Regional Combines

The fourth of five Regional Combines is being held today at the Minnesota Vikings facility in Eden Prairie. It won't have the same attention as last week's Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. It won't be televised. It won't have thousands of credentialed media milling around. There will just be a bunch of football hopefuls and a some NFL scouts. For the players that might catch the eye of one or more of those scouts these Regional Combines are a terrific thing.

Here are the five Regional Combines for 2016:

2/13 Houston-Houston Texans Methodist Training Center
2/20 Arizona-Arizona Cardinals Training Facility
2/27 Baltimore-Under Armour Performance Center
3/5   Minnesota-Minnesota Vikings Winter Park Facility
3/12 New Orleans-New Orleans Saints Training Complex

First of all, what's with the Texans religious affiliation?

The NFL has been holding these Regional Combines since 2012. The 2016 Regional Combines are only open to players who played college football in 2015. It's further limited to only position players. No kickers and punters. I'm not sure what those little guys did to get themselves excluded. Perhaps the NFL decision-makers have seen all that they need to see from them.

I learned most of what I know about these Regional Combine from NFL Network's 2015 series Undrafted. This program is a compelling look at a handful of players that are clinging to their dreams of playing football beyond their college days. One of the players profiled om Undrafted actually made it to the NFL. The Carolina Panthers saw enough of Morningside College running back Brandon Wegher to invite him to their training camp. He made the team. If all had gone Wegher's way in life he might have been at last year's Scouting Combine rather than plowing through these "minor league" Regional Combines. He started his college football days as a promising back at Iowa. He didn't do all of the right things and ended up on the wrong side of things. A football career became more of a dream than a reality. Wegher started getting his life back together at itty-bitty Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa.

A lot of the college football player's at these Regional Combines have stories like Wegher's. Very few end up in the Super Bowl as he did but some make it. Most don't but the fact that a few do is reason enough for having these Regional Combines. Today is a big day in Minnesota for a bunch of football players that are clinging to their dreams.