The behind-the-scenes HBO series “Hard Knocks,” which has documented the Giants’ offseason, has provided football fans a peek behind the curtain at some of the biggest decisions made by general manager Joe Schoen and his staff this spring.
It’s also made stars out of some of the decision-makers who aren’t often in the spotlight, including college area scout Hannah Burnett, who made quite an impression during episode 2 of the show that aired Tuesday night.
Burnett was mic’d up for several scenes throughout the second episode, including one as she explained the importance of the pre-NFL combine meetings among the scouting department.
“Those pre-combine meetings, the first bucket is figuring out who the player is as a person. When push comes to shove that’s something you can’t miss on and you got to make sure that you know the type of person you’re bringing into the building,” Burnett explained in the scene.
Her appearances on “Hard Knocks” have fans clamoring to know more about the scout.
Burnett is a New York native who grew up on the north shore of Long Island in Huntington, attending Huntington High School, where she played varsity lacrosse, soccer and basketball.
After graduating, Burnett went on to play Division I lacrosse at UMass Amherst, where she set a school record for most points in a game and she served as captain during her senior season in 2018.
Her journey to the NFL then started in earnest as an events operation intern with the Bills during the team’s training camp in 2017, and she was then able to springboard that into an internship at the league office in Manhattan.
She landed a job with the Falcons as a scouting assistant and coordinator in 2018.
She joined the Giants organization in 2020 as the club’s Midlands area scout, becoming the first full-time female scout in Giants history.
“I completely understand and am aware that this is an awesome opportunity, and it’s important for females in the league,” she said at the time of her hire. “But I’ve said this from the get-go: I just want to go in there like everyone else goes in there and go about my business like a pro. Everything will work itself out if I go about my business the right way.”Burnett was then hired by the Giants two years later under then-general manager Dave Gettleman.
A 2022 video feature from Newsday noted that three players — including safety Dane Belton and linebacker Elerson Smith — that she had scouted for the Giants were then picked by the team.
Earlier this year, assistant general manager Brandon Brown shouted out Burnett in a press conference while discussing the selection of safety Tyler Nubin out of Minnesota.
“She’s done a hell of a job for two straight years on Tyler,” Brown said in May. “Because we didn’t know if he was a guy that would be available last year. … Hannah did such a great job on the character [evaluation] as well as our other area scouts, national scouts.”