I went down to Jacksonville, Tom Coughlin, who’s a two-time Super Bowl winner. My coaches were Marv Levy, who’s in the Hall of Fame. As a player, I was really fortunate to have some of the greatest coaches. How you build a championship team, how you put it together, what it looks like, those things. Writing gave me a way to circumvent not having the accolades and things that most of the people on TV and in the media business had when they transition from being star athletes to broadcasters.īN: What was the scouting job like for you?īB: Scouting was great because when I was a player, I was always fascinated by team building. That really helped me because my playing career, I wasn’t a gold jacket guy, I wasn’t an All-Pro or Pro Bowler. The way that it was going early in the 2010s, that was the way to get in. The writing enabled me to get my foot in the door when it came to TV and radio and other stuff because when you publish as a writer, you have an instant level of credibility. Jim Trotter, Steve Wyche, and a handful of other guys who helped me understand the process and how you go about it. I tried to be humble enough to ask questions from those who had done it. I tried to really work hard at learning the ins and outs of the profession. But my goal was just to be respected, to be able to walk into a press room and be respected by those that pour themselves into the craft. My degree is in communications, but I didn’t go to school to necessarily be a journalist, so I was learning on the fly. I knew nothing about what I was getting into, but I learned a lot and learned a lot quickly. Chadiha got me over to Sports Illustrated. He basically took my resume over to SI.com. I used to work out at a gym with a guy named Jeffrey Chadiha, who at the time was at Sports Illustrated. That stuff kind of appealed to me, like being able to have an opinion, having a voice, and allowing people to hear your opinion. At the time, Pat Kirwan was writing and doing stuff for CNNSI. In a similar capacity, work in the college ranks, doing all the stuff when it comes to scouting and learning the inner workings of a team.īut I had this desire to eventually transition into the media world. Then I moved on to the Carolina Panthers from 2003 to 2007. I did that for three years for the Seahawks. I was scouting college players, doing all the stuff for them to help the team get ready for the draft. Didn’t play, then in 2000 I started scouting with the Seattle Seahawks. Enjoy!īrian Noe: When your playing career ended, what was your path like through scouting and then doing media?īucky Brooks: The last season that I played, I was in camp with the Raiders in ’99. We chat about his transition from scouting to media, why he believes sports radio is the greatest medium, and how doing skull crushers at the gym with Jeffrey Chadiha led to Bucky crushing it as a writer. He also writes for FOX Sports digital and NFL.com. If you don’t stand out, you’re just going to blend in.īucky appears on NFL Network’s Path to the Draft, FOX Sports Radio, and the successful Move the Sticks podcast with Daniel Jeremiah. It’s much better than not having a strong opinion in the first place. It’s one of the reasons Bucky is so good at what he does he isn’t afraid to have a strong stance while knowing that it’ll be thrown back in his face if he’s wrong. Strong opinions are required when evaluating players while working for a team, or while working in the media. Bucky believes that a good scout can’t live in the middle. The TV, radio, and digital personality has a straightforward view on evaluating talent for the upcoming NFL Draft. We are Americans.” My friend used to say, “Yeah, well, you’re 28 th in the ratings.” That memory popped back in my head while talking to Bucky Brooks. A friend of mine used to make fun of a slogan used by a radio station in Phoenix.
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