NFL Combine is more about the behind the scenes than the workouts

The Miami Dolphins like every other NFL team will have a contingent of coaches and executives at next weeks NFL Combine but it is more than just workouts.

Starting on February 26th and running until March 4th, the Miami Dolphins will sit in the stands of Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis and hold stopwatches, clock shuttle times, and poke and prod incoming college rookies as the NFL Combine gets underway.

Social media will light up with 40 yard dash times both applauding and shaking their heads. Quarterbacks will be talked about because of some great throw to a receiver who isn’t covered and bench press weights and reps will be met with “OMG he is a freak” type water cooler talk. The “underwear Olympics” as it has been dubbed is about to officially kick-off the draft season.

Players that choose to workout will garner as much attention as the ones that choose not to. In the end, none of what happens on the field will realistically move any single player up a board or down a board. No matter what other people say, I’m telling you this as fact from sources in the know. NOTHING will change a players draft board assignment outside of injury.

Behind the scenes however, a lot can change for a player and for a team.

If there is one thing that the Scouting Combine needs to change is the availability of the athletes to the teams themselves. NFL teams will meet with players all day and late into the night. Players they have interest in and many players that will never be on their boards. All in an effort to throw shade and smoke at their real intentions. It’s a dance with the players playing the strippers.

During those one-on-one interviews however teams who do talk to players they are interested in will get, in many cases, their first time with that player. Chalkboards will be filled with “X’s” and “O’s” and coaches and general managers will throw out scenarios and gauge whether that player knows what he is talking about.

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They will dive into the player’s history not just on the field but off. They will be pushed to the emotional limit in some cases and inevitably we will hear that  one general manager or coach asked something inappropriate. It happens every year. It is here however in the hotel rooms and meeting rooms that the NFL hopefuls make their impression. The teams have already seen the tapes they have seen the interviews, now they need to hear that player for themselves. Answering their questions.

Teams will be able to weed out players that are on their bubble lists. They will be able to decide if what the scouts have told them is enough to perhaps skip a pro-day in March or April knowing that they know enough. More shade. More smoke. They will be able to use that hour or so trimming the question marks and perhaps deciding on what players they need and want to know more about.

The NFL Combine has become a fan showcase for incoming talent. A look to see who runs what and how fast. It’s about shuttle speed and vertical jumps but it is in those closed doors that the decisions by a team on a specific player are made. Not on th field.