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NEWS AND INFORMATION ON THE NFL DRAFT |
Players are
broken into 4 groups which will each undergo 4 full days of testing.
The week will be lead off with the TEs and offensive
lineman, which
start their week in Indianapolis on Wednesday and run through Saturday,
while Group 2 includes the QBs, WRs and RBs; Group 3 includes the LBs
and
defensive linemen; and Group 4 the corners and safeties. Of course, not
all players will do a full workout, as over the years many of the very
top prospects have opted to wait until their own school’s pro day to
run the 40 and participate in position drills.
The first day for each group involves registration and
orientation,
while the players undergo medical tests and get x-rays. The second day
involves the weigh-in, along with more medical tests, as well as some
psychological testing. On the third day, players meet the players
association and undergo further pyschological testing; they also
undergo strength testing. Finally on the
fourth day players hit the field for physical skills' test and as well
as positional drills. The physical tests include running the 40 - the
gold standard for draft propsects - as well as the 3-cone drill, 20-
and 60-yard shuttles, broad jump and vertical leap. And on
each of the first three days players will be interviewed by individual
teams. However, every team is limited to interviewing just 60 player
and have to submit a list in advance. As well, each
interview is limited to only 15 minutes. And in many ways the
interviews take on added importance this year because so many of the
top prospects including Auburn QB Cam Newton; defensive linemen Robert
Quinn and Marvin Austin of North Carolina and Alabama's Marcel Dareus;
and Georgia WR A.J. Green, among others had off-field issues this past
season.
The on-field physical testing
begins on Saturday when the offfensive linemen and TEs hit the field,
while the offensive skill people work out on Sunday, followed by the
defensive linemen and LBs on Monday and the DBs wrap things up on
Tuesday. And while the combine used to be run with all the secrecy of a
meeting of the national secrity agency, the event is now carried by the
NFL Network with their in-depth coverage to start with the on-field
workouts on Saturday. The NFL even permits limited media attendance at
the workouts.
While the physical testing gets most of the press, the heart-and-soul of the combine, though, are the medical exams. Indeed, the combine came about in the early 1980s to centralize the medical tests so players wouldn't have to undergo the same procedure for 32 different teams. In fact, every NFL team will have their entire medical and training staffs in Indianapolis going over the medical history, X-rays and MRI results of the prospects. As well, players who have had a surgery in college or high school will be asked to go for additional tests. And players with serious medical concerns may be recalled in early April for further tests.
Road to the draft runs
thru Indy…
There is also no question that the scouting combine is a key aspect of
the pre-draft process. Last year, for example, 84% of the 255 players
selected at the 2010 draft participated in last
February's scouting combine. In fact, players who attended the combine
as a percentage of those actually drafted has been remarkably
constant at around 85% over the past few years.
As well, almost all players taken in the early rounds of
recent drafts have been combine inviteees, while the vast majority of
drafted players who had not been invited to the combine have been
chosen in the later rounds. In 2010, for example, every player taken in
the first four rounds was at the combine, whereas over half of those
drafted who did not get combine invites - 22 of 40 - was chosen in the
7th round, while 12 were taken in the 6th round and 6 were 5th
rounders. Even
in the late rounds, though, the majority of
players
selected at the 2010 draft were at the combine. Last year, 84% of those
selected in the 5th round were
at the combine, while 68% of those selected in the 6th round and 54% of
7th rounders were at
the combine. For the record, the
non-combine invitee taken the earliest at the 2009 draft was former
Oregon CB Walter Thurmond who was selected 138th overall in the 5th
round by
Oakland. In fact, it was the second year in a row that Oakland, which
selected former Ohio DB Mike Mitchell in the middle of the second round
of the 2009 draft, was the first team to take a player not invited to
the combine.
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