Every February, the football faithful get football starved and pay an immense amount of attention to Indianapolis and the college scouting combine. Then every year, and seemingly with increasing volume, there is a loud throng of voices bemoaning the event. It is said that the combine is “useless.” It is said that the combine is a “joke.” Many people view the combine as what’s wrong with football, judging players by a string of tests rather than by their play on the field.
The anti-combine rhetoric particularly gripes about the 40-yard dash and the Wonderlic test, explaining what a terrible means for judgment each represents. The complaints seem to contend that given the incredible amount of importance placed on each of those two events at the combine by the teams and the media, both events discredit the combine as a whole.
The anti-combine folk are wrong. I will give in and admit that many of the skills tests are so well-rehearsed by combine preparation programs that some of the timed events are losing some value and that the scores are improving notably due to such happenings, as was mentioned by my esteemed colleague, Crunked. However, even with that being said, the combine held in Indianapolis is still one of the best, and most valuable tools available to teams in the scouting process. I have been fortunate enough to assist a team through their duties at the combine, and I can say with certainty that the idea that the combine is useless is based solely on the media’s misrepresentation of which events mean what and how teams react to times.
The Wonderlic
One of the most controversial aspects of the combine is the mental acuity test known as the Wonderlic. I’m going to begin by discussing this test because, in a way, I feel like the misrepresentations involved in the interpretation of this test can serve as a microcosm of the perception of the combine, as a whole.
The Wonderlic is designed to test how well and how fast you learn and understand instructions (which isn't the same as how smart you are). Of course such a test doesn't have a directly varying relationship with on-field performance because there are many, many other factors that make a good QB. You have to have the physical ability, as well as the mental. You have to have the right fit with a system. Also, a coach can have a dramatic impact by playing to the strengths and only using the things that the player has learned well.
The Wonderlic isn't the be-all, end-all of evaluations, but no ONE test is. The Wonderlic has its place. For instance, Vince Young's score of 16 probably indicates he will have trouble learning the offense, reading defenses and adjusting to the complexities of the game. One way to compensate for that is to limit the play book and focus on the things he knows best. Another way is for Young to use his freakish physical skills to compensate by taking off and running. I'd say all of that played out last season. The Wonderlic wasn’t wrong about Vince Young, just the media’s perception of what it means.
You have to know WHAT a test is looking for and know HOW to apply it to judge its effectiveness. The Wonderlic is a very specific test. It's not fool proof, but it serves a purpose. If you want to look at it as an all-or-nothing type of deal, then it's far closer to the "nothing." This is where the microcosm of the combine fits in. If the combine’s importance is viewed as all-or-nothing, then it likely should go into the “nothing” pile. However, as I will continue to demonstrate, it is the perception of the event and its role in the scouting process that is at fault, not the event itself.
The 40-Yard Dash
The 40-yard dash is run out of a track-team-like stance in track-team-like clothes. It is the most commonly reported figure out of the combine and is treated by the media as a definitive measure of speed. However, at the combine, it is just one of many events. Furthermore, what is rarely reported is that there are official measurements at the 10 and 20 yard marks in the sprint, as well. While these times are rarely reported, for most positions, they carry far more importance to those in attendance.
By taking the 10, 20 and 40 yard times of an athlete—and keep in mind, the scouts WATCH these guys run, too—it becomes discernable how quickly an athlete accelerates and see where the top speed is. The 10-yard split, for instance, is an excellent measure for defensive linemen, particularly ends, to see if the initial jump is quick and explosive.
For the most part, 40-yard dash times are only important in evaluating WRs and CBs. It is the simplest test to understand and communicate to the public, and has become one of the more high-profile events, but the scouts in attendance do not treat it with nearly as much importance as the media does, with the exception of those two positions, and sometimes RB.
The final misconception is that a bad 40-time “ruins” a draft stock. A bad 40-time certainly can have an impact on where a player is drafted, as has been proven in the past. However, that only happens when game film shows that speed is a concern or question mark. If you watch game tape and see a player consistently running away from his peers, unless it’s a much lower level of competition, the 40 time is not going to move the draft position very much. However, if game film reveals a player has trouble out-running people, catching up with WRs, getting behind defenses and the like, then you need to see if it’s a problem with top-end speed or with technique. A 40-yard dash time can help answer that question. A problem with top-end speed, not being coachable, will hurt your draft stock.
Having outlined the merits and over-hyped nature of two of the more questionable events, I will now move on the aspects of the combine that get the least press but make the event vitally important and useful to the teams.
Medical Exams
This is the first and most obvious. In fact, in any pro-combine article ever written, this is usually the first thing mentioned. The combine allows doctors of each team to evaluate all players for any injury concerns. Centralizing this aspect of scouting is the only way to make such examinations possible without incredibly excessive costs.
