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February 23, 2010
I’m not going to lie: one of the things I was happiest about when I moved last August, switched cable providers, and got the NFL Network was the fact that I could go home from work during a week in February and sit and watch the NFL Combine (which starts tomorrow, incidentally). There’s nothing quite like seeing freakish athletes run blazing 40-times, throw up the bench press 35 times, or jump 48 inches into the air and hit some sticks to the side.
But, at the end of the day, how much does it really matter? As Browns fans, I feel it’s fairly well documented how most of us feel about the upcoming 7th pick in the draft: Haden? Berry? Bryant? Bradford? The question is: if you had, say, Berry and Haden with similar grades going into the Combine, would you adjust those grades if one ran a little faster than the other in shorts in Indianapolis in February?
Peter King has a source that says you shouldn’t. His source is a “club architect” who “shall remain nameless,” but that King assures us would wow us if we knew who it was. Yawn, Peter. We all know how many contacts you have on your celly when you flash it out there Sunday nights. Give it a rest.
At any rate, the quotes are still interesting none-the-less, as this “club architect” says his draft board is already 90% set:
You know why it’s 90 percent set now? Because guys go to the Scouting Combine and they change their grade on a player based on things that have nothing to do with playing football. I’m convinced if you took the stopwatches away from a lot of these guys, most of ’em would not be able to tell you whether they liked a player or not.
These guys go out and watch players all fall, then we all watch the tape of all these guys, and we see what kind of football players they are. That’s scouting. Who plays good football in pads? That’s scouting. Now we need the combine for the medical evaluations and the personal baggage stuff. But don’t come in after the combine and tell me you want to change some guy and move him way up because he ran faster than you thought he would. That’s where you get in trouble, and that’s why our draft board is pretty well set.
I’ll skip the speculation as to who that is, but I hope hope hope it’s Mike Holmgren. This is exactly how I feel about the Combine. It’s great theater, but I don’t want my front office deciding who to pick based on how fast they run and how much weight they can lift. I know I’m not alone in thinking that many of the self-professed “draft experts” tend to put a lot of stock into things like this, if only to keep themselves relevent in the two months heading up to the draft itself. Only guys like Mel Kiper can be wrong 80% of the time and still be considered experts. Well, maybe Mel Kiper and weathermen, but I digress.
That’s not to say that there aren’t valuable pieces to the Combine. Giving teams the chance to sit down and talk to these young players is very important. As the “club architect” points out, the medical evaluations and the “personal baggage stuff” are both very important. Example: if the Browns are seriously looking at Sam Bradford, I want them to have every opportunity to sit down with him, mess around with his shoulder, look at x-rays of his shoulder, take x-rays of his shoulder, cut into his shoulder and evaluate the moving parts, and make his shoulder take the Wonderlic test.
Which leads me to the other important part of the Combine: making sure you don’t draft total stupid-heads. The NFL is probably the one major sport in which the mental aspects of the game are most prevalent. You have to be able to read defenses/offenses, adjust, and learn not only your own system but the systems of your opponents week to week as well as their tendencies. The Wonderlic test helps to shed some light on which players might be better suited to do all of those things.
So, at the end of the day, how important is the NFL Combine to all of you? What aspects of the Combine do you pay the most attention to? And finally, if there are two players you really like at #7, what aspects of the Combine might change your opinion from one player to the other as your “favorite”?
26 Comments
snuck the tim couch bear in there huh? nice.
I think based on the Browns prior drafts the answer to the question is: NO! If names like Bryant and Bradford are being bantered about at #7 with the new brain trust I don’t hold out much hope for them either. I mean why not sink the ship and just draft Tebow!
Also, if I could go back and rewrite this piece with a little more time and a few less meetings this morning, I’d also include a note about how all of the top prospects don’t even work out at the Combine anyway, so really what’s the point?
@3 It gives the people who actually watch the NFL network something else to be riveted too you know, while the rest of us are in the real world!
I had on Mike & Mike for a little bit this morning (I know – bad idea). They were speaking with Bill Billick (again – I know) and he was making the point that the scouts and front office guys tend to not get caught up in the combine but the coaches do. The coaches have been spending time looking at FA with their and other teams players. They havent been evaluating the draft guys much so the combine is the coaces first look at these guys and they have a tendency to fall in love with combine performances.
