By Matt Stuart | Published | No Comments
Once considered a right of passage for prospective NFL recruits, the Scouting Combine seems to losing its appeal at least among the college games top prospects.
Caleb Williams, Drake Maye and Jayden Daniels, all three considered to be the top quarterback prospects in the upcoming NFL Draft, and all three could be the first three players to come off the board next April, all elected to skip on field workout sessions at the Combine.
Williams, even decided to forgo the medical evaluations that most players, even those that sit out the workouts, still manage to undergo.
The ending of the College Football season all the way to Draft night in late April is a convoluted mess for prospective NFL talent. There are a number of All Star Bowls (The East/West Shrine Bowl and the Senior Bowl), meeting with the school administrators to declare for the draft, if they are undergraduates, The NFL Scouting Combine and of course the various Pro Days that top star recruits must schedule.
All of this is of course placed under a trained microscope of sports media. Sports reporters dissect every move, every decision that a player makes, and even in some cases, doesn’t make.
If a recruit seems to shun the process or favor a different route, they can get labeled a “problem recruit” by some influential members of the sports media.
But it’s clear, that at least for the top recruits, the Scouting Combine can be more trouble than it’s worth.
Perhaps the most infamous case of the Scouting Combine tearing down a recruit occurred in 2001 with Tom Brady. Brady, who recently retired from the game with seven Super Bowl rings and the almost unanimous title as the GOAT, had what can only be described as one of the most disastrous Combine performances perhaps in the history of the event.
Brady ran a 5.28, 40-yard dash, still the slowest time a quarterback prospect has ever ran. The infamous photograph without his shirt on was mocked and meme’d for years and his on-field workout didn’t go much better, as Brady seemed confused a couple of times of which route was being run.
Does anyone honestly believe that Brady falls all the way to pick 199, in the sixth round of the NFL Draft, without that disastrous NFL Scouting Combine so fresh on the minds of NFL team scouts and GM’s.
Heck No!
Brady’s choice to compete in the Combine was a little bit of a double edged sword for the young recruit out of Michigan. Brady was a good quarterback during his time at Michigan, but he was lesser known -nationally, than many of the other quarterbacks that would go before him.
Brady likely felt he had to show up at the Combine. Many of today’s biggest star recruits likely feel just the opposite.
Think of it this way. What’s in it for Williams, Maye or Daniels to compete on the field at the Combine. Have a great day and it only reaffirms what people already know. Have a bad day though, and it could avalanche into a series of negative stories and takes that could result in a slide down the board on Draft night. And with today’s rookie salaries depending on where a player goes in the draft, a slide could be financially catastrophic.
It’s becoming clear that the Scouting Combine is a great tool for players that really need it. Quarterbacks or other skill position players that might not be as widely heralded have an opportunity to impress on a national stage. That could vault them from becoming a late draft round pick, into a possible day one or day two selection.
For the lesser known it’s clear that appeal of the Combine is a chance to make a name for themselves. For the big time stars, it clear that the Combine, is best avoided all together.
The top recruits have also figured out something that the NFL figured out a long time ago. The Combine is for the fans. Pro Days are for the scouts and team owners making the big decisions. Pro Days are ultimately where the rubber meets the road.
The Combine is just another source of entertainment that the League can now cash in on. Players are becoming more and more aware of that.
In the end players have to do what’s best for themselves and their future, They shouldn’t be criticized for that. Instead, they should be praised for looking out for what is best for themselves, instead of what is just best for the league.
