The NFL Combine is in the books for another year, it actually ended Sunday and frankly, nothing has really changed from the day it started.
Soon to be NFL rookies descended on Indianapolis last week and ran around in workout shorts and were measured, interviewed, drilled, and so much more at the NFL Combine hoping to improve their NFL Draft position. Here is a news flash, they didn’t.
With the combine over we can now ask the question, did anyone really improve their draft status? No, they didn’t. Maybe a team likes a player a bit more than they did coming into the event and maybe someone did enough to get on a team’s radar but no one jumped from a round two prospect to a round one prospect.
In fact, one of the best performances of the week belonged to offensive tackle Mekhi Becton and while his incredibly quick feet and 40-yard-dash times were impressive he is still a mid to late first-round prospect. At quarterback, we learned that Justin Herbert has some fight in him, has some leadership we don’t typically see but is he now a top-five guaranteed draft pick? Nope. Is he going to leap from Tua Tagovailoa and be selected at number 2, 3, or 4 overall? Nope.
Jordan Love looked good running the 40 and he looked good throwing passes downfield but the reality is, the tape that teams have on him is what will sell them on Love and the eyeball test at the combine was nothing more than a chance for team executives to talk with him, legally.
The combine as it is today is a bit outdated. Players will still workout at their own pro-day events and they will still have to visit teams away from their colleges and they will still get poked and prodded away from the light of a televised event.
For some players, the NFL Combine brings more awareness to who they are. It is an opportunity for them to get out of the shadows of their college years and maybe get on radar for some team but anyone thinking that a prospect will suddenly jump up a board based on last week, it isn’t likely to happen.