May 8, 2025 • 17 mins
On this episode of the Giants Huddle podcast, John Schmeelk is joined by Giants National Scout, Marcus Cooper, to talk about scouting Jaxson Dart and Cam Skattebo. John also speaks to Jeremy Breit, the longtime Giants National Scout whose focus was on Abdul Carter.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's time to get inside the Giants. Let's Giants, the
Giants Bubbling, give me some job part of the Giants
Podcast Networks Roll. Welcome to another edition of the Giants
Little Podcast, brought to you by citizens Official Bank of
the Giants. I am John Schmulck. Thanks so much for
being with us today. Everybody, a fun episode today, something
we haven't done before here in the Hack and Sack
(00:21):
Marine Health podcast studio. Keep getting better. On Saturday of
the draft, Joe Shane was kind enough to allow us
to talk to the two scouts that scouted the Giants
two first round picks this year, to their national scouts,
Marcus Cooper and Jeremy Bright. Marcus Cooper did a lot
of work on Jackson Dart we also got a bonus,
but he also scouted cam Scataboo, and then Jeremy Bright
(00:45):
had a chance to do a lot of work on
Abduall Carter and I thought it would be fun to
kind of get an inside look at the scouting process
on these two players, what the scouts saw on them
that are that have attracted them to the Giants, And
it was just really fun talking to the guys that
are in the trenches doing a lot of this work
and how they see players and how they looked at
these two players that the Giants thought were worth first
(01:05):
round selection. So I had a lot of fun doing
these interviews. I hope you get to do them again
in the future. I think there's a lot of good
information in here. I think you'll learn a lot. So
let's get right to it. Our first interview is with
Giants National scout Marcus Cooper. All right, and now we're
joined by Giants National scout Marcus Cooper. Marcus, how are you?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
I'm doing well? How you doing?
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Marcus? You had eyes on two of the players the
Giants drafted early in this draft, both Jackson Dark and
Cam Scatta.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
I want to start with Jackson Dark.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Scouting quarterbacks is different than any other position, right, what's
the first thing you look for as a scout when
you put eyes on a quarterback?
Speaker 2 (01:37):
You know what? I think we all initially we go
in and we kind of look at the physical attributes
of the kid, of course, orangetrant, accuracy, footwork, all the
mechanics that go into the position. But on a deeper level,
we start getting to the intangible thing, like is he
a leader? What's the care to you know, what's the
(01:59):
make of Is he a great locker room guy? Can
he command a huddle? Can he take care of his teammates?
All those things come into play.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
All right, So let's put those things on the Jackson Dart.
When you went in and for the first put eyes
on him for the first time, and did your work,
what did you learn about Jackson Dart in the aspects
you just talked about.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
So, believe it or not, the process started USC probably
right now, you know what. So I never saw him
at USC. It started last spring, Okay, So when I
met the kid, I went to the pro day looking
at the prospects for the twenty twenty four draft. So
I met him. He was out there supporting his teammates.
That was already my first checkpoint with the kids. So
(02:39):
we actually probably spent maybe thirty to forty minutes, wow,
just watching his teammates and just talking nothing really about football,
just more about hey, where are you from? Give me
your story? Kind of talked me through the journey of
SC to old miss, how things are going, What are
some things that you want to move on going through
(03:01):
the spring of twenty twenty five. So all those things
hit like checkpoints for me to meet the kid. So
that was kind of my first touch point with the guy.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
That's very cool.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
So you talked about the physical traits, that's the first
thing you look for for quarterback. It's important, but there's
so many other aspects to the position for.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
How you play it.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
How do you then balance the physical traits of the
quarterback versus the mental stuff, which obviously might some always
be more important in terms of how you play that position.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
You know what I think when you, of course you
look at the physical and then you start we do.
Of course all of us all go to a game
and go see him, and I take all that in consideration, like, hey,
what's the interaction on the sideline, how he's controlling what
he's asked to do, And a lot of that correlates
with my relationship with the coaches they're at ole Miss
(03:49):
and being able to talk to them and figure out
what he was asked to do along with what is
being applied on the field. So I went through that
whole process kind of just dug deep into the kid,
the makeup of what he was asked to do on
the on the field and off the field, And I
(04:09):
think that helped me.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Yeah, And I think that was where I was going
to go next, right cause I think just from watching
the tape it's hard to see how it could process
this right, you don't know what the coach is telling
him to do in terms of decision making, So how
and how do you use your connections with these coaches?