Interviews
With over 300 prospects at the combine, you only get a quick meeting with position coaches with the vast majority of them. This is useful to get a snapshot of their personality and to see which schemes they feel comfortable with. However, the 15 minute scheduled interviews are more than a getting-to-know you session. The 60 players that each team is allowed to invite into their “office” and have a sit-down with get very in depth.
While the personality aspect is definitely valuable to an extent, in the interview rooms teams get a sense of what that player would be like in meeting rooms. Often, the player is asked to diagram plays on a white board, sometimes they even show a bit of game film and have the player comment. The Wonderlic has its merits, but this is the real opportunity to gauge a prospect’s football IQ. They show what they know, and also are tested on what they can learn and understand in a very brief amount of time.
Position Drills
It is often wondered aloud, “what do any of these athletic skills tests have to do with playing football?” While that question, in itself, is flawed (more on that later), the fact of the matter is that the majority of the athletes at the combine—even many who do not participate in timed drills—take part in the position drills. These are very football relevant with tasks that translate to the game. Scouts watch closely as each prospect runs routes, makes cuts, find holes and all sorts of football-like activity. The RB drills are some of the most fun to watch, as they have to quickly cut either left or right based on the direction a blocking dummy is pushed as they approach, all while navigating through pads and cones on the ground, emulating foot traffic.
Because these drills are not quantified, they rarely get a media mention aside from, “..and looked great in positions drills,” or “… and looked stiff in position drills.” However, they have a sizable impact. It was during position drills that 6’3 ½” Brandon Browner went form a mid-round pick to going undrafted in 2005. Everyone loved the idea of a good, tall CB, however in position drills, several scouts commented on how much trouble he had bending, and how much trouble he had with fluid motions. I sat in the stands and listened to conversations that changed his draft grade during those drills, and it turned out to be accurate, as he has yet to prove anyone wrong in lowering their evaluations.
Specific Agility Drills for Specific Positions
This is my favorite. As I stated earlier, the 40-yard dash is just one of many agility drills at the combine, and the scouts treat it as such. In many cases, that drill is far less important than other drills. Each agility drill measures specific muscle movements and athletic traits. You then line those up against the characteristics needed for certain positions.
I would like a LB that can change direction and accelerate in a hurry in a small window. The 20 yard shuttle, or “short shuttle,” then, is a good drill to watch (notice I said watch, not just check the time).
I would like my WRs to have it all: long-distance speed, acceleration, change of direction without losing a step. So the “long shuttle” and 3-cone drill are going to be useful indicators.
I would like my defensive linemen to be strong and have a quick burst. Why not check his bench press marks, his 10-yard split, and his jump scores to see how strong and explosive he is.
Final Thoughts
You see, each different position has different drills that carry more or less importance. No one drill tells the story, but the combination of specific drills can tell a lot. Film of that player is more indicative of their play, to be sure. No one is denying that, but all players don’t play against the same competition. The playing field is not level on film. The two athletes being compared are not side by side on film. At the combine all of that changes.
More importantly, there is a vast misconception that what happens at the combine dramatically impacts draft stock. That is true to an extent, but remember that where a player is expected to be drafted is almost entirely a media/public creation up until the combine. Personnel departments do not hold interviews during the season. At the combine, 350 media types get full exposure to the men behind the scenes for the first time. Just walking around the place, you can overhear information that you would never get otherwise. When mock drafts and projections drastically change after the combine, it isn’t usually because the scouts and teams all changed their minds, but because the media found out what the scouts really thought all along.
Assuredly, a team that drafted only by combine numbers, drill observation and interviews would be in a heap of trouble. It cannot be used to evaluate a player on its own. But the contributions it makes to the process are invaluable to the teams. These drills are formulated to answer very specific questions that often arise during film study. The drills do not overrule what is seen on the field, but simply supplement those observations. A poor performance in a drill will likely only impact the draft if that specific trait was in question to begin with—the combine just served to confirm that concern. The combine can also raise questions, and cause a team to re-check the game film and pick up on a deficiency they previously missed, or maybe an upside that is untapped.
So while there are plenty of faults and flaws with the event (I’d like to see players run 40 times out of their likely starting stances and I wouldn’t mind drills being done with pads), the main flaws are with the perception of the event. The importance of the 40-time and Wonderlic are not proportional to the amount of attention they receive. The timed results do not affect draft stock as much as is reported, and watching the players, interviewing the players and position-specific combinations of agility drills are more important than is perceived.
Complain about the attention paid to the event, or about the perception it puts out about the NFL scouting process. Complain about all the programs that rehearse interview technique and specific agility drills, watering down their validity. But do not claim that the combine isn’t one of the most valuable resources available to NFL teams in the scouting process. Do not claim that it is a part of the problem with the NFL these days. Do not claim that teams place too much importance on it, and not enough on the game film. To do so, you’d just be wrong.
