EXOS Training Facility to Host Event for NFL Draft Prospects to Simulate Combine

EXOS is planning to stage three showcases for 2021 NFL draft prospects later this month, according to ESPN's Jeremy Fowler.

In January, the NFL laid out plans that effectively canceled a standard scouting combine because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The EXOS event is intended to "simulate a combine setting":

"The company tabbed former Tampa Bay Buccaneers general manager Mark Dominik and former Carolina Panthers scouting director Don Gregory to run the operation, which will include all the combine drills, from 40-yard dashes to position-specific work.

"The work will be filmed for distribution to teams via agents and players. NFL rules prohibit teams from visiting third-party training sites due to competitive inequity."

Under the current guidelines, teams are permitted to send up to three representatives to a school's pro day. However, no personnel can attend an event that isn't officially affiliated with the league. In the same vein, teams can't hold private workouts or invite prospects to their facility for an in-person meeting.

Fowler noted EXOS is already working with more than 130 players who are eligible for the draft.

The two-day experience will provide the kind of uniform testing and drills that could be lacking across individual pro days. As much as the NFL can work with schools to set up the same general layout, it's unrealistic to think every pro day will mirror one another.

The EXOS event makes the process a little easier for evaluators, too, since they'll have so many players grouped together.

The mini-combine will run on Feb. 26 and 27, roughly two months before the 2021 draft gets underway April 29. That also overlaps with how the NFL Scouting Combine typically extends from late February through early March.