The scouting combine! what good is it? … With the defensive linemen and LBs set to take to the field tomorrow for the physical testing and positional drills phase of this week’s scouting combine in Indianapolis just a small clarification on the on-field stuff is all about. There is a tendency, for example, for people to scoff at things like the 40 claiming – absolutely correctly – that football isn’t played in shorts and tees and that there is no tackling at the combine. At the same time, the 4.28 40s make headlines, but they really aren’t what the combine is all about. The primary goal is to get a confirmation on neutral turf to what they already know; to check off boxes. Every team will have minimum requirements for each position. They want their OTs, especially early round candidates, for example, to have at least 33-34-inch arms. Or they will want their CBs to run at least in the 4.5 range in the 40 (and closer to, if not under, 4.4 for corners they might be looking at in the first round). Of course, there are almost always exceptions; teams, for example, might be happy enough with a CB prospect who ran closer to 4.55 in the 40, but was under well under 4-flat in the short shuttle. At the same time, it is probably rare for a team to significantly change the grade of a player based solely on what they do at the combine. The one major exception would probably be for a player who runs well above the minimum for a position, for example, an edge rusher who can’t break 5-flat in the 40. On the other hand, when an unheralded player goes out and ‘blows up the combine’ as they say, what teams generally do is go back to the game tapes and see if they missed something rather than rushing out and pushing the guy into the opening round. In fact, when all is said and done, for the most part, most teams boards coming out of the combine are going to look very much like what the looked like going in.
