NFL Combine 2015: What to Watch for on Friday
Right around the time our longing for football slowly starts to grow, the NFL Scouting Combine enters the scene to provide fans a chance to satiate their gridiron urges with endless streams of football coverage and analysis.
For the prospects who have trained tirelessly for several weeks leading up to this event, the NFL Scouting Combine offers a unique opportunity to compete alongside the nation’s best, both physically and mentality, on an even playing field in front of their future employers.
Sure, these prospects are just wearing shorts and a T-shirt, but scouts are finally able to put a face and personality to the guys under the equipment.
This slideshow is a guide detailing some key elements of what to watch out for this Friday at the combine.
Overview
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There’s been much talk about the importance of the NFL combine in the draft process. Regardless of how important you hear it is or isn't, the bottom line is this: A lot of money can be made or lost this weekend.
Friday at the NFL Scouting Combine will mark the last day of one positional group (OL, TE, ST) and the first for another (DBs).
I can tell you from firsthand experience that these are some of the most grueling three days of any prospect’s football career. Every waking minute for these guys will be under scrutiny, even when they least expect it. The key is to try to stay as relaxed as possible, despite the obligations in Indy that don't end until they fall asleep at the end of the night.
Friday will also be the first chance fans get to see footage of these players testing and doing drills on the field. The groups that will be going first are the big hogs upfront. While that’s happening, other groups will be getting their measurements, medical exams and psychological testing out of the way. The interviews will be slotted each evening as an intense day winds down.
Interviews
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Friday should include interviews for every position group, aside from the Day 1 arrivals.
The 32 NFL teams present are allowed to submit requests for up to 60 players they want to talk to. These interviews take place in the evenings and are spread out over the entire event. Scheduled interviews have a 15-minute time limit.
Arizona Cardinals General Manager Steve Keim had a great quote in MMQB, via Robert Klemko, when asked if any event stands out as the most important to him:
"Absolutely. And it’s not the physical part. I say this all the time, we miss more on the person than the player. In this day and age, with these guys and the off-field issues. I can watch tape and see a player’s foot speed and his movement skills, his athleticism. I can’t read his heart and his mind. Those are the two things we have a tendency to miss on, whether a guy can learn it, whether he loves the game… if you don’t love it, it’s going to catch up with you at some point, regardless of how talented you are.
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This quote serves as a great illustration of the value placed on the interview process.
So far, there have been reports of some impressive interviews by key prospects. Most notably, the list includes guys such as Dorial Green-Beckham and Marcus Mariota. Bleacher Report’s NFL insider Jason Cole spoke about Green-Beckham’s forthright approach in the interview process.
This is good news for Beckham considering his troubled background. He was considered by many, including Eric Galko of the Sporting News and Optimum Scouting, to be the riskiest prospect in the 2015 draft.
Louis Riddick of ESPN tweeted out this notable tidbit: “Mariota absolutely killing it in combine interview process. Told he is as/more impressive than Russell Wilson was, which is significant.”
Most important, Mariota needs to prove he is a fast learner and can be a vocal team leader when he needs to be.
Offensive Line Workouts
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Friday signals the first day of on-field workouts for the combine. Day 1 arrivals are first to the line in Indy and will finish up their three-day experience with arguably the biggest test of their football careers.
NFL coaches put offensive linemen through a number of on-field position drills after the players finish running the 40-yard dash. Scouts use this opportunity to evaluate on prospect quickness, agility and balance. In addition, some of the players' personality and character traits, such as competitiveness and confidence, are revealed in these moments.
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Defensive Line and Linebacker Measurements
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For the defensive linemen who arrived in Indianapolis on Thursday, they will be spending much of Friday completing their medical examinations and measurements. The day starts early for these guys as they head over from the hotel to Lucas Oil Stadium for the height, weight, arm, hand and wingspan measurements starting at 7:30 a.m. ET.
This process is notoriously referred to as the "meat market" for good reason. Prospects are forced to walk on stage in front of hundreds of scouts, coaches and other NFL personnel wearing nothing but a pair of workout undies.
While on stage, they are weighed and measured while some guy shouts their measurements on a speaker for the entire room to hear. Meanwhile, all eyes in the room are staring over their exposed bodies, looking at them from head-to-toe, taking notes and judging every noteworthy inch of the player's physical stature.
One of the key names to keep an eye on here will be Missouri edge-rusher Shane Ray. Many analysts have him as one of the top-ranked defensive players in this draft despite being a bit undersized. Bleacher Report's Matt Miller ranks Ray as his second-best defensive end in this draft. Ray's most important measurement will be his arm length. If his arms are shorter than 33 inches, this could hurt his stock on draft day but will also make life much harder for him on Sundays.
Defensive Back Medical Checks
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Friday marks the arrival of the final position group into Indianapolis.
In typical fashion of the NFL Scouting Combine, the wide receivers will be sent in for their hospital pre-exams and X-rays. This will not constitute their full medical examinations—that takes place on Saturday. Pre-exams and X-rays will consist of the players spending most of their day at the hospital getting every past injury on record scanned and checked with state-of-the-art machinery. In addition, the players will likely provide blood and urine samples that are screened for nearly every possible health concern. This information will be used during the medical assessments the next day.
One of the key defensive backs at the combine who enters with medical concerns is Oregon CB Ifo Ekpre-Olomu. Ekpre-Olomu severely injured his right knee during a practice for the Rose Bowl game.
Obviously he is not expected to be fully recovered so soon after his injury, but scans and X-rays need to show doctors that his rehab is coming along according to plan and without any hiccups. If his knee shows any concerns, it will certainly hurt his draft stock.
Drills to Watch
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The most important drill to keep an eye on for the offensive linemen will not be the 40-yard dash. More translatable skills can be found in the three-cone and short shuttles. These allow short-area quickness and change of direction to be measured, but if you had to pick just one drill, the short shuttle is king.
Some of the best short-shuttle performers over the last two years also happened to be quite successful at the next level. The list of names includes OC Jason Kelce (4.14 seconds), OT Nate Solder (4.34 seconds), OT Anthony Castonzo (4.4 seconds), OT Eric Fisher (4.44 seconds), OT Jake Long (4.73 seconds) and OT Joe Thomas (4.88 seconds).
Considering the best performers at this drill tend to be highly effective pros, it certainly puts a spotlight on the event and should hold certain significance for any OL prospect who shines Friday.
The player to watch here is Ali Marpet out of a small DIII school called Hobart and William Smith.
Players to Keep an Eye on
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Apparently there is a tight end out of UMass named Jean Sifrin who “reeks of upside potential,” according to DraftInsider.net. Sifrin is listed at 6’7”, 250 pounds with 11-inch hands and is expected to run a sub 4.5-second 40-yard dash.
Sifrin’s background is a complicated one. He ended up at my alma mater El Camino Junior College after being kicked out of ASA College in Brooklyn. He then transferred to UMass for one season. The most concerning part of Sifrin’s story is that he’s already 27 years old.
Another prospect to keep an eye on is Penn State OT Donovan Smith.
Though I’m still in the process of reviewing tape of the prospects for the 2015 draft, Smith had the best performance I’ve seen from an offensive lineman of this class when he obliterated Nebraska's Randy Gregory from snap to whistle on virtually every single play they went head-to-head.
Smith is one of those rare linemen who finish blocks and are always looking for a guy to knock to the ground. He was invited to the Senior Bowl and impressed all week.
Ryan Riddle is a former NFL player who writes for Bleacher Report
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