Preparing for the NFL, Part 2 of 3

NFL Combine:
“Going to Indy” is a term that means big things to guys coming out of college. There are between 300 and 350 players taken to Indianapolis every year for the combine and it is a real life dog and pony show. There are drills and interviews and tests and everything you do is scrutinized. I did not go, so I can’t relate too much on the experience, but I know Bryan Kehl had a blog going with his prep for the combine in the daily herald that tells more about it. Of the 300 and some odd players that go to the combine probably half get signed to an NFL team. Getting an invite to the combine is all about hype and having your agent sell you if you have not sold yourself enough yet. Sure there are guys who everyone knows are the best and they get their shot, but I remember Bryan telling me about some absolutely pathetic guys who were there.

Pro Timing Day:
Almost every school had their own Pro Day for NFL scouts to come but the exposure may not be what you would like. Basically scouts look at their needs and go to see players who fill those needs so you may not get a team that needs your position at your timing day unless you are the man. At our BYU Pro Day it was perfect for Kelly Poppinga, Chris Bolden and I because we were all guys that were “Late Rounders – Free Agent Prospects.” But we got to piggy back all the hype that was around Bryan. Of the 18 teams that were there, I think every one of them were there to look at LBs. The bummer is that guys like Sete didn’t get a fair shake because teams were not there for OL. After all the standard tests, (40, bench, vertical, etc) only the LBs actually did position drills. A similar thing happened at ASU where only the secondary players were put through drills and everyone else was told they were done. Now the rules are that you can participate at your school’s Pro Day or any college within 50 miles of where you went to high school. So some guys take the latter option in order to get more exposure. For example if I were a QB I would have gone to SDSU’s because there was a lot of hype around Kevin O’Connell.

Draft Day:
20 or so years of life preparing for this one day. The nerves are pumping and anxiety is at an all-time high. That is of course if you are expecting to be drafted on the first day. I was not, so I just went about my business. I figured I would be signed as a free agent so my purpose in the draft was just to see what teams took LBs. After the last pick I expected the phone to ring and have my agent give me some options. Well it kept ringing and it kept being John Beck asking for an update. My one day of anxiety turned into 2 days of anxiety. I am not sure how much this applies to my situation or not (I’d like to think it had something to do with it

) but one major component in this year’s draft was that the NFL did away with NFL Europe which eliminated 7 roster spots for training camp. That’s 224 less free agents signed. Also this year with salary cap issues coming into the draft teams just didn’t have the money to sign more guys. Most newspapers reported that there were anywhere from 350-450 less players signed this year as compared to the previous 5/6 years.

In any case I kept working out and preparing and on the 3rd day while I was driving to the gym Coach Andy Reid called me and long story short asked if I could be on a plane in 3 hours. That was the best day of my football life.

By Markell Staffieri