Advice from Vets on the Combine: It's a Job Interview, Not Just a Workout

They have over a half-century of experience in professional football combined. They have Super Bowl wins, are future Hall of Famers, respected media voices and union executives. They were all asked a simple question. Their answers should be read by every athlete participating in next week's combine. 

The question was easy: What advice would you give to the young players at the combine? If you had them all in a room, what would you say?

Saints coach Sean Payton: "Regarding that week, be honest, firm handshake, humility."

Thirteen-year veteran and ESPN analyst Ryan Clark: "It's the biggest job interview of your lives. You have to prepare yourself for every drill, every rep and every question like you'll never get another chance. It's also not scheduled or put together for you to succeed. Rely on your training and your instinct. Don't think. Just go. Answer and react. Oh, and attempt to have fun in that meat market!"

Former player and union executive Domonique Foxworth: "Watch film with as many players and coaches as you can, and ask them questions about what they are looking for and thinking during particular situations. The film and question sessions shouldn't be limited to your position group or even your side of the ball. Learning what everyone on the field is thinking will pay dividends. It doesn't have to be a veteran star or position coach. You could learn plenty from a fellow rookie or low-level coach."

Former Giants kicker Lawrence Tynes: "Three things: Never take a day off, plan for the future and opportunities are never lost—someone else always takes them. The thing that separates guys in the NFL is work ethic. Everyone is talented and everyone is good, but the guys who work the hardest are the ones who stick around the longest. ... When I say plan for the future, what I mean by that is: Build relationships, take care of your money and learn to say 'No.' Lots of people are going to be hitting you up for this, that and the other. It is hard, but you have to say 'No!' The NFL is a great start to life financially, but it doesn't last forever. Build relationships with the people you come across during your career, which will benefit you when you are done playing.

Former Raiders executive Amy Trask: "Always have in mind that all that you say (and do not say) and all that you do (and do not do) will be considered by a variety of people for a variety of reasons. You do not control what anyone who evaluates you will consider or give weight, but you do control how you comport yourself. Comport yourself in the manner that makes you proud of you. Be the best you. That's all any of us can do in any circumstance: strive to be the best we can possibly be. If you need to have a bit of a meltdown or even a bit of a lapse, wait until you have a moment alone and do so. Then, take a deep breath, regroup and recommit to being the best you." 

Joe Robbins/Getty Images

The lesson? The combine is more than just a place where athletes get probed, prodded and measured. It is the possible beginning of it all. Not the draft, necessarily, since not all of these players will get drafted. Not the first mini-camp or the first preseason game. Maybe not even the first regular-season game.

But the combine. It can possibly set the table for everything to come.

One of the key things about the combine, according to those who have participated in it and those who have evaluated at it, is that players need to understand they are constantly monitored. It's not just charting the 40 or the bench press. It's how they speak to coaches and team executives and how they even relate to other combine participants.

Notice, everyone quoted in this column focused less on the physical and more on the mental.

This is the part of the event that some players either forget or never fully comprehend. It's not all about what the players do physically. Remember that infamous combine photo of Tom Brady, looking a tad schleppy? He turned out to be the greatest quarterback we've ever seen.

Johnny Manziel had a good combine physically and is one of the greatest busts ever.

It isn't a groundbreaking thought that the combine is as much, if not more, about how a player comports himself as what numbers he puts up—but it is the most important one.

The combine has lasting effects on how some players are regarded. I've been told that Aaron Rodgers had some of the best interview sessions ever, which, if you know him, isn't shocking. He's always gotten it. Meanwhile, he remains irritated about his 40-yard dash time. 

Turns out, the interviews, not the 40, were what foreshadowed what he became.

Payton, one of the best offensive minds in the history of the sport, did give one piece of technical advice to quarterbacks:

"Workout-wise, it's always cooler in the stadium at Indy. It's important for quarterbacks to train throwing Wilson NFL balls at a cooler environment. (The) 60s. Footballs can be slick."

Then Payton joked: "Of course, proper PSI!"

When I asked offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz, a nine-year veteran, what he'd tell combine participants, he responded with a piece of long-term advice.

"The game is truly a business, and don't let your feelings get hurt. Keep fighting for that roster spot until everyone stops calling."

The fight is what teams want to see—the player's attitude. Who he is and is going to be as a person—not just who he is as an athlete.

Mike Freeman covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @mikefreemanNFL.