Realign The Combine
Mike Leitao ~ 03/6/2024
It’s a new day which means we're back talking about things I hate. There are so many items to choose from, but on the docket today is the first major event of the NFL offseason, the combine. For those who don’t know, the combine is a multi-day event for a bunch of college players who are entering the upcoming draft to come out and show off their athletic ability through a variety of drills and allow teams and scouts to conduct closer inspection of both their abilities and them as people. Ideally, the combine should be an opportunity for teams to uncover potential red flags on players or find some potential diamonds in the rough. Unfortunately, the combine has essentially become utterly worthless as more players blow it off every year.
I used to actually be a decently-sized fan of the combine. When I first started getting into college football and the NFL draft I would try and watch stuff like the 40 yard dash and bench press for a few of the position groups. It was interesting to see guys who were originally projected to barely be considered draftable kill the drills and see their stock skyrocket and vice-versa, watching projected stars fall because they simply aren’t fast or strong. Honestly, my favorite part was watching the absolute insane overreactions to the event, like John Ross running very fast which turned him into a top 10 draft pick and then he was a huge bust in the NFL. As a certified hater, watching these NFL executives make insane overreactions again and again brought me so much joy to be honest. Although there are still some overreactions and there will continue to be for as long as the combine goes, they aren’t as common, and top guys dropping really doesn’t happen anymore.
Nowadays, the combine has essentially become an irrelevant event for top prospects. Almost all top prospects who show up nowadays do it for two reasons, for the media attention and to do interviews with teams. Drills? Fuck outta here if you think they are doing those, that’s what their pro days are for. Yes, not every top prospect opts out of the drills and there are still a lot of later round projected players who participate, but losing out on these top prospects to their pro days is a huge blow to the combine overall in its current format. Now, I do fully understand why these top players do this. They have very little, if anything at all, to gain from a good combine, but could lose a lot of potential value with a bad combine and that could result in a loss of millions of dollars. For example, top rated corners or wide receivers might opt out of the 40 yard dash because a slow 40 time could heavily drop their stock if it makes teams believe they won’t be able to win on routes. By saving the drills for the pro day, there is a lot more control. Obviously, pro days are targeted for specific schools and have a much smaller field of participants meaning it gives these players more of a spotlight to shine. We all remember Zach Wilson’s incredible throw at his BYU pro day which got him drafted 2nd overall.
So, how do we fix this issue I hear you asking. That’s a great question, and you already know I’ve got a solution. The key is to just accept the fact these top-tier players are not going to be coming to the combine to actively participate in things. When sending out these combine invites, you make it nice and clear that by accepting the invitation to the combine you are committing to participating in all relevant drills for your position group unless injured. This forces players who want the media and team attention from the combine to actually have to participate in the other events as opposed to just taking the spotlight they don’t deserve. This will result in two outcomes, either top-tier players accept this new fate and start participating in drills again, or they decide the exposure from the combine isn’t worth the drills and still decline the combine in full to host their pro days.
Honestly, I would rather the second option be the one that happens. If it does, you can transition the combine to become an event that is more focused on underrated players and showcasing their incredible athletic abilities to help catapult these athletes into the league. Although there are certainly more athletic players who don’t work out in the league compared to the ones who do make it are always such an exciting player to watch, so getting more of them in the league is a win. The top players still get their media attention and team interviews from the pro day, and they don’t have to take attention from players who are busting their ass trying to get noticed. Once again, I have created an incredible idea that absolutely revolutionizes and improves the current state of the world. One day these changes will go into effect and everyone will see that I am in fact a super genius, but until then, we will just have to deal with the combine being shit with the only thing people seem to care about nowadays is “who runs the fastest”.
