The NFL Combine is a prime opportunity for draft-eligible players to showcase their talents in a series of tests and drills.
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This week, the NFL world will converge on Indianapolis as executives, coaches, scouts agents, and a number of other people from the league arrive to watch hundreds of the best college prospects for the NFL Draft at the annual Scouting Combine. “So, if there are ways to tweak, improve, modify anything we do, we’ll explore that (and that includes) the combine”.
“We’re continuing to explore everything in an effort to improve”, National Football League spokesman Brian McCarthy said to USA Today. “And if it is, great, we’ll continue to do it. But if we believe that there’s something that’s not relevant, then what can we replace it with that will help us evaluate the players?”. “The mantra is, how can we get better?” We’ll pore over how fast they can run 40 yards or how many times they can bench press 225 pounds.
Historical comparisons and established benchmarks around the tests are important for teams in making their evaluations, but as Pelissero points out, Combine prep with the specific goal of mastering these tests can be a pretty big waste of valuable development time.
The review will also look to see that technology being used in the testing is up-to-date. Changes may be forthcoming, as Tom Pelissero of USA Today Sports reports that there could be a shift in procedures. You can listen to our full combine discussion in the player below.
The NFL has made some changes to the combine in recent years, but the “Underwear Olympics” aspect has remained largely the same.
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“You can get in on a really granular level and analyze these systems – even overlays of some of the stuff they do”, Dr. Marcus Elliott said.
