NFL Combine 2015: Weekend Schedule and Intriguing Prospects to Watch
It is easy to poke fun at the NFL Scouting Combine as a glaring source of overreaction that only gets so much attention because the public is starved for anything football related in the aftermath of the Super Bowl.
However, this is essentially the most important job interview that hundreds of the top college prospects from around the country will ever have. It may seem ridiculous to you or me that an extra tenth of a second in a 40-yard dash time could make the difference in millions of dollars, but that is the reality of the combine.
With that in mind, here is a look at the upcoming schedule and some intriguing prospects to watch as the weekend portion of the annual event gets underway.
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2015 NFL Scouting Combine Schedule
| Sat., Feb. 21 | 9 a.m. | Workouts (RB, QB, WR) | NFLN |
| Sun., Feb. 22 | 9 a.m. | Workouts (LB, DL) | NFLN |
| Mon., Feb. 23 | 9 a.m. | Workouts (DB) | NFLN |
Live Stream: NFL Now
Online Coverage: NFL.com
Mobile: NFL Mobile
Intriguing Prospects to Watch
Jameis Winston vs. Marcus Mariota
The story that hovers over almost anything related to the 2015 NFL draft is the battle for the top spot between Oregon’s Marcus Mariota and Florida State’s Jameis Winston. After all, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are in the market for a franchise quarterback, and there could be two legitimate ones to choose from here.
Tampa Bay will undoubtedly be looking for any degree of separation between these two top-notch quarterback prospects, and the combine can provide just that.
Both are athletes who rely on their arms and legs to make plays and move the ball downfield, so drills testing speed and the ability to change direction could play a factor in the decision-making process as well. General manager Jason Licht discussed his team’s position, via Connor Orr of NFL.com:
"It would be an insult to sit here after two rounds of draft meetings and watching every play of Lovie (Smith) and I, or Jon Robinson, our personnel director, Mike Biehl, our college scouting director, all of our scouts, to watch every play and say that, “OK, we have two guys tied at the top.” We have a favorite, but we want to let the process play out.
"
If nothing else, that quote seems to indicate that the Buccaneers will choose between one of the two quarterbacks instead of surprising everyone by taking a lineman.
Jeff Legwold of ESPN.com noted that Mariota planned to throw in Saturday’s drills. While not every highly regarded quarterback prospect chooses to do so (Winston had not decided as of early Friday morning, via ESPN.com), Mariota is looking to prove that he can make NFL throws and that he isn’t just a product of Oregon’s uptempo, no-huddle system.
There is a major difference between threading the ball through a narrow window on a post route on Sundays and hitting wide open receivers streaking down the slot against the gassed defense of Washington State.
Statistically speaking, Mariota was a wizard on the football field during the 2014 season. He threw for 4,454 yards and 42 touchdowns and added 770 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns on the ground. What’s more, he only threw four interceptions on the year and 14 in his college career, which was four less than the 18 Winston threw just this season alone.
However, Winston was the one making plays in more of a pro-style system.
As if this battle wasn’t close enough, Rana L. Cash of Sporting News passed along the combine measurement numbers from Thursday, and there was hardly a difference. Both were 6’3.25” tall, while Winston weighed 230 pounds to Mariota’s 222. Both had a 32" arm length, and Mariota’s hand size (9.875") was larger than Winston’s (9.375").
Mariota got the best of Winston in the Heisman race this year (although Winston won it the year before) and in the Rose Bowl. However, only the third head-to-head battle has a contract worth millions of dollars as the prize, which is what makes the combine so interesting.
David Cobb, Running Back, Minnesota
The combine is not necessarily as important for running back prospects like Todd Gurley and Melvin Gordon, who are widely considered to be potential first-round picks, as it is for the mid-tier runners in this deep draft at the position.
It is running backs like Minnesota’s David Cobb who can truly bolster their draft stock with an impressive performance at the combine as a way of separating themselves from the middle of the pack.
Cobb put up monster numbers this season and would have been a household name had he played at a program like Ohio State or Alabama instead of Minnesota. He finished with 1,626 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns on the ground to go along with 162 receiving yards and turned some serious heads when he gashed the defense of the eventual national champion Buckeyes in November for 145 rushing yards and three touchdowns.
He also had two games where he topped the 200-yard rushing barrier (against San Jose State and Middle Tennessee).
Jon Machota of The Dallas Morning News pointed out that NFL Network’s Mike Mayock sees Cobb as a mid-round prospect, but national college sports writer Bryan Fischer believes Cobb is better than that:
Cobb is a powerful runner who can burst through arm tackles and pick up yards after contact. He is also deceptively fast in the open field and boasts solid moves when hitting the hole.
A strong combine performance would put his name in the back of scouts’ minds, which could force them to watch even more film on the Minnesota prospect. That film is where he will really stand out.
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