The NFL Combine- One man says it's a joke

[Seneschal2]

Well, I've posted this a lot throughout the years...so to paraphrase Nick Saban:

He and Belichick look for similar type prospects. In addition to solid character and smarts, they seek out football players who have enough size and athletic ability to play the position.

Now of course, much of what the Combine offers can be seen on the prospect's game films -- just w/o the numbers. And these numbers can be very deceptive -- like the 40. There's quite a difference between a 'football fast' player and one who spends months training to improve his 40 time. Yet, the Combine has been known to elevate a prospect's ranking based on impressive numbers. A Jump up in rounds increases the $$$ -- it's that simple.

Also, Belichick has opined about the Combine before, basically stating he doesn't care how high fast a player's 40 is, or how high he can jump. Coincidentally however, some of the Pats draftees had Combine bests in the 40, vertical, and other drills. All this shows is, BB has drafted players who have enough "athletic ability to play the position" -- not specifically because of their Combine performances.

 

[MaineMan]

I think that one of the bigger values of the Combine is for acquiring more info on lower-ranked guys who are likely to end up going in the 5th, 6th, 7th rounds or picked up as UDFAs. Guyton, for instance. IIRC, he wasn't on a huge percentage of radar screens but put up some pretty decent numbers in his 20-split, 3-cone and short shuttle. That got my attention, anyway. I mean, assuming that a relatively low-profile guy shows decent skills on tape, appears coachable and reasonably smart in interviews, the numbers he puts up in speed and agility drills where all the prospects are competing on the same track can maybe confirm sufficient potential for a team to at least make an effort to get him into camp - whereas poor numbers might lead them to pass on him altogether.