And almost had guys with a lot of pro experience
doing that staff right to get that information that you
can't just see from the tape.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
In watching the games.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
I think I think you try to figure out exactly
what they're doing and what he's asked to do. Hey,
like what is his progression?
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Here?
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Are they doing a lot more RPO? What is he
asked to do? Is he kind of throwing on a
time in or is it more option routes? So I
think I got all that information and then once I
get that foundation, now I can go back to like
what are my physical attributes that I need to see
for the position? So now I'm like, Okay, did I
see enough athleticism? Did I see enough accuracy? Did I
(05:05):
see enough armstrengt along with the competitives like when he
rolls out the pocket and now he's working off script
now can he make plays when things are not so
clean or not so pretty? So you kind of take
you take in consideration what they told you. But then
now you come back and you kind of look at
it from the lives of all, right, is he a
(05:27):
football player?
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Like?
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Now, what is he doing? Whatever? I need to see
as as just as a per football.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Player, and for Jackson, I got to imagine there probably
wasn't much question with that part of it. Right the
way he runs, I mean, the guy does not want
to run out of bounds. He just runs over people
like a linebacker. How did that play into your guy's evaluation?
For you and as a group, that made you think
he could work as the NFL quarterback. That competitiveness that
he has, you.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Know what, I thought. You see that on tape, You're like, hey,
this kid is very competitive. You know, he will that
team to some wins. He got ole miss in a
position where they can compete for a playoff spot. So
I saw all the competitiveness that I needed to see
along with my multiple interactions with the kid. So yeah,
(06:17):
are there still things that he needed to develop? Absolutely,
But at the same time, I felt enough competitive, I
felt enough leadership. I felt enough internal grit within the
kid where like, hey, he can withstand the development that's
needed for him to take that next step.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
And final question on dark before we get a couple
on Skataboo.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Then you guys hand the player off to the coaches here, right,
You have a head coach like Brian Dable who is
a quarterbacks guy. You have Mike Kafka, former NFL quarterback,
you have Shadier and your a great quarterbacks coach. How
do you work with them so that they can get
the most out of their interactions with the players at
the private workouts, at the thirty visiting things like that.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
You know, when you taught to coach, you kind of
give them the found out, the foundational pieces of what
I know about the kid, and then they kind of
overtake it and kind of just start putting their touches
on the guy, like, hey, all right this, we're gonna
go there and we're gonna work with him and work
him out and kind of see how he operates within
our system. Now take him out of his system, Like
(07:15):
there's foundational pieces that he worked out that he learned
from old miss, But now let's incorporate a little bit
of what maybe what they do and what we do,
and then kind of see does it correlate, and then
you know, see if we can kind of work it
that way.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
And in the end he checked all those bosses.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Huh, Yeah, the kid did. The kid did a really
good job. In the spring. I ended up, like I said,
I met him the spring before, saw him in the
fall when I went back, saw him at the Senior Bowl,
and then of course we saw him again this past
spring at his pro day. So every time I met
the kid, great guy. You felt leadership from the kid.
(07:56):
You know, he talked with confidence. I thought he was
well prepared in everything they showed up this screen, whether
it was at the Senior rol throwing, at the combine
and at this pro day.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
All right, let's go to cam. Just so much fun
to watch.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
I think that's the first thing to the scout, right,
is scatable. Scatabu one of those guys that just jumps
out at you when you when you watch Tapan.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Was that kind of like the driving force there for him.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
I think for Scatabu, man, he was, you know, scatable.
At the end of the day, like we all we
all look for all these traits, right, like, oh, it's
a fast is explosive?
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (08:30):
But I think the football intangible with him, like the toughness,
the grit, the desire. I think at the end of
the day, this is as still a physical sport and
this kid runs with a lot of physicality and a
demeanor that I feel like you want your culture to
be built on. So he he runs with violence. You know,
(08:55):
he plays the game the right the right way in
my opinion, and I appreciate that about him.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
And then final question of him, the one I guess knock,
I guess I'll put it is his time forty speed, right, maybe,
but not the best long speed. How important is that
really though for a running back, right, because they don't
get in the open field much running in a straight line.
Isn't I think the second most broken tackles this year
after Jenti?
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Right, isn't that.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Short area breaking tackles stuff a little bit more important
than the long speed in a lot of ways? Oh?
