The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Value of made for TV NFL combine comes under new scrutiny
The NFL combine is winding down and it’s clear the annual scouting event that’s evolved into a made-for-TV spectacle continues to be a required stop on the road to a pro football career amid concerns it can be a demeaning process with diminishing value.
The combine, which launched in 1982 mainly to bring prospects to one location so teams could gather medical information, now unofficially kicks off the upcoming NFL season and puts football back on center stage just weeks after the Super Bowl.
The event is a moneymaking machine for the league, another interview/audition for players and a job fair for unemployed coaches. But opinions vary on how necessary it is today.
NFL Players’ Association executive director DeMaurice Smith strongly opposes the combine because he views it as intrusive and says it’s intended to point out negatives about prospects.
“As soon as you show up, you have to waive all of your medical rights and you not only have to sit there and endure embarrassing questions, and I think that’s horrible,” Smith said last month.
“I don’t wanna pooh pooh any of that, but would you want your son to spend hours inside of an MRI (machine) and then be evaluated by 32 separate team doctors who are, by the way, are only doing it for one reason? What’s the reason? To decrease your draft value.”
During interviews at the combine, players have been asked to play putt-putt golf, darts or rockpaper-scissors to measure their competitiveness. Over the years, there have been instances where players were questioned about their sexual preference or whether their mother worked as a prostitute.
NFL executive Troy Vincent has sharply criticized the process and was instrumental in implementing rules to enhance the experience for players and ensure prospects are treated with “dignity, respect and professionalism.”
“Sometimes they share things with you and you scratch your head,” Vincent said about conversations with prospects.
A few coaches and general managers skipped the combine this year — including Les Snead and Sean McVay from the Los Angeles Rams — and are relying on reports from their scouts and assistants.
But most of their counterparts were in Indianapolis along with a record 1,625 media members accredited by the NFL to cover the week-long activities. The number of credentialed media is up from 628 in 2010.
The attention the combine received just two weeks after the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Philadelphia Eagles in a thrilling Super Bowl is a reflection of the NFL’s popularity.
But while fans enjoy watching the sprints and weightlifting, Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell doesn’t care much about the 40yard dash times, bench press numbers or any of the other drills.
He’s there for what the masses can’t see: the interviews.
“You grade them off the tape. You don’t grade off somebody out here in pajamas running around a 40 with no defender around,” Campbell said of players.
“But the meetings are great. The meetings are really pivotal. All the other stuff, whatever.”