Path to the draft runs thru Indy … We made the point both when the NFL released the names of the players invited to next week’s scouting combine in Indianapolis, as well as in yesterday’s post listing some of the top prospects who were not invited this year, that simply who gets invited to the combine is crucial to the process because the large majority of players who will ultimately get drafted in April will be at the combine. And it appears to be getting t be more so in recent years. Last year, for example, of the 253 position players selected at the 2024 draft 233 or 92% had participated in some way at last February’s event in Indianapolis. That’s down from just over 86% in both 2022 and 2023 and well down from earlier figures when combine participants made up only around 80% of all those drafted.
It is important to note, though, that while getting a combine invite is a really good start, it still does not guarantee that a player is selected. Last year, of the 300-plus players in Indianapolis, just over 70% were ultimately selected at last spring’s draft. However, there are major differences in the likelihood different positions get drafted. Last year, for example, 85% of the WRs in Indianapolis last February were ultimately drafted, while the figure was 83% for defensive linemen, 79% for QBs, 77% for DBs, 75% for TEs, and 70% for offensive linemen, compared with around 60% for both RBs and LBs. We should note too that ALL the QBs, DEs and TEs selected at the 2024 draft were at the combine, while there was also only non-combine RB and LB drafted. In contrast, the largest number on non-combine participants drafted were DTs, although in truth there were just 4 of those and they made up less than 20% of all players chosen at that position.
It is also true that players who were at the combine make up almost all of those selected in the early rounds. Indeed, every player selected in the first three rounds of the 2024 draft were at the combine. Indeed, the first player drafted in 2024 didn’t come until the 4th round when New England selected former UCF WR Javon Baker with the 110th pick overall, while Detroit also took one later in the 4th when the Lions nabbed Canadian offensive lineman Giovanni Manu from UBC with the 126th pick.
