NFL
By: Greg Rector
Gil Brandt passed away at the age of 91. If you don’t know who Gil Brandt was then you missed out on the legendary career Brandt had in the world of scouting football players. You might be aware of Gil Brandt because of what he said when Dwayne Haskins died.
Here is @Gil_Brandt on NFL radio when asked about Dwayne Haskins.
“He was a guy that was living to be dead.”
“It was always something” with Haskins
“Maybe it he stayed in school a year he wouldn’t do silly things [like] jogging on a highway.” pic.twitter.com/cuZZdqYOck— Pete Damilatis (@PeteDamilatis) April 9, 2022
That was a dumb statement by Brandt and he was deservedly taken to task for saying something so awful. Brandt later took back what he said on Twitter, However, if that’s all you know about Brandt then you also don’t know what a genius Gil Brandt was when it came to scouting NFL Players.
He was first hired as a part-time scout by the Los Angeles Rams and then by the San Francisco 49ers. When he was hired by Tex Schramm to be the vice president of player personnel for the Dallas Cowboys from 1960 until he was let go by Jerry Jones after the 1988 season Brandt was responsible for bringing the Dallas Cowboys from their early struggles to being the team that everyone hates to call “America’s Team.”
Along with Tex Schramm and Tom Landry, the three men turned football on its collective head especially Brandt off the field. For 29 seasons the three would revolutionize football.
Gil Brandt Scouting Changes
Gil Brandt first changed the scouting and evaluation system for draft prospects which spread throughout the NFL and was widely used by other GMs such as George Young who led the New York Giants and changed the Giants scouting system to match what Brandt did with the Dallas Cowboys.
Gil Brandt used computers for scouting and player evaluations long before there was anything called the Internet. To achieve the level of automation needed the Cowboys had to develop a system that measured the traits, measurable qualities, and skills necessary at every position that could become expressed by numbers and formulas which a computer understood.
Gil Brandt also used psychological examinations to examine the mental and personality makeup of prospects.
Over his years as the chief scout of the Dallas Cowboys Brandt often found players who weren’t football players to begin with such as “Bullet” Bob Hayes Cornell Green and many others who starred in other sports and went on to become Dallas Cowboys legends.
Gil Brandt also knew when to take players in the draft who weren’t expected to contribute right away such as drafting Roger Staubach in round ten of the 1964 draft or Herschel Walker in the 5th round of his draft class and even three-time Super Bowl winner Chad Hennings who like Staubach in 1964 was attending a U.S. Military Academy (Air Force) and had to miss four seasons before getting to lace up his cleats in the NFL.
When Gil Brandt found players from small colleges he landed the likes of Drew Pearson Cliff Harris and Everson Walls.
Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor
Gil Brandt was announced as the 22nd member of the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor on November 2nd, 2018. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the 2019 class.
Gil Brandt was responsible for nine Dallas Cowboys who have also been enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The first Hall of Fame player he drafted was Mr. Cowboy Bob Lilly and even after his career was over the final player he selected first overall Troy Aikman was the final player that Gil Brandt drafted to enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Gil Brandt I wish to say thank you for all of those great players you brought to the Dallas Cowboys despite you not drafting Warren Moon in the 1978 draft. To have witnessed Brandt’s success for so many years I can only sit back here in awe of what a generational talent you became.