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Absolutely, I think if you look at your history, if
you go at the history at the running back position,
there's a lot of four to six guys that made
it at that position. Sure, I think it's a lot
more of balance, feet, contact, balance, the ability to break tackles.
I think that all comes into play. So I think, yeah,
we all you know, it gets appealing when you see
(09:43):
like a guy that breaks an eighty or run. But
what about that duo run inside where you needed him?
It was blocked up and he still was able to
get six yards.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
That a third and three. It's bocked up for one,
but he gets four it right.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
He gets for it right, And so I think that's
still complementary football where you're like, hey, we're still moving
the chains.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Coope always a pleasure, my man. It was great talking
to you, and it was so much fun to learn
more about these guys with you.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
No, no, no, no, I appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Guys, Marcus Cooper, Giants, National Scap, huddle up, get in here.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
If you're lined up here, you gotta go over the
middle with at the score great?
Speaker 2 (10:15):
How do we make that happen?
Speaker 4 (10:17):
I don't know, Bud. Citizens does make sense of your
money with Citizens Official Bank of Eli Manning. If you
want to know how to manage two minutes of crunch
time football, I'm your man. But if you're wondering about
a long term financial plan, you should talk to Citizens.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Hey, I can also talk long care.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
I'd like to learn about amillion routine.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
Yes, I knew I could help make sense of your
money with Citizens.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
The Giants Total podcast is brought to you by Citizens,
the official bank of the Giants. From game day celebrations
to your everyday financial needs, Big Blue fans can get
the most out of every moment with Citizens. Learn more
at Citizens bank dot com slash Giants. That's Marcus Cooper.
Really good stuff out of him, and again really interesting.
I could have talked to him for out ten minutes
if I needed to, but the Giants had some work
(11:00):
to do, so we move on next to Jeremy Bright,
one of the Giants longtime national scouts. Jeremy's been here
a very long time and he had a chance to
do a lot of work on Abdull Carter, the third
overall pick in the twenty twenty five NFL draft. And
now we're joined by a Giants national scout, Jeremy Bright.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Jeremy, how are you man?
Speaker 5 (11:16):
Great? So have a fun time during draft?
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Absolutely, thank you for giving us a couple of minutes.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Then you guys are busy.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
You had eyes on Abdual Carter during this draft process
for the giants. What are the and it's a team process.
A lot of scouts put their eyes on these guys
in crosscheck. So when you first got your eyes on
Abdual Carter on tape, what are the things that kind
of jumped out?
Speaker 5 (11:33):
I mean it's easy when you watch the film with him,
you know, the explosiveness, the power, the speed, the competitiveness,
it all jumps out. And a guy that can just
be special at wherever he's on the field, he jumps
off the tape.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Now, he switched positions right the first year he was
an off ball linebacker, then he went to edge. So
when you're looking at him and you kind of saw
him as an off ball guy and then he changes positions,
how is a scout do you adjust your eyes and
what different things do you look or when he's moving
from an off ball spot to an edge of defender.
Speaker 5 (12:02):
Yeah, so when he when he's inside, now you see
the instincts you see, you see the strength, you see
the you know the way he goes after the ball.
And then when he comes when he went to the
edge this year, he showed off everything that he has.
All you know that that explosive of off the edge,
it's the top in the draft. To me, it's the
top of any draft. You know, he's a He's a
top player in any draft that you look at. The
(12:25):
guy can win one on ones and that's what you
look for coming off the edge of the bend, the dip,
the explosiveness. He can do it all.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
And you have different types of edge players, right, you
have the two seventy to eighty bigger guys. He's more
of the upfield two hundred and fifty pounds smaller guy.
What are some of the traits you have to have
if you're a smaller edge at that size that you
need to succeed because you don't have that, you know,
bigger frame in the bulk than maybe some of the
bigger guys.
Speaker 5 (12:51):
Right, I think you can do it all. I think
he can set the edge as well. But just the
way he uses his hands, when he uses his naturally
his leverage, and then it's just the speed off the edge.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (13:00):
You know, there's a lot of times you see the
tackles not touching them and the guys that can win
one on one without getting touch is pretty special. And
he's he's one of the top special ones that I've seen.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
What did you learn about him as a as an
edge and maybe he's an off ball guy. Then maybe
you wouldn't have known if you hadn't seen him play
both positions.
