Now that the Super Bowl has ended, and the new league year is only a few weeks away on the NFL calendar, each of the 32 teams has now shifted their attention to the offseason. The rookie scouting combine begins tonight, and because this is the NFL we are talking about, the combine has now even become a primetime television event.
I think that most people you ask would say that the combine is completely overblown and these football players being evaluated doing all of these workouts that have no real on-field value is laughable. And in many ways, they are right. Current and former players say the same things, as do current and former coaches. Bill Belichick said that the preparation these kids put in for their combine workouts is nothing but a waste of time. Prospects are coached on exactly how to get into a three point stance and take off from the start line to get the best time possible in the 40 yard dash. They are coached on how to get the highest possible scores on the Wonderlic test or the broad jump. In reality, none of those things actually prove anything about how someone will be able to play football. So then why even have the combine in the first place? The answer is simply because it is all part of the long and arduous interview process that comes along with being an NFL draft prospect.
To put this into terms more relevant to the everyday person who is not a professional athlete, think about the interview process you go through when you are looking for a job. You don't just show up for a job interview with no idea what to expect or not having put in any sort of preparation. You construct a resume. You compile a list of referrals. There are thousands of college courses that are based on nothing other than writing a resume. You decide what information to include, and where to include it, and what to highlight. In most cases, the preparation for the interview lasts far longer than the actual interview itself does. Employers usually only gloss over resumes at best, but job seekers usually put hours into constructing them. So in essence, that is exactly what the NFL combine is. Will you need to know how to list your top skills on a resume after you actually get a job? No, but doing so is part of the entire process. Will an NFL prospect need to know how to master the 40 yard dash once he enters the league? No, but doing so is part of the process in this case as well.
Mel Kiper, Jr. was on Mike & Mike this morning and said that one of the things he was most looking forward to at this combine was finding out whether or not one of the prospects (I apologize because I don't recall who it was) weighed 219 pounds or 225 pounds. Really? I understand that this is the type of thing that Kiper gets paid to do, but is the difference in six pounds a huge concern? Actually, in the eyes of NFL scouts, yes it is. All of what we will get out of this combine, and all we ever get out of any combine is just a bunch of numbers. Heights, weights, bench press reps, 40 times, verticals, and the list goes on. Individually, they are almost meaningless, but they all play a small role in building up the resume that each prospect can present on draft day.
The numbers are nice, but in my mind, as a fan, I would be more interested in how each of these guys does behind closed doors when teams get to sit them down and talk to them face to face. This part of the combine is even more important for prospects who come into the league that may have faced issues on or off the field in the past. I am sure last year each time Jameis Winston sat down behind closed doors, teams were asking him all sorts of questions about his various minor incidents in college. This year, guys like Robert Nkemdiche, Cardale Jones, and a whole lot more will face similar questions. Last year, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers clearly thought Winston answered those questions and they took him first overall, and after one full season, I think he has gotten off to a fairly nice start.
However, these kids are also coached on how to handle themselves in these closed door sessions as well. It is likely that many of them have some sort of knowledge of the types of questions they will be asked, and therefore they probably have been able to construct some kind of answers before the questions are even asked. That is just like any job interview though. If you are walking into an interview to be an oral surgeon, it is pretty likely that you aren't going to be asked about your feelings on the effects on the national economy on the farming industry. If you are a linebacker from Alabama, you are most likely not going to be asked about what you feel about playing left field for the Minnesota Twins. People go into interviews with some sort of knowledge of what to expect, and with a written documentation of their skills. For the aspiring oral surgeon, that documentation is on their resume, and for the aspiring NFL player, the scouting combine is full of seemingly insignificant numbers that in totality, make up a very significant resume that teams look at on draft day.
It is the job of NFL Network and ESPN and Pro Football Talk to blow events like the scouting combine out of proportion. As fans, do we really need to watch these guys sprint and jump and run around cones? No, of course not. If our favorite team drafts a guy who doesn't exactly have broad jump numbers as impressive as some other people at his position but ends up being a Pro Bowler, then we don't care. However, if our team passes up a guy like that for one of those "workout warriors" that puts up numbers that jump off the page and turns out to be a bust, we rant and rave about it.
In truth, we don't really know what we are getting in an NFL prospect until he actually suits up and gets out on the field. It is the same with the oral surgeon. The only way to truly know what he or she is capable of is to simply put them in the surgery room. So while the combine may seem trite and overblown, don't forget about the time you put into building your own resume. A resume alone will not get you your dream job, but a good resume sure does help. And for the next few days in Indianapolis, all these guys are doing is trying to piece together the best resume they can, so don't laugh at the event, because you might actually be able to relate to it more than you think.
Daily Giants Update: Staying with the NFL, most early mock drafts have the Giants taking a defensive lineman, and that is surely an area of need. The team has a whole lot of cap room though, and if they cut Victor Cruz and Jason Pierre-Paul (both of whom I think need to be cut), there will be even more money to spend. So the draft isn't going to be the only way the Giants can improve this offseason. I would like to see them make a few splashes in the free agent market and use the draft to fill in what spots might still need to be addressed after that. The defense is what needs to improve the most, and with cap space as well as the tenth overall pick, this could (hopefully) be a somewhat quick fix in the first year under new head coach Ben McAdoo.
Daily Rangers Update: Coming off an exciting 1-0 overtime victory, the Rangers will be in New Jersey tonight to take on the Devils. We are just about at the 3/4 pole of the regular season, so if they continue to play at this pace, the team should enter the postseason with home ice at least in the first round. It doesn't appear that anyone is going to catch the Capitals, who are continuing to just run away with the Eastern Conference, and will likely blow past 100 points very soon. Washington is having a great season.
Daily Diamondbacks Update: Spring Training is officially underway! I haven't been this excited for a Diamondbacks season in quite some time. Zack Greinke has already been named the Opening Day starter, but that is not exactly shocking news. Not only should the games be fun all season, but it should be just as fun to try to guess what uniforms the team will wear each day, as they seem to have about 20 different hat/jersey/pants/socks combinations at their disposal in addition to all of the new players on the field.
Daily NBA Update: I know Kobe Bryant is not the Kobe of old, but it is sad to see him going out the way he is playing this year. The Lakers are a mess, and Kobe is statistically one of the worst players in the league as far as production in terms of minutes played. There are 24 games left in Bryant's career, but let's not remember him for how these last 24 games go, or for how this entire season has gone, because it is not the real Kobe Bryant that will be a first ballot Hall of Fame inductee.
The trade deadline also just passed, and while no major moves were made, a few minor additions to teams like the Cavaliers and Clippers might pay off down the line and into the postseason.
Anything else? Oh yeah...the Warriors are 50-5.
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