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The COVID-19 pandemic has altered many features of the NFL panorama, particularly the scouting main as much as the NFL Draft, making an already distinctive, tedious course of much more difficult.

Pittsburgh Steelers faculty scout Mark Bruener joined The Commonplace, the membership’s behind-the-scenes internet sequence, and offered some perception into the previous yr’s unprecedented scouting course of.

The pandemic has offered Bruener along with his fair proportion of challenges, however he has not allowed these circumstances to turn out to be excuses.

“My first method was is I’m not going to make an excuse for the scenario that I’m in,” Bruener stated. “I’m going to determine a option to do my job to the very best of my potential and know that Kevin (Colbert) is just not going to tolerate any excuses. And I wanted to get my job achieved.”

Very similar to each side of our life over the previous yr, Bruener has needed to resort to digital discussions with coaches, as he was largely barred from scouting and assembly gamers at services.

“The flexibility for us to make contact with the colleges, the person coaches, all needed to be achieved by way of Zoom,” Bruener stated. “There was no private interplay that we usually would get. And then you definitely would observe up individually with the coaches to achieve the data that you just wanted.”

With out these in-person evaluations, Bruener has needed to watch on movie greater than ever earlier than to make sure his assessments are correct.

“However the bulk of my fall was spent in my workplace, watching movie on my laptop,” he stated. “As a substitute of simply watching three video games on an athlete specifically to attempt to deliver the analysis, I are inclined to perhaps watch 5 or 6 video games, if that’s accessible. And since I can’t see that stay look in some features.”

That being stated, the just about, at-home situations have granted Bruener extra flexibility in his scouting course of than ever earlier than.

“In the event you’re at a faculty, you need to get to the following faculty the following day. So you need to just be sure you get all that work achieved that day,” Bruener stated. “Whereas now being dwelling, you’re somewhat extra versatile. So in the event you’re not capable of end that third recreation or fourth recreation by two o’clock, then you may get to it afterward that night.”

Bruener, who resides in Washington state, was capable of attend a number of video games in particular person final faculty soccer season, however admits the environment was weird at instances.

“I went to a handful of video games right here in Seattle and in Oregon that I used to be allowed to attend, however it was so eerie Andy bizarre as a result of there wasn’t any followers there.”

Chosen within the first spherical of the 1995 NFL Draft out of Washington, Bruener performed 14 seasons at tight finish. He spent the primary 9 seasons of his profession in Pittsburgh, catching 137 passes for 1,197 yards and 16 touchdowns.

Bruener started scouting for the Steelers group in 2018.