Speaker 5 (13:18):
Yeah, you see the speed and the range when he's
playing inside, and you can see him just chasing when
he's chasing inside, and and then you see it and
then you watch him on the edge. You watch the
competitiveness of him chasing down on the backside, uh, when
he's on when he's on the outside. So there's a
lot of good things that he does. There's not too
many weaknesses in his game, and that's why we love
(13:38):
him and that's why we're excited to have him.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
So when I was watching and I'm taking my notes
and I got through probably about six or seven different
pass rush moves, it was like, all right, speed, speed,
the power, the swite move, he has the dipping rip.
Then he has a little ghost move like von Miller
used to do, And I'm like, how is this guy
only a one year edge player? Was it amazing to
use a scout to see how advanced his pass rush
repertoire war was given it was his first year to
doing it full time.
Speaker 5 (14:00):
Yeah, they did a great job. With him his coaches,
you know, it's you see everything that you want to
in a in an outside backer, and just all the moves.
I mean, you see, like you said, to speed, the power,
and and he uses his hands really well. And again
it's just that natural explosiveness that you can't teach.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
And then he played with a pretty serious shoulder injury
in that college football playoff game against Notre Dame and
not only did you played through it, he played really well.
When you're a scout and you see that, what does
that tell you about a play?
Speaker 5 (14:29):
Just the competitiveness and the kid that he wanted to
play for his team. He wanted to play for his teammates,
and that's what you want. You got to set an
identity and you know he's the top player on the
team and he's going out there putting it all on
the line. That's you know, that's that's what That's what
wins games.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
How much upside does he still have? Only because he's
a younger guy, right, he's only played one year on
the edge. You know, as a scout, you're not just
protecting all right, this is what the player is now.
You're trying to project what he can be, right, how
much more does he.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Have to grow?
Speaker 5 (14:57):
Yeah, I mean they all need to grow. He's he's
at the top of the list of gods that doesn't
need as much. But he he'll he'll definitely learn from
the from the coaching here. He's gonna be playing against
better tackles throughout the league UH that he's played at
week in and week out, and he's he's gonna learn
how to set up more of his moves against top tackles.
(15:19):
And again, having the guys that we have UH to
compliment him is gonna be It's gonna be an amazing
to watch.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
Last two fitting in the system.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
How much is a scout do you talk to, you know,
Charlie Bowen, talk to Shane Bowen about how he works
and what you should be looking for for a player
that plays that spot in the Giants defense.
Speaker 5 (15:39):
Our coaches do a great job of telling us what
they need, what they're looking for. It makes our job
a lot easier going out on the road to to
fit what they want into the defense. We work as
one group, one team, and you know, try to try
to get the best that we can.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
And finally, I interacted with him for literally like forty
five seconds yes, today as he walked around, but he
seems to have a real seriousness to him and an
edge to him. Kind of want that out of a
defensive player, right, a guy that has that kind of
intensity about him all the time.
Speaker 5 (16:11):
Absolutely, I think he sets he's going to add to
our identity on defense of just relentless and getting after
the passer. And you see what we've added on top
of that, and you look at our depth on the
D line and the outside backers and it gets you excited.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Yes, it does. Jeremy good stuff, man. I appreciate Jeremy
Bright Giants National Scout. Just great stuff from Jeremy there
and Marcus. We thank him so much for giving us
the time on a very busy weekend. And we thank
Joe Shane and the Giants front office for give us
permission to talk to those guys and really get some
insight on the scouting process from those two scouts. It
was a lot of fun. I hope you guys enjoyed
it as much as I did. Hope you learned a
little bit. Thanks for being with us in the Giants
(16:49):
Little podcast brought to you by Citizen's Official Bank at
the Giants Well plenty more coming your way as we
continue through this Giants offseason program. Ota is coming up
but a couple of weeks of midatory mini camp. We
also a very exclusive episode coming up on the audio
feed of the Giants Hotle podcast on Friday, so make
sure you check that out. That's tomorrow a little thing
(17:09):
from the Giants head coach and general manager, so make
sure you check that out coming your way as well
from the Hackensack and Mariney Health podcast udio. Keep getting Better.
I am John Smelk. Thanks for joining us on the
Giants Hotle Podcast, brought to you by Citizens, the official
bank of the Giants. We'll see you next time.
