Have We Learned Anything New in the Last Four Days?

With defensive backs working out yesterday, the 2010 NFL Scouting Combine came to a close. Did it really teach us anything?

Sure, it taught us that Jacoby Ford and Trindon Holliday are this year's fasted players, that TE Jimmy Graham is great at running the gauntlet drill, that OL Mitch Petrus can bench press a lot, and that none of the top QBs are currently capable of actually throwing a football. So now that we know these things and many more, how does that effect next years rookie class? No one really knows.

That fact of the matter is this: the NFL Scouting Combine is mostly useless. The basic idea behind it is sound. You bring in the best college football athletes in this years draft, have them work out for coaches, and they can better evaluate a players abilities. That's where logic ends. Sure, its great to know how strong an offensive lineman is or how fast a receiver is. What isn't always necessary? Knowing how fast a lineman is, or how high a QB can jump.

The NFL Combine is an excellent way to judge the raw talents of players coming out of college, but it is very, very flawed. For starters, there are seven events that every position does: 40-yard dash, bench press, vertical jump, broad jump, 3-cone drill, 20-yard shuttle, and 60-yard shuttle. It's great knowing a receiver has 4.4 speed and a 39" vertical, but do we really need to know those same stats for a lineman?

Each position also has its own specific drills. Quarterbacks throw to receivers, receviers run routes, linemen block, etc, etc. None of these drills are contact. You can sit back and watch a guy in a T-shirt and shorts throw a ball all day, but can he do it with Jared Allen coming from his blind side? A running back might show great speed and recognition abilities, but can he do the same thing, and hold onto the ball, when he's facing down Ray Lewis, with Ed Reed right behind him? A defensive lineman may have great rip and swim technique, but how well will he be able to use it against the Jets offensive line?

A problem that I have with the Combine, and most people don't bring it up, is that the Combine is invitation-only. The athletes performing there are generally the best of the NCAA, players we already know are usually going to be top draft picks. Small schools and schools below D-I aren't usually represented, and if they are, its usually by a single player. It's a problem that doesn't really have a solution. Hundreds of athletes performed this year over a four day period, and hundreds more will be available in this years draft. If you were to include everyone who wanted to work out for NFL scouts and coaches, how long would it take? Weeks? A month or more? It simply isn't logistically possible to have everyone who wants to be there work out.

The Combine isn't all bad. While it doesn't simulate how a player would react in game situations, it does give an idea of the raw speed/strength a coach would have to work with. Combine interviews are also often the first chance an NFL coach has to interact with players he may be considering drafting. Its a great way to find out if a player will fit on your team, and they never even have to take the field to do it.

The general problem with the Combine, and workouts of any kind, is that you can fall in love with a player's abilities, and then they don't perform in real-game situations. In the past few years, the Raiders have selected JaMarcus Russell because he could throw the ball a mile, and Darrius Heyward-Bey based on his 40 time. Neither player has proven they can be a starter in the NFL yet. Neither player was even considered the best at their position in their draft, but the Raiders picked them based on workouts, and now their suffering for it.

The Combine isn't perfect, and it probably never will be. Scouts love the watching players workout, even if what they're doing barely translates into on-field ability. The top QBs don't usually throw. This year, Jimmy Claussen, Sam Bradford, Tim Tebow, and Colt McCoy, all top prospects, either didn't participate at all, or didn't throw. Some who don't participate are injured, some are working on technique, and some just don't want to. Instead, they wait for their school's Pro Day, when NFL scouts can see them in a more comfortable situation, and in a setting more like an NFL practice.

The reality of a situation in which the current NFL is all about gathering as much information as possible is that we've gotten away from the simplicity of watching players play the game. Scouts don't need to see Tim Tebow workout to know his throwing mechanics are bad. They saw it in college. Similarly, Shonn Greene fumbled more times in his first year with the Jets than he did in college, where he was known for not dropping the ball. Thats something a workout can't tell you. If a receiver can leap over a defender to make a high-pressure catch in a college game, he can probably do it in the NFL, too.

Really, isn't it as simple as that? A player playing the game. If a college player has abilities that can translate to the pros, he'll use them. If he doesn't, he'll be gone in a couple of years anyway. A team can only pick a player based on their best information. The best information comes from what a person does on the field, not how many bench press reps he can do, and not how high he can jump from a standing position. The Combine does give us some good information, but it should never be the be-all and end-all in how we judge an athlete turning pro.