2024 NFL Combine

thought i'd split off from draft thread. that way any stats/info will be easier to find.
pioli on gmfb is saying that guys not doing anything at the Combine doesn't necessarily mark them down. my beef is this: if guys don't want to do anything at the combine,why not have them as a separate category from the ones who will do everything so that more prospects could be invited?

HSanders said:

thought i'd split off from draft thread. that way any stats/info will be easier to find.
pioli on gmfb is saying that guys not doing anything at the Combine doesn't necessarily mark them down. my beef is this: if guys don't want to do anything at the combine,why not have them as a separate category from the ones who will do everything so that more prospects could be invited?

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Super disappointed that Harrison isn't participating or attending. I know there are differing opinions on whether this means anything or not but to me, it shows a level of immaturity and selfishness. This doesn't mean I still don't think the patriots should take him. I just wish he were making different decisions.

Mike Kadlick

@mikekadlick

#Patriots executive Eliot Wolf will speak at 10am this morning from the NFL Combine. You can watch it here: https://youtube.com/live/Nw15rZTbI

Wolf mentioned he's excited that all the QBs in this draft are tough players. LOL

Also mentioned any QB should be a natural leader who consistently displays positive body language.
“It's a really good year for quarterbacks. ... we'll determine what's best…"Wolf says talking to the right people and asking the right questions will determine “who can handle being the quarterback of the New England Patriots.” "First of all, being someone that can elevate his teammates. Someone that your teammates want to play for… and obviously physical talent.""Body language on the field is very important at that position.

Wants to keep Mike and Kyle.
Says they will approach FA "aggressively". (I hope they make Kraft suffer unmercifully)

This is his 30th Combine.

Thinks the Packers QB scouting process is exceptional and hopes to duplicate that process with the same kind of results this year for the Pats.
With few exceptions, most good NFL QBs are 1st round picks.
Wants playmakers with athletic ability on offense. Ht, wt, speed, body control is all important. Wants to "weaponize the offense" and add speed and explosiveness on D.
The grading system has changed this year to the Packers' grading system. Makes it easier for scouts to find grade the players. It’ll be less role specific like the old system and more value based.
Scouts have more input and they're enjoying the process.
The Packer way is to draft and develop players based on individual learning capacities.
He also says they are doing away with any "hard-assed vibes" in terms of culture.

He has "final say" in who the Pats draft.

Wolf met with reporters after the presser and said the Patriots will meet with Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye and Caleb Williams here at the Combine

Mike Reiss
@MikeReiss
Eliot Wolf on scouting/setting the draft board: "We changed the grading system. It's a little bit more similar to what we did in Green Bay. The previous Patriots system was more 'this is what the role is' and this is more kind of value-based. I think it makes it a lot easier for scouts to rate guys and put them in a stack of 'this guy's the best, this guy is the worst, and everything in between falls into place.' Rather than sort of more nuanced approaches. I just think it accounts value better and also makes it easier for the scouts - in the fall and spring - to determine where guys will get drafted. ...

"To me, it's a little bit less about the grading scale and more about the process that we put in place. This process is a lot more collaborative. We hear from the scouts more. We're going to be able to determine, together, what is the best thing for the team at the end of the day."

Director of scouting Eliot Wolf on pending free agent Mike Onwenu moving on from his agent (question via @cpriceglobe
): "It doesn't impact us. Mike is a core player for us. It's no secret we want to try to keep Mike, and it will just be a little bit of a wrinkle dealing with him. Mike is really smart, he's introspective, he's thoughtful, and he understands; he knows what he wants, which is always good when you're dealing with a player. He's certainly someone we view as a cornerstone for us."

Todd Haley on nfl sirius said he likes the Combine vs. pro days because everyone is being evaluated on the same field for consistency of results. one example he gave was when he would go to pro days and check the area they would run 40s,and discover that the field was "conveniently" slanted downhill. i never thought about stuff like that. he also mentioned that they would invite guys to dinner solely to throw off other teams. lol

Pro days are entirely scripted. Most of the time the coaches spend more time shooting the shit with the kids college coach during the workout. The thing about the combine is not so much the results but seeing guys that want to compete & approach the combine as a competition. As far as qb’s go it doesn’t matter if he completes the pass or not. They are throwing to wr’s they have never worked with & have no idea how quick or slow he gets in & out his breaks etc.Scouts just want to see his feet & how the ball comes out of his hand. Just go out & compete & the rest will take care of itself

The Combine is fine. However, there have been many workout warriors over the years that turn out to be draft busts. There have also been many non-invitees who have turned out to be solid starters, even pro bowl players.

I don't know how much time the prospects actually spend doing drills or working out as opposed to meetings or whatever, but if it's
20 total hours then only a few hours of that seems interesting or makes sense to me.

You watch QBs throw downfield to guys with no rush or coverage. Is this a valid drill? Not to me, but last year it made me notice
how outstanding C.J. Stroud's mechanics were. I had no idea that he'd have such an excellent rookie year and was led to believe
that he had all kinds of problems and could be a bust, but......nope, he didn't and wasn't.

Why is a bench press what they use to gauge the strength of the big guys instead of, say, some kind of blocking sled that could
measure the torque they produce? A lot of it really seems stupid, but.....sure......I'll put it on to see if anybody looks special in some
way. It just doesn't seem like a great way to test guys to play tackle football in many ways.

I think the 40 is the worst drill in the entire process. Nobody runs in a straight line in a football game, nor do receivers run sideline
to sideline catching balls from both sides, but that is where we are at. The combine is deathly boring and, I think, antiquated, but
I'll probably watch way more of it than I should because I'm afraid I'll miss something. FOMO.

