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What Does the NFL Combine Mean?
by J.J. PesaventoNFL personnel get an up close and personal look at the best college talent every February at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.
Representatives from every NFL team travel to Indianapolis to poke, prod, test, interview and watch the best college prospects in the nation work out. For NFL personnel, it is a necessity. For the players, it can be an extremely stressful experience, hectic and even a rude awakening. Players learn quickly how much of a business the NFL truly is.
And it is truly a serious business since literally millions of dollars, not to mention the sucess or failure of any given team, can hinge on solid drafting. Nothing is left to chance.
Even though personnel from every NFL team have viewed hours upon hours of game film on the prospects and broken down every imaginable facet of their game, the combine does something unique. It puts the best college players on an equal playing field where no one has any advantage, and everything they do is dictated by the NFL.
For top players with the talent of a Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart or A. J. Hawk , the combine may not affect their draft value whatsoever unless they perform terribly.
For example, quarterback Chris Redman posted a pedestrain 40 time a few years back, which helped drop him into the third round in 2000.
Maurice Clarett, while the center of a great deal of hype, also was a disappointment at the combine, and the rest is bascially history.
For players not at the top of the draft class, a great combine can increase their draft stock, which can mean huge sums of money.
Chargers defensive lineman Igor Olshansky opened eyes at the 2004 combine with his 41 reps in the bench press. His exhitbition of strength undoubtedly garnered him added attention and he was a second round selection in the draft a few months later.
And if there was ever a player who benefitted from a strong performance in Indianapolis, it may have to be Matt Jones of the Jaguars. Jones, a quarterback at Arkansas, ran blazing 40 times at the combine in 2005. His all around athleticsm and versatility help push him from being an afterthought into a first round pick in the 2005 draft.
It goes without saying there will be the endless debate as to whether players should work out at the combine. Agents, who obviously have much to gain by their clients looking their best, have been known to advise players to wait for their respective Pro Day to work out.
Pro Days are held at the schools, which obviously gives players a bit of a home field advantage, even if only pyschologically. More importantly, workouts during Pro Days can be geared to display the strengths of a player since NFL personnel have no control over the workouts.
Unfortunately, agents may not be giving their clients the best advice when they tell them to skip the combine workouts.
At the combine, every NFL team will be viewing workouts. How many players will have that many clubs present at their Pro Day? In other words, players perform for a much bigger audience in Indianapolis. And the more demand, the bigger the price tag.
But beyond the numbers, NFL personnel get to be face-to-face with players they have only seen on film for the most part. They get to look them in the eye, talk to them and see exactly what type of person they may be.
It is normal for writers covering the event to focus on what times and numbers are being posted.
And while we do drown ourselves in numbers in Indianapolis, we also focus on who may or may not be working out at the Combine and why, which players NFL teams are interviewing as well the seemingly small, but important news during the event.
For some, it may not be the NFL Draft, but it is anything but boring.