2012 NFL Combine Day 1: News, Notes, and Reactions
Day one of the Combine is in the books. And all I have to say about that is, who cares? Nothing much happens on day one. So I’ll use this recap as essentially a primer. Here are some things to know about the combine. Including two recent players who will not be working out at the combine.
What I mean by nothing much happens I mean for the interested fan. OL got X-rays maybe did a few interviews things of that nature. Today measurments will begin, which are very important for OL.
First up in disappointing news, Alabama Running back Trent Richardson will not be participating in drills at the combine after having his knee scoped.
Former Alabama running back Trent Richardson will not take part in on-field drills at the scouting combine later this week after undergoing minor knee surgery.
Richardson’s representatives sent a memo to all 32 teams informing them of the procedure, ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter reported Wednesday.
Even more disappointing is that Utah State LB Bobby Wagner, who had a chance to put himself in the second round on many fans big boards will miss the combine with pneumonia
Utah State inside linebacker Bobby Wagner was hospitalized Monday in Arizona with pneumonia, a source told FOXSports.com. Agent Kenny Zuckerman said Wagner was not cleared to travel to Indianapolis but that he will be discharged by the weekend and fully recovered within the next few week
His pro-day will be March 8th, though there’s a chance he’ll also miss that day.
Former General Manager Charley Casserly says that the influence of the combine is overrated
The reason the NFL Scouting Combine came into existence was to have an efficient and economical way to obtain a physical on 300-plus players. It’s the first time you can have your medical personnel check out these players and that was the main thing I wanted to get out of the combine during my days with the Washington Redskins and Houston Texans.
My pet peeve about the perception of the combine is that it has a great deal of influence on how a team looks at a player. The biggest impact on a player’s grade — by far — is how he played on tape. The combine is just a tool to fill in areas you don’t have information on, mainly medical condition and measurables.
After the physical, the next most important portion to me is the position drills. This gives you a chance to see players at each position execute drills, one right after another so you can judge who is the better athlete and/or technician. When two players are rated close together on tape, a workout can provide some clarity. The combine provides the first opportunity to compare two players side-by-side in drills.
NFL.com takes a look at players who have the most at stake at the combine
Each analysts picks a different players. Selections included Robert Griffin III, Quinton Coples, Brandon Weeden, and a few others.
NFL Agent Jack Betcha gives us a look at five things you won’t see on TV that will happen at the combine.
1) Free agency unofficially begins: This when the market for free agency begins to take shape. It’s commonplace for secret meetings (aka tampering-lite) between agents and team execs about top free agents who have not yet officially hit the market. As some teams are still working to keep their own players from hitting the street, they realize that if they don’t have them signed by now, their agents are talking to anyone who will listen.
More organized agents (myself included) will actually carry with them a handout sheet listing their free agents, some stats and notes about what kind of contract numbers we are seeking. Some deals even get done in Indy on a handshake.
Here’s a look at the combine schedule.
The Drills start on Saturday, today the measruments start.
And one more National Football Post: Combine Confidential
The tampering
The timing of the Combine – which precedes the opening of free agency and trading – necessitates discussion of player contract negotiations and/or movement. Meetings between team negotiators and agents take place in hotel rooms and lobbies and restaurants throughout downtown Indianapolis. With the Packers, we stayed at the Omni hotel, as did several other teams, and we would each have our section of the lobby where we would meet agents.
Most of my meetings were about players that we had under contract already and we were either trying to re-sign (as the Finley deal last night) or listen to complaints about what the player was making. In the rare times where we were talking about potential free agents, I was careful to phrase questions such as “In the event your player is out of his contract next week, what would you be looking for?”
What became frustrating as a team negotiator was when I could not even talk to agents of our players with expiring contracts because the agent had so many meetings scheduled with other teams. Could I prove that he was talking about our player? No, as most agents have existing players on many teams. But it was maddening to watch agents ignore the player’s existing team to seek out other options.