It's time to get inside the Giants. Let's Giants, the
Giants Bubbling, give me some job part of the Giants
Podcast Networks Roll. Welcome to another edition of the Giants
Little Podcast, brought to you by citizens Official Bank of
the Giants. I am John Schmulck. Thanks so much for
being with us today. Everybody, a fun episode today, something
we haven't done before here in the Hack and Sack
(00:21):
Marine Health podcast studio. Keep getting better. On Saturday of
the draft, Joe Shane was kind enough to allow us
to talk to the two scouts that scouted the Giants
two first round picks this year, to their national scouts,
Marcus Cooper and Jeremy Bright. Marcus Cooper did a lot
of work on Jackson Dart we also got a bonus,
but he also scouted cam Scataboo, and then Jeremy Bright
(00:45):
had a chance to do a lot of work on
Abduall Carter and I thought it would be fun to
kind of get an inside look at the scouting process
on these two players, what the scouts saw on them
that are that have attracted them to the Giants, And
it was just really fun talking to the guys that
are in the trenches doing a lot of this work
and how they see players and how they looked at
these two players that the Giants thought were worth first
(01:05):
round selection. So I had a lot of fun doing
these interviews. I hope you get to do them again
in the future. I think there's a lot of good
information in here. I think you'll learn a lot. So
let's get right to it. Our first interview is with
Giants National scout Marcus Cooper. All right, and now we're
joined by Giants National scout Marcus Cooper. Marcus, how are you?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
I'm doing well? How you doing?
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Marcus? You had eyes on two of the players the
Giants drafted early in this draft, both Jackson Dark and
Cam Scatta.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
I want to start with Jackson Dark.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Scouting quarterbacks is different than any other position, right, what's
the first thing you look for as a scout when
you put eyes on a quarterback?
Speaker 2 (01:37):
You know what? I think we all initially we go
in and we kind of look at the physical attributes
of the kid, of course, orangetrant, accuracy, footwork, all the
mechanics that go into the position. But on a deeper level,
we start getting to the intangible thing, like is he
a leader? What's the care to you know, what's the
(01:59):
make of Is he a great locker room guy? Can
he command a huddle? Can he take care of his teammates?
All those things come into play.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
All right, So let's put those things on the Jackson Dart.
When you went in and for the first put eyes
on him for the first time, and did your work,
what did you learn about Jackson Dart in the aspects
you just talked about.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
So, believe it or not, the process started USC probably
right now, you know what. So I never saw him
at USC. It started last spring, Okay, So when I
met the kid, I went to the pro day looking
at the prospects for the twenty twenty four draft. So
I met him. He was out there supporting his teammates.
That was already my first checkpoint with the kids. So
(02:39):
we actually probably spent maybe thirty to forty minutes, wow,
just watching his teammates and just talking nothing really about football,
just more about hey, where are you from? Give me
your story? Kind of talked me through the journey of
SC to old miss, how things are going, What are
some things that you want to move on going through
(03:01):
the spring of twenty twenty five. So all those things
hit like checkpoints for me to meet the kid. So
that was kind of my first touch point with the guy.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
That's very cool.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
So you talked about the physical traits, that's the first
thing you look for for quarterback. It's important, but there's
so many other aspects to the position for.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
How you play it.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
How do you then balance the physical traits of the
quarterback versus the mental stuff, which obviously might some always
be more important in terms of how you play that position.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
You know what I think when you, of course you
look at the physical and then you start we do.
Of course all of us all go to a game
and go see him, and I take all that in consideration, like, hey,
what's the interaction on the sideline, how he's controlling what
he's asked to do, And a lot of that correlates
with my relationship with the coaches they're at ole Miss
(03:49):
and being able to talk to them and figure out
what he was asked to do along with what is
being applied on the field. So I went through that
whole process kind of just dug deep into the kid,
the makeup of what he was asked to do on
the on the field and off the field, And I
(04:09):
think that helped me.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Yeah, And I think that was where I was going
to go next, right cause I think just from watching
the tape it's hard to see how it could process
this right, you don't know what the coach is telling
him to do in terms of decision making, So how
and how do you use your connections with these coaches?
And almost had guys with a lot of pro experience
doing that staff right to get that information that you
can't just see from the tape.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
In watching the games.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
I think I think you try to figure out exactly
what they're doing and what he's asked to do. Hey,
like what is his progression?
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Here?
