By Brett Grassmuck
Staff Writer

The NFL calendar begins March 1. It’s the time of year where NFL coaches, scouts and front-office personnel come together to create and review evaluations of players available via free agency or the NFL draft.

Players are evaluated not only on their ability to contribute on the field, but the quality of their character off the field as well. The way they lead their lives and their leadership ability in the locker room is as big of a factor as their ability to make plays.

Billy Devaney, new Rams executive vice president of player personnel, is in the thick of the Rams free agency and draft evaluations, so it was fitting that he took some time to discuss the importance of character with local school superintendents on Wednesday.

“We firmly believe that (character) is critical for long-term success,” Devaney said. “The more good people we can bring in the building, guys that care about the team, guys that care about winning, that are serious about their profession, those are the kind of guys you win championships with.”

Devaney shared his philosophy with a Russell Training Center auditorium full of superintendents during their annual meeting with CHARACTERplus, an organization that focuses on character building in St. Louis schools, and an organization that the Rams have a long-standing relationship with.

Devaney shared not only his character philosophy with the group, but began with giving some praise to the superintendents. He told them that while the Rams and the NFL try to build character in their players, it begins with the parents, educators and coaches that were sitting in the room.

“The first thing I wanted to do was let them know that they’re more or less at the front lines, working with the kids that we’re evaluating right now, the college players,” Devaney said. “I couldn’t stress enough that the quality of kids that we’re getting coming through, that we saw at the combine. Somebody in their upbringing is doing a great job. Whether it be family, teachers, coaches, the quality of the kids this year is tremendous. I wanted to stress to keep up the good work, because they are doing a great job.”

Devaney also spoke about the importance of finding a balance of talented athletes that are high-character guys. He explained the process of searching for players in free agency and how character issues can dissuade them from going after some of the top names on the market, talent-wise.

“We spend as much time evaluating and discussing the character part (as the on-field part),” Devaney said. “The on-field stuff is almost easy. It’s there in black and white, you look at the tape. But there’s more than that. It’s been proven. There have been teams that spend a lot of money in free agency signing players over the past few years, but not the right type of player. Maybe talented players, but not the right fit. We’re more interested in bringing in talented players that are the right fit, that care about the Rams and winning championships.”

He talked about the importance of contacting not only the coaches and front-office personnel that have worked with free agents, but other NFL team staff members, such as the equipment staff, to get a better feel for what a player is like off-the-field.

Where character comes into play the most in NFL player evaluations is the NFL Draft. A player can help or hurt his draft status by what he does in his personal life. No matter how talented a player is, if he is considered a risk, he will slip to a later round where a team is better able to take a risk because they will have less invested not only financially, but if the player doesn’t pan out.

Devaney showed the superintendents a copy of a player evaluation form that the Rams college scouts fill out while evaluating the players entering April’s NFL Draft. The front page of the two-sided sheet focuses on the player’s on-field evaluation, while the back page is dedicated to evaluating the player’s character both on and off the field.

Character is critical in an NFL player’s development. Devaney relayed that it starts at the high school level, and the influences of the people like the superintendents he was speaking to are critical in the development of future NFL athletes.

“(It’s important for the superintendents) to relay to kids in high school that this does matter,” Devaney said. “What you do now, it’s going to follow you. There’s upside and benefits to doing the right thing. By the same token, guys are penalized that have a history of making bad decisions. There are consequences for your actions, even going back to high school. That was the other thing I wanted to stress, the Rams and the NFL as a whole, we do put a great deal of emphasis on this, and it’s a critical part of our evaluation.”