Right now the top tier football players from the NCAA are being analyzed from head to toe, mathematically, physically and mentally, to prepare for a career in the NFL.
At the NFL Combine, NFL prospects have their wingspans and hand sizes evaluated, sprint through 40-yard dashes and shuttle drills, and endure interviews both interesting and mundane. Athletes walk amongst themselves, ranging from the tiniest, speediest receivers from the west coast to the miniature Atlas-molded linemen from the south.
The NFL Combine is a chance for the unheralded to prove their worth and a chance for the blue chip athletes of the NFL world to … fall short of expectations?
The two furthest ends of this spectrum are All-Americans — the competitors who are a half-step faster — and those who risk not even getting picked in the 220+ pick draft. And unfortunately for those in the top 1%, the combine will do nothing but bring them down.
Historically, there’s plenty of evidence of players whose tangibles at the combine were so impressive that they skyrocketed their stock into more money and better situations. For example, Dontari Poe’s incredible physical specs launched him up to the eleventh overall pick of the 2012 draft.
However, there’s equal if not more evidence of players who spent their final college season playing superb ball only to have the combine plummet them off the top of the board. Think of Minnesota’s Teddy Bridgewater, who was the favorite to be a top pick in the 2014 NFL Draft for many months preceding the actual event.
Then, Bridgewater experienced the circus of the pre-draft season. Bridgewater underperformed at his pro-day, unlike former number one pick JaMarcus Russell whose pro-day which was described as breathtaking and impressive leading up to the 2007 NFL Draft.
Bridgewater’s hands measured smaller than fellow first-rounder Johnny Manziel’s, who went ten picks earlier to the Browns, and Blake Bortles who went third overall to the Jaguars.
Bridgewater suffered from falling stock at the draft, and after months of holding one of the top two spots with eventual top pick Jadeveon Clowney, fell all the way to pick no. 32. This happened despite years of tapes that showed him playing at an exceptional level at Louisville. This happened all because of his average performance on an empty field with no other players and because his hands were a quarter inch too small.
There is a similar case this year between Ohio State’s Joey Bosa and Oregon’s DeForest Buckner, who had an excellent senior season in his own right. Bosa has been the consensus best defender in college football for two seasons, but Buckner is built like a descendant of Goliath.
Bosa awed crowds as the best player on a national championship team with how effortlessly he pummeled the 6’5” 300lb player tasked with staying in between him and the quarterback.
Buckner is a 6’7” human colossus with hands like radio dishes whose measurable statistics place him among the most imposing in a land of athletic behemoths.
Bosa has been eating BIG 10 linemen without regard for portion control for two years, and has nothing left to prove. Unfortunately, it looks like he might be the next Bridgewater.
The NFL Combine is entertaining and the measurements recorded from it are useful for the hair-splitting portion of analytics, but the combine should be used to reaffirm what happens on the field, not the other way around.
Lucas Hunter is a sophomore in journalism & electronic media and can be reached at [email protected].