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Are they doing a lot more RPO? What is he
asked to do? Is he kind of throwing on a
time in or is it more option routes? So I
think I got all that information and then once I
get that foundation, now I can go back to like
what are my physical attributes that I need to see
for the position? So now I'm like, Okay, did I
see enough athleticism? Did I see enough accuracy? Did I
(05:05):
see enough armstrengt along with the competitives like when he
rolls out the pocket and now he's working off script
now can he make plays when things are not so
clean or not so pretty? So you kind of take
you take in consideration what they told you. But then
now you come back and you kind of look at
it from the lives of all, right, is he a
(05:27):
football player?
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Like?
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Now, what is he doing? Whatever? I need to see
as as just as a per football.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Player, and for Jackson, I got to imagine there probably
wasn't much question with that part of it. Right the
way he runs, I mean, the guy does not want
to run out of bounds. He just runs over people
like a linebacker. How did that play into your guy's evaluation?
For you and as a group, that made you think
he could work as the NFL quarterback. That competitiveness that
he has, you.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Know what, I thought. You see that on tape, You're like, hey,
this kid is very competitive. You know, he will that
team to some wins. He got ole miss in a
position where they can compete for a playoff spot. So
I saw all the competitiveness that I needed to see
along with my multiple interactions with the kid. So yeah,
(06:17):
are there still things that he needed to develop? Absolutely,
But at the same time, I felt enough competitive, I
felt enough leadership. I felt enough internal grit within the
kid where like, hey, he can withstand the development that's
needed for him to take that next step.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
And final question on dark before we get a couple
on Skataboo.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Then you guys hand the player off to the coaches here, right,
You have a head coach like Brian Dable who is
a quarterbacks guy. You have Mike Kafka, former NFL quarterback,
you have Shadier and your a great quarterbacks coach. How
do you work with them so that they can get
the most out of their interactions with the players at
the private workouts, at the thirty visiting things like that.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
You know, when you taught to coach, you kind of
give them the found out, the foundational pieces of what
I know about the kid, and then they kind of
overtake it and kind of just start putting their touches
on the guy, like, hey, all right this, we're gonna
go there and we're gonna work with him and work
him out and kind of see how he operates within
our system. Now take him out of his system, Like
(07:15):
there's foundational pieces that he worked out that he learned
from old miss, But now let's incorporate a little bit
of what maybe what they do and what we do,
and then kind of see does it correlate, and then
you know, see if we can kind of work it
that way.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
And in the end he checked all those bosses.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Huh, Yeah, the kid did. The kid did a really
good job. In the spring. I ended up, like I said,
I met him the spring before, saw him in the
fall when I went back, saw him at the Senior Bowl,
and then of course we saw him again this past
spring at his pro day. So every time I met
the kid, great guy. You felt leadership from the kid.
(07:56):
You know, he talked with confidence. I thought he was
well prepared in everything they showed up this screen, whether
it was at the Senior rol throwing, at the combine
and at this pro day.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
All right, let's go to cam. Just so much fun
to watch.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
I think that's the first thing to the scout, right,
is scatable. Scatabu one of those guys that just jumps
out at you when you when you watch Tapan.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Was that kind of like the driving force there for him.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
I think for Scatabu, man, he was, you know, scatable.
At the end of the day, like we all we
all look for all these traits, right, like, oh, it's
a fast is explosive?
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (08:30):
But I think the football intangible with him, like the toughness,
the grit, the desire. I think at the end of
the day, this is as still a physical sport and
this kid runs with a lot of physicality and a
demeanor that I feel like you want your culture to
be built on. So he he runs with violence. You know,
(08:55):
he plays the game the right the right way in
my opinion, and I appreciate that about him.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
And then final question of him, the one I guess knock,
I guess I'll put it is his time forty speed, right, maybe,
but not the best long speed. How important is that
really though for a running back, right, because they don't
get in the open field much running in a straight line.
Isn't I think the second most broken tackles this year
after Jenti?
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Right, isn't that.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Short area breaking tackles stuff a little bit more important
than the long speed in a lot of ways? Oh?
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Absolutely, I think if you look at your history, if
you go at the history at the running back position,
there's a lot of four to six guys that made
it at that position. Sure, I think it's a lot
more of balance, feet, contact, balance, the ability to break tackles.
I think that all comes into play. So I think, yeah,
we all you know, it gets appealing when you see
(09:43):
like a guy that breaks an eighty or run. But
what about that duo run inside where you needed him?
