The NFL Combine is going on right now and I keep hearing the question being asked about why it’s such a big deal.
The truth is that it’s not a big deal unless you keep asking why it is a big deal.
I will admit to watching snippets of it on the NFL Network last year because so many Florida players were in Indianapolis. Plus, there were a ton of guys I had seen in person from schools like LSU, Auburn, etc.
But it’s really boring unless you are Mel Kiper or have his haircut.
Look, if you are, say, a fan of Buffalo and you convince yourself it’s important to watch the Combine because your team needs a receiver and you watch ” what do you come away with? You’re not going to influence the Bills when draft day comes. I guess you can sound smart in your chat room while everyone else is actually doing something.
So let’s ask the question again ” with all of the tape of college games and personal trips to campuses and Pro Days at the schools, why is the combine necessary?
Two reasons.
1. The NFL is king for as reason. The Combine gets covered by hordes of media which means the NFL stays in the news in a month where it shouldn’t be. It’s exposure as much as anything.
2. NFL teams always overprepare. If the league’s general managers and coaches could watch Joe Podunk from Boise State run a million shuttle runs, they’d do it. It’s the way they are. If on the 97th time through the shuttles they noticed his hips were off he could drop a dozen spots in the draft.
In the end, we all have to realize that this is the NFL’s world and we’re just living in it. If the NBA or MLB had a Combine nobody would care. But remember that the NFL Draft itself is one of the biggest days for the sport even though if you divided the hours it’s on the air into the actual number of interesting minutes I think you get Vince Young’s Wonderlic score.
