I Would Like Your Help. . .

Hello everyone, unfortunately for our Redskins the draft season has all but started. As many of you know Aaron Lesher and myself have been spearheading the draft profile series for a few years now along with much appreciated contributions for other HH writers like Jamual Forrest, varedskinsfan, and iH8dallas among others. Profile time is a time of year I look forward to every “offseason” and I try and take care by not kicking off things too prematurely but I need to do that this year.

I try and knock out over 115 articles between January and the draft and have been pretty successful at it the past couple years but new goals and commitments in my life I know I won’t come close to that number this time around and we need to get a head start to make this endeavor as fruitful as possible. This is where I need y’alls help. . .

Have you ever wanted to write a draft profile?

Have you ever read one of my profiles and said ‘this is trash’ and thought you could do better?

Have you ever wanted to learn a lot more about your favorite college players and analyzes them and have fun projecting their future NFL success based on semi arbitrary metrics?

Have you ever wanted to write about whether or not you think a player would fit on the Redskins?

If you answered yes to any of the above or just want me to shut up so you can write a draft profile I want you!

What can a draft profile look like?

https://www.hogshaven.com/2018/2/11/17001120/vita-vea-is-the-best-defensive-player-in-the-2018-draft

https://www.hogshaven.com/2018/1/27/16934932/deshon-elliott-is-the-all-around-safety-the-redskins-should-be-looking-at-in-this-draft

https://www.hogshaven.com/2018/4/3/17192698/daron-payne-is-young-and-talented-tutelage-from-jim-tomsula-can-propel-him-to-another-level-redskins

I want to emphasize you don’t have to and preferably should not write exactly like Aaron and I. Individualism in writing style is welcome and you can make these posts as technical or opinion based as you’d like.

What should I do before writing a draft profile?

Player research! Of course jot down all the measurables, try and find out something interesting about the player to place in the overview, and most importantly watch tape of the player!

How much tape do I have to watch?

Whatever makes you feel confident in forming a complete opinion on the player. For instance I try and find at least two current year cutups on a player (preferably more) before I start writing. If I can’t find that I would go back to a previous year if available for reference. If you can write a profile on one tape and you feel confident enough to put it on the internet go for it.

How long do these draft profiles have to be?

We obviously want words. I tend to get carried away with certain players and I might write a 1400 word draft profile. By no means do you have to do that, lets aim for a 500 word minimum.

Do all the players I want to write about have to have positive reviews or fit the Redskins?

My answer is hell no, please see https://www.hogshaven.com/2017/4/15/15297736/tyus-bowser-edge-athletically-gifted-but-raw-as-sushi.

But I do think starting out we want to prioritize players who might fit what the team does.

Ok, how can I start writing draft profiles?

Email me at gabeward90@gmail.com with a sample profile. Whenever someone asks to see someone’s work they may get a little nervous. I want this sample to be a good pass of what you would have written but get the idea of perfection out of your mind. Have you seen my writing? I am not a writer by trade. The aim of these is to give our community an interesting and informative read that reveals details about future NFL players. You don’t even have to write about an actual player if you don’t want to you can create a persona/user story for Cannonarm McNasty, QB out of West Valley State if you wanted. You could email me a link to a google doc or use another writing platform like Evernote etc. Try and follow the previous format for simplicity’s sake.

How many people are you looking to contribute to this?

One would be a big help, two would be even better, three? We’ll I guess Christmas came early for me.

When are you planning to release the first profiles?

I’d like to start as early as two weeks from now, the aim is to try and schedule at least 5 profiles a week at the height of our production in February through April.

How many profiles would I have to write?

I’m going to aim to write 2-3 per week. You do not have to do this. I am asking that you write one profile a week. If you have capacity for more that would be incredible.

Interested or have more questions email me! or let me know in the comments!