It was blocked up and he still was able to
get six yards.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
That a third and three. It's bocked up for one,
but he gets four it right.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
He gets for it right, And so I think that's
still complementary football where you're like, hey, we're still moving
the chains.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Coope always a pleasure, my man. It was great talking
to you, and it was so much fun to learn
more about these guys with you.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
No, no, no, no, I appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Guys, Marcus Cooper, Giants, National Scap, huddle up, get in here.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
If you're lined up here, you gotta go over the
middle with at the score great?
Speaker 2 (10:15):
How do we make that happen?
Speaker 4 (10:17):
I don't know, Bud. Citizens does make sense of your
money with Citizens Official Bank of Eli Manning. If you
want to know how to manage two minutes of crunch
time football, I'm your man. But if you're wondering about
a long term financial plan, you should talk to Citizens.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Hey, I can also talk long care.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
I'd like to learn about amillion routine.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
Yes, I knew I could help make sense of your
money with Citizens.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
The Giants Total podcast is brought to you by Citizens,
the official bank of the Giants. From game day celebrations
to your everyday financial needs, Big Blue fans can get
the most out of every moment with Citizens. Learn more
at Citizens bank dot com slash Giants. That's Marcus Cooper.
Really good stuff out of him, and again really interesting.
I could have talked to him for out ten minutes
if I needed to, but the Giants had some work
(11:00):
to do, so we move on next to Jeremy Bright,
one of the Giants longtime national scouts. Jeremy's been here
a very long time and he had a chance to
do a lot of work on Abdull Carter, the third
overall pick in the twenty twenty five NFL draft. And
now we're joined by a Giants national scout, Jeremy Bright.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Jeremy, how are you man?
Speaker 5 (11:16):
Great? So have a fun time during draft?
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Absolutely, thank you for giving us a couple of minutes.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Then you guys are busy.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
You had eyes on Abdual Carter during this draft process
for the giants. What are the and it's a team process.
A lot of scouts put their eyes on these guys
in crosscheck. So when you first got your eyes on
Abdual Carter on tape, what are the things that kind
of jumped out?
Speaker 5 (11:33):
I mean it's easy when you watch the film with him,
you know, the explosiveness, the power, the speed, the competitiveness,
it all jumps out. And a guy that can just
be special at wherever he's on the field, he jumps
off the tape.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Now, he switched positions right the first year he was
an off ball linebacker, then he went to edge. So
when you're looking at him and you kind of saw
him as an off ball guy and then he changes positions,
how is a scout do you adjust your eyes and
what different things do you look or when he's moving
from an off ball spot to an edge of defender.
Speaker 5 (12:02):
Yeah, so when he when he's inside, now you see
the instincts you see, you see the strength, you see
the you know the way he goes after the ball.
And then when he comes when he went to the
edge this year, he showed off everything that he has.
All you know that that explosive of off the edge,
it's the top in the draft. To me, it's the
top of any draft. You know, he's a He's a
top player in any draft that you look at. The
(12:25):
guy can win one on ones and that's what you
look for coming off the edge of the bend, the dip,
the explosiveness. He can do it all.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
And you have different types of edge players, right, you
have the two seventy to eighty bigger guys. He's more
of the upfield two hundred and fifty pounds smaller guy.
What are some of the traits you have to have
if you're a smaller edge at that size that you
need to succeed because you don't have that, you know,
bigger frame in the bulk than maybe some of the
bigger guys.
Speaker 5 (12:51):
Right, I think you can do it all. I think
he can set the edge as well. But just the
way he uses his hands, when he uses his naturally
his leverage, and then it's just the speed off the edge.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (13:00):
You know, there's a lot of times you see the
tackles not touching them and the guys that can win
one on one without getting touch is pretty special. And
he's he's one of the top special ones that I've seen.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
What did you learn about him as a as an
edge and maybe he's an off ball guy. Then maybe
you wouldn't have known if you hadn't seen him play
both positions.
Speaker 5 (13:18):
Yeah, you see the speed and the range when he's
playing inside, and you can see him just chasing when
he's chasing inside, and and then you see it and
then you watch him on the edge. You watch the
competitiveness of him chasing down on the backside, uh, when
he's on when he's on the outside. So there's a
lot of good things that he does. There's not too
many weaknesses in his game, and that's why we love
(13:38):
him and that's why we're excited to have him.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
So when I was watching and I'm taking my notes
and I got through probably about six or seven different
pass rush moves, it was like, all right, speed, speed,
the power, the swite move, he has the dipping rip.