For what that is worth…
I guess it maybe serves a function if you’re picking in the last 5 picks or trying to find some later-round talent that maybe you haven’t scouted as much as you would have liked.
If I had the network, I’d watch to see what Myron Rolle does, solely because (to me) he’s the most interesting football player going into the draft.
For those who don’t know, he’s a Rhodes Scholar currently studying at Oxford and planning on becoming a neurosurgeon after taking a year break from playing safety at Florida State, where he was also an All-American.
It’s also fun to see how many lies are spread by athletic departments about speed. Florida had 8 guys they said ran a sub 4.4-40 or something stupid – get to the combine where it’s not timed by the team, they were all over 4.4.
@Alex Myron Rolle is a great story and unlike Teblow a role model for collegiate athletes. Very impressive.
Personally, I wouldve opted for either Mo Clarett or Andre Smith running…
The combine is pointless. Just draft all the players you recurited out of high school.
/Butch’d
boogey
“unlike Teblow a role model for collegiate athletes.”
Do you know something about Tim Tebow to say something disparaging like that?
It is also good to see the NFL network/ESPN guys try to run a 40 when they try to give perspective.
@10
Or middle school.
/Carroll’d
the combine is good for the interview portion.
outside of that, maybe it helps with rounds 6,7 and UDFA’s to know which ones haven’t hit their potential on the field yet.
For the other rounds, if you are not the Raiders, then it shouldn’t matter much.
(let’s hope Haden runs a 4.2 40 and Al Davis gives us his entire draft to jump up to grab him).
The Combine is as about at important as Train A leaving the station in New Orleans heading towards Detroit at an average speed of 45 MPH while Train B leaves its station in San Fransisco heading towards New Orleans at an average speed of 65 MPH.
/wonderlic’d
@15
I don’t understand half the words you just used.
/Vince Young’d
@15 – Winner.
The interview’s are important. The combine can help teams get a feel for players who are just not home names. The Tony Pike’s can show off their skills while the Tebow’s and Bradford’s get all the air time on ESPN.
You have game film on most of the players in the draft and combine anyways.. this just gives the scouts a more definite answer on a player… Taylor Mays is rumored to run a 4.3. You wacth film and you see him disappearing in games and you see him missing assignments he may fall down your board.
If you go to the combine and you see Taylor Mays run a 4.39 40 yard dash, you’re going to say, this guy has the skills to be great. He just under performs. I may risk taking a pick on an athlete like Mays hoping I can teach him the mechanics and see if I can turn him into the playmaker his body already is.
@11 Matt I was referring to the love of the media for Tebow as an athlete as opposed to Rolle who is both an athlete and Rhodes Scholar. I’ve heard more about Tebow and his overrated athletic abilities not to mention his religion while someone like Rolle gets overlooked.
Boogey
Seems like more of a beef with the press, unless you don’t like Tebow’s making his religious faith public (I think his religion is public by its nature).
I presumed that your calling him “Teblow” indicated that you had something against him, personally. A typo?
No typo I personally don’t like him as a player period add in that he was the media’s darling and I can’t help but not root for the guy. I won’t root against him or wish him failure I just think he’s another example of an overrated college athlete who will be lucky to have a cup of coffee in the NFL. Of course he might switch positions and have some luck although I doubt it.
Even if you dont like Tebow he is still a good role model. He gives up his school breaks to do service work for 3rd world Countries. I know my 10 year old brother is in love with Tebow and wants to be just like him which is a lot better then trying to be like some other athletes out there.
That sounds to me like an Al Davis quote up there.
DP: Doubt the wonderlic scores of Lawrence Taylor, Barry Sanders, Chris Spielman, and Jack Lambert were off the charts. Doubt Warren Sapp’s was even on the chart. Hope you meant an intelligence test structured that way might have some value for limited cerebral positions only, like QB and center.
There was an innovation called “The Box” that Ernie Accorsi and Marty were all excited about in the ’80s. It was supposed to test the reflexes/quickness/strength of interior linemen and be the best ever indication of success at the pro level. They used it one year and fell in love with some guy the Steelers grabbed first (named Aaron something, I think). The guy turned out mediocre at best. Great quote from Chuck Noll about evaluating players: “I don’t want to have to give a guy a reason to play football.” With the violence inherent in pro football the guy better not only be good but like hitting somebody and not mind being hit.
@17
if I am the Winner then Alex is Winner 1a
/2006-2010 Browns Quarterback’d
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