Some Combine Thoughts

The NFL Scouting Combine sure is a silly thing.

I suppose that the greatest appeal of the Scouting Combine, at least among fans, is that it's the first of the offseason events. It kicks off the new NFL year. That is especially appealing for fans of the teams that did not win the Super Bowl.

A little history. In the early 1980s Dallas Cowboys president and general manager Tex Schramm proposed the idea of centralizing the evaluation process. Prior to 1982, teams had to schedule individual visits with players to run them through drills and tests. The National Invitational Camp (NIC) was first held in Tampa in 1982. It was originated by National Football Scouting, Inc. as a means for member NFL teams to look at draft prospects. For non-member teams, two other camps were used from 1982-84. Scouting organizations have been providing their services to NFL teams since 1963. LESTO (Lions, Eagles, Steelers Talent Organization) was the first. It became BLESTO when the Bears joined. BLESTO-V when the Vikings joined. By 1971 they were known as BLESTO-VIII when the Bills, Colts, and Dolphins joined. Finally, they got smart and dropped it back to BLESTO even though the Bears and Eagles are no longer members. CEPO (Central Eastern Personnel Organization), formed in 1964, was another that included the Colts, Browns, Packers, and Cardinals. It became United Scouting after the Redskins, Giants, and Falcons joined. In 1983 they became National Football Scouting to avoid confusion with the United Sates Football League. They are now known simply as The National. Another scouting organization that formed in 1964 was Troika (Cowboys, Rams, and 49ers). It was renamed Quadra when the Saints joined in 1967. That group no longer exists and the members now belong to The National. In 1985, to save money and time, the scouting organizations merged the three camps and called it the NFL Scouting Combine. The first combined camp was held in Arizona in 1985. The second was held in New Orleans in 1986. It moved to Indianapolis in 1987 and has been there ever since. Growing bigger every year.

I've always found these joint scouting organizations surprising. I've always seen scouting as very secretive so subscribing to the same scouting service as other teams made little sense. I've since come to understand that the sheer volume of college players to scout requires these extra eyes and ears. It clearly works as these scouting organizations have been around for over 50 years. Now there are really two. The National has the most subscribers with 18. BLESTO (despite the continued absence of the Bears and Eagles) has eight. Six teams act alone.

Back to the present.

The following prospects are somewhat confirmed to have had visits in some form with the Minnesota Vikings:

Vic Beasley, DE/OLB, Clemson
Dante Fowler, Jr., DE/OLB, Florida
Bud Dupree, DE/OLB, Kentucky
Benardrick McKinney, LB, Mississippi St.
Denzel Perryman, LB, Miami
Jordan Hicks, LB, Texas
Kevin White, WR, West Virginia
DeVante Parker, WR, Louisville
Devin Smith, WR, Ohio St.

First of all, the defensive backs haven't arrived at this point.
These interviewers are curious but you can't read too much into them. It's curious to see which players interest a team. At least interested to point of visiting with them. It's curious to see the pass rushers on the Vikings list. As with corners, you can never have too many pass rushers.

I'm actually more interested in listening to each player's press conferences than seeing the drills. Hearing them talk in general and talk about their positions and play in particular can be quite revealing. Some players that really impressed me were USC receiver Nelson Agholor, Florida OLB/DE Dante Fowler, and Miami LB Denzel Perryman. Perryman talks fast. Real fast. He probably had the shortest press conference because he talks so damn fast. I always thought that former Vikings linebacker Erin Henderson talked fast. Now, I think that he talks slow. Very slow.

I giggle when I hear NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah describing the hand-catching spectrum of Auburn receiver Sammie Coates. He uses Darius Heyward-Bey and Terrell Owens. Both are at the same end of the spectrum. Neither could catch a football.

I hate seeing players sitting out some of the drills of the Scouting Combine. It's mostly the quarterbacks sitting out the throwing portion. Not knowing the receivers that are running the routes is hardly an excuse. They aren't going to carry their familiar receivers with them the rest of their lives. At some point they have to throw to someone that they don't know. Besides, if they are good enough to be in Indianapolis it shouldn't matter who is at the end of a throw. These kids have been competing all of their lives why stop now. Why sit out the most important job interview of their lives. No civilian would even think of sitting out a portion of a job interview that tests their job skills. The sad part is that the decision to compete is often, if not always, made by an agent. They say that their client can only lose money by competing. Sitting has gotten so tiring that no one really cares anymore.