Then he has a little ghost move like von Miller
used to do, And I'm like, how is this guy
only a one year edge player? Was it amazing to
use a scout to see how advanced his pass rush
repertoire war was given it was his first year to
doing it full time.
Speaker 5 (14:00):
Yeah, they did a great job. With him his coaches,
you know, it's you see everything that you want to
in a in an outside backer, and just all the moves.
I mean, you see, like you said, to speed, the power,
and and he uses his hands really well. And again
it's just that natural explosiveness that you can't teach.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
And then he played with a pretty serious shoulder injury
in that college football playoff game against Notre Dame and
not only did you played through it, he played really well.
When you're a scout and you see that, what does
that tell you about a play?
Speaker 5 (14:29):
Just the competitiveness and the kid that he wanted to
play for his team. He wanted to play for his teammates,
and that's what you want. You got to set an
identity and you know he's the top player on the
team and he's going out there putting it all on
the line. That's you know, that's that's what That's what
wins games.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
How much upside does he still have? Only because he's
a younger guy, right, he's only played one year on
the edge. You know, as a scout, you're not just
protecting all right, this is what the player is now.
You're trying to project what he can be, right, how
much more does he.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Have to grow?
Speaker 5 (14:57):
Yeah, I mean they all need to grow. He's he's
at the top of the list of gods that doesn't
need as much. But he he'll he'll definitely learn from
the from the coaching here. He's gonna be playing against
better tackles throughout the league UH that he's played at
week in and week out, and he's he's gonna learn
how to set up more of his moves against top tackles.
(15:19):
And again, having the guys that we have UH to
compliment him is gonna be It's gonna be an amazing
to watch.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
Last two fitting in the system.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
How much is a scout do you talk to, you know,
Charlie Bowen, talk to Shane Bowen about how he works
and what you should be looking for for a player
that plays that spot in the Giants defense.
Speaker 5 (15:39):
Our coaches do a great job of telling us what
they need, what they're looking for. It makes our job
a lot easier going out on the road to to
fit what they want into the defense. We work as
one group, one team, and you know, try to try
to get the best that we can.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
And finally, I interacted with him for literally like forty
five seconds yes, today as he walked around, but he
seems to have a real seriousness to him and an
edge to him. Kind of want that out of a
defensive player, right, a guy that has that kind of
intensity about him all the time.
Speaker 5 (16:11):
Absolutely, I think he sets he's going to add to
our identity on defense of just relentless and getting after
the passer. And you see what we've added on top
of that, and you look at our depth on the
D line and the outside backers and it gets you excited.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Yes, it does. Jeremy good stuff, man. I appreciate Jeremy
Bright Giants National Scout. Just great stuff from Jeremy there
and Marcus. We thank him so much for giving us
the time on a very busy weekend. And we thank
Joe Shane and the Giants front office for give us
permission to talk to those guys and really get some
insight on the scouting process from those two scouts. It
was a lot of fun. I hope you guys enjoyed
it as much as I did. Hope you learned a
little bit. Thanks for being with us in the Giants
(16:49):
Little podcast brought to you by Citizen's Official Bank at
the Giants Well plenty more coming your way as we
continue through this Giants offseason program. Ota is coming up
but a couple of weeks of midatory mini camp. We
also a very exclusive episode coming up on the audio
feed of the Giants Hotle podcast on Friday, so make
sure you check that out. That's tomorrow a little thing
(17:09):
from the Giants head coach and general manager, so make
sure you check that out coming your way as well
from the Hackensack and Mariney Health podcast udio. Keep getting Better.
I am John Smelk. Thanks for joining us on the
Giants Hotle Podcast, brought to you by Citizens, the official
bank of the Giants. We'll see you next time.
Popular Podcasts
Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club
Welcome to Bookmarked by Reese’s Book Club — the podcast where great stories, bold women, and irresistible conversations collide! Hosted by award-winning journalist Danielle Robay, each week new episodes balance thoughtful literary insight with the fervor of buzzy book trends, pop culture and more. Bookmarked brings together celebrities, tastemakers, influencers and authors from Reese's Book Club and beyond to share stories that transcend the page. Pull up a chair. You’re not just listening — you’re part of the conversation.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.