The Draft Scout Re-Launch: Changes and Important Additions for 2021

The launch of The Draft Scout in February of 2021 was a huge success, and we thank each and everyone of you who subscribed, shared the news of our launch, interacted with posts and helped us by sharing articles on social media.

But we’re not done yet.

When I made the decision to leave Bleacher Report last year, it was with the unfortunate timing that my contract expired in mid-February; which is the heart of draft season. We hit the ground running on the Substack platform and exceeded by expectations for growth in a hurry.

And then the NFL Draft season heated up and my ability to grow the site, produce content and make hits on ESPN meant something had to slow down. With the site up-and-running, it made sense to let it breathe while focusing on content.

But the draft is over and with a month to reflect on lessons learned and recalibrate on goals, I wanted to send a post to update you all on what’s changing and improving at The Draft Scout.

(And if you haven’t already subscribed, now is a great time to support independent writing and help us grow this community you are a part of.)

Below is an outline of the changes we’re implementing as kind of a Step 1 of the relaunch. After today (June 7), we’ll take a quick pause on new content and then come back swinging with a ton of new material and re-energized plans on June 14.

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Staffing: The Draft Scout launched with just me running the operations, but thanks to our subscribers we were able to add Corey Seeley as a content creator on the NFL side of things.

This summer we’re happy to also welcome Marshal “Mello” Miller to our team where he will head up all college football content; including his popular State of College Football article every Monday morning.

Most of you are familiar with Mello from his work on the Stick to Football podcast from our time at B/R. He is now the current co-host of our Two Guys, A Girl and a Podcast and of Mic’d Up, a daily show in Joplin, Mo.

As the site grows in terms of subscribers, we will be adding to the team. Resumes can be sent to me at any time (matt@thedraftscout.com).

Content: One of the common complaints we received pre-draft was that the content was sometimes hard to find or unorganized. The good people at Substack are helping us out by adding sections to the platform that will allow us to organize content into helpful categories. This will make finding the most recent mock draft, player scouting report pages, articles, podcasts and more so much easier.

We believe that NFL draft content is not seasonal and will provide NFL, College Football, and NFL draft content that focuses on team-building, the next wave of coaches and scouts you should know, and the important aspects of team needs, free agency, prospect evaluation and draft predictions. But our goal is 12 months of elite NFL and NFL draft coverage taking prospects from college to the pros. That means covering things like NFL Roster Grades, college and NFL positional group rankings, GM Report Cards and more.

In the meantime, we’ve launched Sections for NFL, College Football, Mock Drafts and Scouting Reports. Check them out on the homepage.

Meet-Ups: Tailgate Tour (a free tailgate hosted by us at different venues across the country) returns this fall with a Week 1 NFL kickoff in Kansas City. These are free events for subscribers of The Draft Scout, thanks to our amazing community and sponsors. Annual subscribers will have the benefit of priority access to these events, just another perk for your year-round support. Information on tailgates, brewery takeovers and meet-ups will hit your inbox as we make more plans. So expect to see this ugly face at a meet-up near you very soon.

Interactive Events: For those who can’t make it to an in-person event, we’ll ramp up the interactive side of The Draft Scout. There are already plans for a 2017 NFL Re-Draft with members as general managers and we’ll continue to add those to the calendar.

For those that signed up to learn more about the game, multiple NFL scouts have agreed to come on with us in June and July for Scout’s School—a free, real-time session you can sit in on, ask questions during, and learn about scouting from myself, industry experts and current scouts.

Price: The Draft Scout launched at the suggested price of $7/month. We’ve played around with promotions, given away hundreds of memberships, and have found that some subscribers prefer to dive deep into the draft for a select few months out of the year.

Because of this, starting September 1 the price of The Draft Scout will rise to $10/month but remain a steady $70/year for those who want to commit annually. Those who want to dip in for draft months can still do so, of course.

Feedback: We want you involved. As a subscriber of The Draft Scout, you’re our employer. Working directly with my audience is why I made this leap away from a major publisher like B/R. If there are things you want to see, let me know. Things you want more of, let me know. My inbox is always open.

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