No NFL combine this year

[DaCat]

The NFL announced they won't hold the combine this year, but instead will only do Pro Days on individual campuses. Might this potentially hurt some of our players, notably Slater and Newsome?

A memo sent to all 32 teams on Monday noted that the Combine "will be conducted in a different format." The major change is that there will be no in-person workouts held at the Combine this year. Instead, any workouts will take place during individual pro days on college campuses.​

Changed my expectations a little:

1R - Slater
3R - Newsome
6R - Fisher

UDFA catching on with teams - RCB, Gallagher. Not sure about Brown, Pace and Ramsey.

 

[NorthNJCatsfan]

Are the required measurements, drills etc. the same at the combine and at a pro day? If so, would pro scouts see a significant difference between a player’s performance at the combine vs at a pro day? If not, wouldn’t it be in a players interest to mimic the combine requirements so the pro scout perceives the player as willing to compete in a common measuring environment?

 

[Hungry Jack]

Part of me thinks this makes it a lot harder on the teams to scout extensively, but then again, how much can one staff accomplish at one Combine?

I am not sure this affects Slater much. He is a physical specimen, and it will be harder for teams to see this, but his tape and evals consistently says he is the best or second best OT in the draft; that his technique is flawless; that he excelled against top competition; and his downside risk seems very low.

It might actually help Newsome a bit, as he is fairly slight and looks it. His game tape should be very good. He should test well.

 

[DkeCat]

The NFL announced they won't hold the combine this year, but instead will only do Pro Days on individual campuses. Might this potentially hurt some of our players, notably Slater and Newsome?

A memo sent to all 32 teams on Monday noted that the Combine "will be conducted in a different format." The major change is that there will be no in-person workouts held at the Combine this year. Instead, any workouts will take place during individual pro days on college campuses.​

Changed my expectations a little:

1R - Slater
3R - Newsome
6R - Fisher

UDFA catching on with teams - RCB, Gallagher. Not sure about Brown, Pace and Ramsey.

I would say, in general, it is a net positive. We have never been particularly great at the underwear olympics (save Vitale) - game tape has always spoken more loudly.

 

[ricko654321]

I would say, in general, it is a net positive. We have never been particularly great at the underwear olympics (save Vitale) - game tape has always spoken more loudly.

I don’t think it makes any difference at all. Our guys will do the same drills at our pro day. We will be fine. It’s just a bit more work for the NFL scouts instead of having everyone in the same place.

(frankly I’m not sure how this accomplishes anything in terms of reducing Covid spread, perhaps even the opposite if it makes more people go to individual pro days which are likely to be less well regulated or controlled in terms of rules than a single NFL combine would be (plus more traveling), so kind of dumb, but whatever that’s neither here nor there)

 

[CoralSpringsCat]

I don’t think it makes any difference at all. Our guys will do the same drills at our pro day. We will be fine. It’s just a bit more work for the NFL scouts instead of having everyone in the same place.

(frankly I’m not sure how this accomplishes anything in terms of reducing Covid spread, perhaps even the opposite if it makes more people go to individual pro days which are likely to be less well regulated or controlled in terms of rules than a single NFL combine would be (plus more traveling), so kind of dumb, but whatever that’s neither here nor there)

I agree with both of these sentiments. Wouldn’t it be better to have everyone in the Indy bubble vs. Scouts traveling from campus to campus?

 

[DaCat]

I agree with both of these sentiments. Wouldn’t it be better to have everyone in the Indy bubble vs. Scouts traveling from campus to campus?

It's not clear from the memo if scouts will be physically present on campus or not.. it would seem not.

 

[CoralSpringsCat]

 

[willycat]

I agree with both of these sentiments. Wouldn’t it be better to have everyone in the Indy bubble vs. Scouts traveling from campus to campus?

Think it's safer having these pro days on ones campus then having large groups in the Indy bubble. Then there is hotel stays and traveling to Indy by plane or bus.

 

[ThatkidfromHolland]

Think it's safer having these pro days on ones campus then having large groups in the Indy bubble. Then there is hotel stays and traveling to Indy by plane or bus.

What about scouts traveling to multiple pro days in a short amount of time? If you quarantine participants for the combine then hold it should work but is that logistically possible? Probably not. Obviously there’s no good solution.

 

[ricko654321]

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Interesting, that makes it tough on scouts. So basically they need to trust whoever is running the workouts for individual schools? I mean these are pretty standard things, but aren't there known differences / biases of hand timing vs the electric timing (or whatever) that they do in the combine? Also, I wouldn't expect this is hugely likely, but one could imagine a school skewing measurements on workouts / drills at the margin to help their players...

 

[NorthNJCatsfan]

More work for NU staff since, presumably, they will now have to run multiple pro days. On the plus side, given NU’s stellar track record re Covid, one would think scouts would be more at ease and thus perhaps in a positive frame of mind at NU’s pro days.