would not have found Dexter McCoil nor Aaron Grymes nor Derel Walker.
Paul Jones is the only player personnel guru in the CFL who has been inducted into the Ourlads Scouts Hall of Fame. Jones found CFL stars like Milt Stegall, Elfrid Payton, Fred Stamps, Shannon Garrett, Jason Tucker and even Ed Hervey himself when he played for the Eskimos. More recently, Jones scouted current Eskimos Marcus Howard, John White, Deon Lacey and D’Anthony Batiste. One should not underestimate how connected Jones is throughout North America in the football world and his ability to recruit the next ones.
Mining for Rough Gems
It is Jones and his team’s role to get players from the regional scouting camps to the upcoming Eskimos mini-camp. Players like slot back Austin Winston (5′ 11″, 205 lb) and running back and receiver Derrick Stephens II (5′ 7″, 189 lb), a speedster from the Solano Chiefs tryout in California. Additionally, Hawaii’s Darryl McBride, Jr. (6’ 2” 224 lb) has a strong motor and could play either outside linebacker or defensive end. They also come en masse via coach recommendations to multiple CFL teams; for example, the Nebraska Danger released six players to various CFL camps, all with hopes and dreams of playing pro football.
Then there are the former NFLers, players like Jacoby Ford and Joe McKnight, arriving via the agent route. Not only Paul Jones, but also general manager Ed Hervey is heavily involved with this route. In fact, all player personnel final decisions on camp invitations and signings go through Hervey.
What Ed Hervey has realized is that the Edmonton Eskimos can offer three things to fringe NFL players and young pros. First, a place to play and showcase a player’s talent for future NFL opportunities. The fact that Eskimo players are now getting NFL opportunities makes the Eskimos even more attractive. It also doesn’t hurt the Eskimos were the team that Warren Moon played for before starring in the NFL. Even if that was some time ago, Moon is a Pro Football Hall of Famer. The story of Moon using the Eskimos to showcase his talent and move on to an NFL career is not lost on many of these players’ agents, even decades later.
Second, Edmonton offers state-of-the-art facilities and athletic services, which are the equal of many Division One NCAA programs. These unsurpassed facilities set the standard for the CFL, and include the weight room, the trainer’s room, the practice field – both outdoor (Clarke Stadium) and indoor (Field House), Commonwealth itself, and access to nearby U of A’s Glen Sather Sports Medicine Clinic. While other CFL teams over the last few years have been gaining ground in this area, it can’t be understated how much a professional atmosphere plays into attracting and retaining players.
Third is the demeanour of Ed Hervey and Paul Jones, and their relationship with the players. Hervey can come across as prickly, but to the majority of the Eskimo players he is a straight shooter who wants to win and is honest about player assessment. He treats his players like he would like to be treated, like men. For those that have delivered in the past for the Eskimos, Hervey is loyal providing a landing spot if their NFL opportunity doesn’t work out. In many ways, Hervey emulates the legendary Norm Kimball, the architect of the CFL’s greatest dynasty and the man who fostered a brotherhood and an openness throughout all levels of the organization known as “The Eskimo Way”.
Delivering Diamonds
Once recruited, recommended, and invited to minicamp, the next step is for the coaching staff, led by head coach Jason Maas, to evaluate and recommend players worthy of taking to main camp. While some believe that former head coach Chris Jones had more influence than Maas on main camp invitees, the truth is the process is exactly the same and the final decision remains with Hervey. Luckily, Hervey has a good track record of signing talent to compete at the main camp, including players like John White, Shakir Bell, James Franklin, Derel Walker, Dex McCoil, Deon Lacey, D’Anthony Batiste, Willie Jefferson, Aaron Grymes, John Ojo, and many more who were signed in the last three years under Hervey’s reign.
After Hervey has delivered the training camp roster to head coach Maas and his coaching staff, the weight of evaluation and decision making for the final 46-man roster belongs to Maas. Prior to last year’s training camp, the Esks signed both Skye Dawson and Eric Page. The latter had beaten out the former for the returner job of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2013 and it was expected that the same would happen in Edmonton in 2015. But instead, the reverse happened: Page was cut, while Dawson started the season as the primary returner before being traded for picks to Calgary. There are no guarantees, and every year unexpected players emerge in camp or shortly after it.
In the last three years Hervey and Edmonton Eskimos football operations staff have been one of the best in finding and delivering gems that have been overlooked. The Eskimos roster sits at maximum 85 players as we close in on minicamp and main training camp, showing that the Eskimos scouting network has delivered again in 2016.
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