What's this combine thing?

In 4 days time the NFL world will centre upon Indianapolis for the regularly NFL combine. Over the next week many of my blogs will focus on the combine as I concentrate looking at this years college players preparing to enter the NFL through the draft in April. Therefore I thought it would be a good idea before it all gets going to actually look at what this combine is.

The combine began in 1977 the purpose of the combine back then was to get all the college players together so that their future employers (NFL teams) could conduct medial tests to check their fitness. This would save each player having to do a medical test with each team. Thirty six years later the whole process has changed dramatically.

There are three parts to today's combine it begins with arriving on the particular day your position is required. On the first day you will participate in lots of measurement tests such as height and weight as well as a muscular strength test. Here players are tested how many times they can bench press 225lbs. Players also complete what is called the Wonderlic test which is an aptitude test and players this year for the first time will complete a second aptitude test. On day two players go to the field at Lucas Oil stadium where they complete many other fitness tests such broad jump and the showcase piece the 40 yard dash. They also have many positional specific drills in which they compete in. During the evening players will also have 15 minute interviews with teams if they request to see the specific player. This is really important as for many of the players it will be the first time they meet the team that will draft them in 2 months time.

Do not believe for one minute that the combine is the main tool in which teams use to help them draft a player. In fact the very opposite it is a small tool used to get a small amount of detail about a player, such as clearing up a medical issue or understanding a players speed. Teams and scouts use the combine to either cement their opinion on a player or send them back to the film room to watch that player some more.

I hope this small amount of information will inspire some of you to follow the combine this week or keep up to date with it through this blog.

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