NFL Scouting Combine- Deal or No Deal?

[SabresRule]

The NFL Combine is going on as I speak, and I hear mixed results as to whether it's important or not in determining what players will be selected.

On one hand, it can separate the haves from the have-nots (Maurice Clarett did not do so well, while Chris Johnson and Calvin Johnson did, and look what happened to their careers).

On the other hand, some of these exercises can drop or increase a player's stock- in other words, a guy's draft stock can be about some of these goofy exercises, not on-the-field dominance. Jerry Rice had a very slow 40 time and everyone made a big deal about that despite his impressive college numbers; ditto for Lendale White, who didn't even attend the combine because of an injury, while Mike Mamula (remember him, BillD?) had a great workouts and was picked absurdly high- 7th, ahead of Warren Sapp and Derek Brooks.

Rice went on to become the greatest wide reciever ever, maybe the greatest NFL Player ever, LenDale White is developing nicely in Tennessee, and Mamula was a flat-out bust.

Some good players don't do well and are picked too high, while players that turn out well are picked lower than so-so players.

What do you think?

Is the combine that necessary to determine how good a player will be.

If you ask me, I say no; the idea that Michael Crabtree will hold off on surgery until after he runs his 40 is absurd; why jeopardize your career just to do something so stupid and so meaningless?

 

[AntAltMike]

...Jerry Rice had a very slow 40 time and everyone made a big deal about that despite his impressive college numbers...

I wonder if that was before or after the Patriots traded the 16th pick in the first round, which was used to take Rice as the 3rd wide receiver drafted) for the lower round picks that netted Ben Thomas and Trevor Matich.

I've heard it opined that if they had an NFL combine in the late 1950s, Johnny Unitas never would have been drafted.

 

[cosmo_kramer]

Some good players don't do well and are picked too high, while players that turn out well are picked lower than so-so players.

What do you think?

Is the combine that necessary to determine how good a player will be.

From what I've read, the Combine is merely an affirmation of the work done by the scouting departments of the NFL teams. Seeing a player in game action will always be worth more than data gathered here.

Of course, the combine isn't all teams look at.

"It's just another piece of the puzzle," said Jim Mora, the Seahawks' new coach.

The combine is more like a laboratory, the coaches and scouts watching drills like scientists tracking controlled experiments.

"We're trying to verify what we've already said about these guys as athletes and their skills," Seahawks president Tim Ruskell said.

NFL teams have been scouting these players in college football games for months or years. The scouting combine gives an opportunity to see if the raw data matches up with what the scouts have described. It's essentially fact-checking.

"Well, you've got a bunch of tape to watch guys on," said Scott Pioli, Kansas City GM. "From our standpoint, we're going to evaluate guys on how they play football, not just how they run."

Seahawks | NFL Scouting Combine: Welcome to the meat market | Seattle Times Newspaper

 

[Rey]

i also think that some of these drills conducted at the combine are useless to help determine whether a player will succeed or not in the NFL. we've all seen players shine at the combine just to be a bust later in the NFL. I think the combine helps teams get to know these players on a more personal level. but as far as determining if a player will be a success in the NFL, i don't think it helps as much as some would like.

 

[SabresRule]

we've all seen players shine at the combine just to be a bust later in the NFL.

In contrast, players who weren't so great in these practices went on to become NFL stars.

For instance, Terrell Suggs ran a slow 40, while Kyle Boller had an outstanding performance on Pro Day.

One is a perennial All-Pro affectionately known as T-Sizzle- the other is a failed benchwarmer known as being one of Tara Reid's many squeezes, relegated to the sidelines by Steve McNair and Joe Flacco in the past few years.

 

[Rey]

In contrast, players who weren't so great in these practices went on to become NFL stars.

For instance, Terrell Suggs ran a slow 40, while Kyle Boller had an outstanding performance on Pro Day.

One is a perennial Pro Bowler affectionately known as T-Sizzle- the other is a benchwarmer known as being one of Tara Reid's many sq\eezes.

good examples :up

 

[Ramy]

:sleeo

 

[AntAltMike]

I have an idea. I'll take all the best athletes and you can have all the slugs. Give me Deon Sanders and go invent a sport, and I'll just tell him to see what the other guys are doing and do it faster than they are.

 

[Rey]

:sleeo

which means you didn't watch the combine this weekend. i didn't either.

 

[HD MM]

I watched part of the combine this weekend. NFL Network does a great job with coverage.

Look, the combine is one of the many evaluation tools at the owners disposal. With more money than ever being committed to these guys, it's only logical for them to want to test their potential future employees to evaluate on a more personal level the intricate nuances of their game.

I don't have a problem with it being used as a job interview tool, but when it comes down to it, there is no replicating what is done on the field during game day. In no way should statistics at the combine be weighted more heavily than game-day performance.

 

[Ramy]

which means you didn't watch the combine this weekend. i didn't either.

They are so overrated it isn't even funny. They put too much on these things.

 

[hancox]

For me, the combine helped to validate some of the "under the radar"-type guys, aka Donald Brown.

He somehow got passed over for most of the awards, etc, for overhyped players like Moreno and Wells. So, what happens when you get them measured? Brown beats them handily, as an overall athlete (and while skipping bench-pressing, which he would have probably won, too).

Combine does nothing for the hyped-up guys.

 

[Paul Wozniak]

Drafting players based on their combine showing is something only the Lions would do. On occasion an unknown player pops up on the radar screen. It is a good place to verify a players actual height and weight, speed and strength. It doesn't tell you much about what kind of player he is. That's what watching him play is for.

 

[Paul Wozniak]

In contrast, players who weren't so great in these practices went on to become NFL stars.

For instance, Terrell Suggs ran a slow 40, while Kyle Boller had an outstanding performance on Pro Day.

One is a perennial All-Pro affectionately known as T-Sizzle- the other is a failed benchwarmer known as being one of Tara Reid's many squeezes, relegated to the sidelines by Steve McNair and Joe Flacco in the past few years.

Dude, you need to lose the subscription to "People" magazine.