Anyhow, if anybody is looking for some good draft talk then I recently ran across a guy named Brett Kollman who I find
an interesting listen because he puts draft prospects in what seems like smart context and delivers his observations sensibly
and clearly. Kollman is sharp. This clip was from another guy's channel, but he's an entertaining and informative listen and
uses clips to illustrate his points. If he was part of the broadcast instead of the usual suspects then it'd probably be a lot
less boring. If you're a draft nerd then you might want to check his stuff out.


View: https://youtu.be/u6mah_XxFDQ?si=0ynXfNbgSdbLCJtK

the 40 is complete crap. i leave it on only because they sometimes talk about interesting tidbits while guys run it.

Hawg73 said:

I don't know how much time the prospects actually spend doing drills or working out as opposed to meetings or whatever, but if it's
20 total hours then only a few hours of that seems interesting or makes sense to me.

You watch QBs throw downfield to guys with no rush or coverage. Is this a valid drill? Not to me, but last year it made me notice
how outstanding C.J. Stroud's mechanics were. I had no idea that he'd have such an excellent rookie year and was led to believe
that he had all kinds of problems and could be a bust, but......nope, he didn't and wasn't.

Why is a bench press what they use to gauge the strength of the big guys instead of, say, some kind of blocking sled that could
measure the torque they produce? A lot of it really seems stupid, but.....sure......I'll put it on to see if anybody looks special in some
way. It just doesn't seem like a great way to test guys to play tackle football in many ways.

I think the 40 is the worst drill in the entire process. Nobody runs in a straight line in a football game, nor do receivers run sideline
to sideline catching balls from both sides, but that is where we are at. The combine is deathly boring and, I think, antiquated, but
I'll probably watch way more of it than I should because I'm afraid I'll miss something. FOMO.

Anyhow, if anybody is looking for some good draft talk then I recently ran across a guy named Brett Kollman who I find
an interesting listen because he puts draft prospects in what seems like smart context and delivers his observations sensibly
and clearly. Kollman is sharp. This clip was from another guy's channel, but he's an entertaining and informative listen and
uses clips to illustrate his points. If he was part of the broadcast instead of the usual suspects then it'd probably be a lot
less boring. If you're a draft nerd then you might want to check his stuff out.


View: https://youtu.be/u6mah_XxFDQ?si=0ynXfNbgSdbLCJtK

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I'll 2nd your nomination of Brett Kollman as someone to pay attention to. He's been a fav of mine for 3-4 yrs now, especially for his take on WRs.
He had a video on CJ Stroud last year and said he'd be a star but no team was interested in Stroud. He got that one right for sure.
His youtube channel is under Brett Kollman for those interested.

HSanders said:

the 40 is complete crap. i leave it on only because they sometimes talk about interesting tidbits while guys run it.

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I mean, it's not complete crap - but it certainly doesn't tell as much of the story as the NFL would have you believe.

TommyD420 said:

I mean, it's not complete crap - but it certainly doesn't tell as much of the story as the NFL would have you believe.

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i meant to watch...boooorrrrinnngggg!

HSanders said:

Todd Haley on nfl sirius said he likes the Combine vs. pro days because everyone is being evaluated on the same field for consistency of results. one example he gave was when he would go to pro days and check the area they would run 40s,and discover that the field was "conveniently" slanted downhill. i never thought about stuff like that. he also mentioned that they would invite guys to dinner solely to throw off other teams. lol

Click to expand...

So, let's say that everybody gets consistency of results. That's fair and great and all, but what difference does that make
if the data you get is only semi-relevant to identifying future NFL players?

In the example of the 40, the crew that does the commentary goes out of their minds when somebody runs a really fast time--
it's all OMG!!! and the internet starts breaking , but here is a list of the top 10 40 times in combine history:

• No. 1: John Ross, 4.22 seconds in 2017
• No. 2: Kalon Barnes, CB, 4.23 seconds in 2022
• No. T-3: Chris Johnson, RB, 4.24 seconds in 2008
• No. T-3: Rondel Melendez, WR, 4.24 seconds in 1999
• No. T-5: DJ Turner, CB, 4:26 seconds in 2023
• No. T-5: Dri Archer, RB, 4.26 seconds in 2014
• No. T-5: Tariq Woolen, CB, 4.26 seconds in 2022
• No. T-5: Jerome Mathis, WR, 4.26 seconds in 2005
• No. T-9: Marquise Goodwin, WR, 4.27 seconds in 2013
• No. T-9: Stanford Routt, CB, 4.27 seconds in 2005

So, there are a couple of good guys in there. Chris Johnson had a fine career, certainly but....it's
not exactly a bunch of future gold jackets.

Maybe they should scrap the whole thing and use a new course where prospects would
have to cut around objects and jump over some and they can also slip a straightaway in there
somewhere. They use GPS to track everything, so an intern with that data and a laptop could
probably come up with a prototype in about 15 minutes. Maybe it'd be 40 yards long. Maybe not.

What they do now just makes little to no sense and I want it to be less boring!!!

haley also said they'd pay attention to what type of restaurant the prospect chose. he said as much as the nfl team liked high end places,going too high end was usually a bit off-putting.

HSanders said:

haley also said they'd pay attention to what type of restaurant the prospect chose. he said as much as the nfl team liked high enf places,going too high end was usually a bit off-putting.

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Lol. That has a lot to do with whether a guy can play or not!!

chevss454 said:

Lol. That has a lot to do with whether a guy can play or not!!

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0 to do with it. but every tiny thing goes into an eval,i guess.

HSanders said:

haley also said they'd pay attention to what type of restaurant the prospect chose. he said as much as the nfl team liked high end places,going too high end was usually a bit off-putting.

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Trying to find the divas...
Can you imagine the conversations scouts can have on a prospect....

View: https://twitter.com/RossUglem/status/1763282992242593859?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet