The combine gives every NFL team a chance to see most of the players eligible for the NFL draft. It gives teams measurements of the players and an opportunity to see them do some basic drills.
To me it just seems like a way to find out who is the fastest, strongest, tallest and smartest. However, sometimes just being athletic does not translate onto the football field.
Things that can only be seen during the game are usually most important. How players handle the pressure of the actual game, hardwork and dedication to football cannot be seen in a workout. A perfect and probably the most obvious example is Patriots Superbowl winning quarterback Tom Brady but, some would say that was a fluke. Even if that was the case there are so many more examples, such as: John Randle, Terrell Davis, Rod Smith, Victor Cruz, Tony Romo and Wes Welker.
All of these players may not have measured up to what an NFL player should look like. However, all of these players had qualities that the scouts looked past. They did something you could see on film, and that gets looked over because teams get too enamored with how the player looks without the pads on.
Probably the team that classically exhibits this is, you all knew it the, Oakland Raiders. They are famous for drafting purely based on speed, strength and arm strength. These traits do not mean that someone can actually perform in the big game. This team is regularly a bad drafting team because of this, they have not had a winning season since 2002.
If there is a most valuable part to the combine it is the individual interviews. This is where coaches, general managers and players actually sit down and talk football. During this process football IQ is shown and you can see if the draftee is made of the right stuff.
Probably what all of this proves is that drafting a player is an inexact science. You cannot possibly project everything but, you should not put so much stock into one aspect of the draft process.
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