Scouting is the engine that drives every successful draft. You can have perfect positional strategy and flawless draft-day execution, but if your scouting information is wrong, none of it matters. In football management games — and particularly in BS Football — the scouting system is designed to simulate the uncertainty that real NFL front offices face. You never have perfect information, and how you handle that uncertainty determines whether your picks become stars or busts.

This guide explains exactly how scouting works, when to invest your scouting resources, and how to find the sleepers that other teams miss.

How Scouting Tiers Work

BS Football uses a three-tier scouting system. Each tier reveals more precise information about a prospect, but the cost increases with each level. Understanding what each tier tells you — and more importantly, what it does not tell you — is essential for making good draft decisions.

Entry-Level Scouting

Every prospect in the draft class starts at Entry-level scouting. At this tier, you can see the player's position, age, and a wide overall rating range. A prospect might show as 58–78 OVR, which tells you he is somewhere between a deep reserve and a quality starter. That is a massive range, and it is intentionally so.

Entry-level scouting is free — you get it on every prospect without spending resources. It is useful for eliminating the obviously bad prospects (those with low ceilings) and identifying the obviously good ones (those with high floors). But for the vast middle of the draft — the 60% of prospects who could be busts or steals — Entry-level scouting is not enough to make confident decisions.

What to do at this tier: Use Entry-level scouting to create your initial "interested" list. Flag any prospect whose ceiling is above 72 OVR and whose position matches a team need. Ignore prospects whose ceiling is below 65 OVR unless you are in the late rounds.

Pro-Level Scouting

Pro scouting narrows the overall rating range significantly and gives you a read on the player's potential — his long-term ceiling. A prospect who showed as 58–78 OVR at Entry level might narrow to 66–74 OVR at Pro level, with a potential rating that tells you whether he is likely to develop further or plateau where he is.

Pro scouting is where most of your board should be built. The narrower range gives you enough confidence to slot players into tiers, compare prospects at the same position, and identify the players who are likely to outperform their draft position. This is the information level where you can make educated guesses about who is a starter and who is a backup.

What to do at this tier: Scout your top 30–40 prospects to Pro level. Compare players within position groups. Identify any prospect whose potential rating suggests significant development — these are the players who might be average now but elite in two years.

Elite-Level Scouting

Elite scouting gives you the tightest possible window on a prospect's current ability and future potential. The overall range narrows to within 2–3 points, and the potential becomes much more precise. At this level, you have near-certainty about what a player is today and strong confidence in what he can become.

Elite scouting is expensive. You cannot use it on every prospect, so choosing when and where to deploy it is a strategic decision in itself. Think of Elite scouting as your most powerful but most limited tool.

What to do at this tier: Reserve Elite scouting for 8–12 players maximum. Use it on first-round targets where a wrong pick is most costly, on prospects you are considering reaching for (where you need extra confidence to justify the reach), and on prospects where Pro-level scouting left ambiguity (the range was still too wide to make a confident decision).

The Deep Scout Mechanic

Deep Scout is a separate scouting action that gives you the most detailed report available on a single prospect. It is your ace in the hole — a resource you can use a limited number of times to get information that other teams do not have.

When to Use Deep Scout

When you are torn between two players at the same pick: If your board has two edge rushers graded identically and you cannot decide, Deep Scout the one you know less about. The additional information often breaks the tie.
When you are considering a reach: Reaching for a player means taking him earlier than consensus. This is risky, and the only way to justify it is with better information. Deep Scout the prospect you are thinking of reaching for — if the report confirms elite potential, the reach becomes a calculated bet rather than a gamble.
When Pro scouting left too much ambiguity: Some prospects have wide ranges even at Pro level. If a player you are targeting still shows a 10-point spread, Deep Scout him to narrow it down before you commit a pick.
On high-potential sleepers in the middle rounds: Sometimes Pro scouting reveals a prospect with intriguing potential in the 3rd or 4th round. Deep Scouting him can confirm whether that potential is real or a mirage. Finding a late-round gem through superior scouting is one of the most satisfying things in the game.

When Not to Use Deep Scout

On consensus top picks you are going to take anyway: If the best quarterback in the class is sitting there at pick 1 and you need a quarterback, you do not need a Deep Scout to confirm what you already know. Save the resource.
On late-round dart throws: Rounds 6 and 7 are low-investment picks. The cost of being wrong is minimal. Do not spend a valuable Deep Scout on a player you are drafting as a lottery ticket.
On players you have no intention of drafting: Do not scout opponents' likely targets. Focus your resources on players you might actually pick.

Building Your Draft Board with Scouting Data

Scouting data is only useful if you organize it into an actionable draft board. Here is a four-step process for turning scouting reports into a board you can execute on draft day.

Step 1: Cluster by Tier

Group prospects into tiers based on their scouted ratings: Blue Chip (floor above 74), Strong Starter (floor above 68), Developmental (floor above 60, ceiling above 72), and Depth (everyone else). These tiers create natural breakpoints in your board — if a Tier 1 player falls to you, take him regardless of need.

Step 2: Flag Your Favorites

Within each tier, identify the 2–3 players you prefer. These are the players you have studied most closely, whose scouting profiles match what you are looking for, and who play positions you need. Your favorites should be the first players you look for when your pick comes up.

Step 3: Map Your Needs

Overlay your team needs on the board. Mark which positions are urgent (must address in the first 3 rounds), which are moderate (address if value is right), and which are low priority (address in late rounds or free agency). This prevents you from taking a player at a position you do not need when a comparable player at a position of need is available.

Step 4: Plan Scenarios

For each of your picks, imagine two or three scenarios. "If Player A is available, I take him. If not, I look at Player B or Player C." Having pre-planned scenarios prevents the panic that sets in when your top target gets picked one slot before you. You already know who your pivot is, so you execute the plan instead of scrambling.

Finding Sleepers

Sleepers — players who outperform their draft position — are the holy grail of scouting. Here is how to identify them.

Look for players with a gap between their current overall rating and their potential ceiling. A prospect who is 64 OVR today but has 82 OVR potential is a sleeper if he is available in round 3 or later. The current rating keeps his draft stock low, but the potential means he could develop into a star.

Pay attention to age. Younger prospects (20–21 years old) have more development time than older ones (23–24). A young player with moderate current ability but high potential is more likely to reach that ceiling because he has more years of development ahead of him.

Use Deep Scout on mid-round prospects with intriguing profiles. The extra information you get from Deep Scout might reveal that a player everyone else is ignoring has legitimate starter potential. This information asymmetry — knowing something other teams do not — is the key to finding sleepers consistently.

Scouting is not just preparation for the draft — it is the foundation of your entire team-building strategy. Master the scouting system, allocate your resources wisely, and build a board that turns uncertainty into opportunity. Jump into BS Football and see how your scouting skills translate to draft-day success.

The Complete Guide to Football GM Scouting