Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Most intelligent NFL story I've read in years:

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/02/nfl-dra ... ne-is-dumb

While I see what the article is getting at, scouting departments HAVE TO see a lot of value in the combine otherwise they'd just quit going to it. If the author's supposition that two days of the combine won't change draft boards or scouting departments minds..then why would anyone bother going? I'd love to read an article from an NFL scout or by a scout that explains why the combine does and/or doesn't matter.

Hail Casares wrote: I'd love to read an article from an NFL scout or by a scout that explains why the combine does and/or doesn't matter.

It would have to be anonymous, otherwise said scout would quickly find himself unemployed. I don't watch the combine, but I think it gives the scouts the chance to meet all of the best talent, and get to see them operate under standardized circumstances instead of seeing them on video. I think it is during the combine that the players are given the Wunderlich test, which the teams place a lot of faith on.

I am reminded by one college star who had if memory serves a score of six on the test (which was among the lowest the scouts had ever seen), and this guy was a top three pick in the draft and was dumped after his rookie contract was up and his NFL career was over the following season. The scouts were overwhelmed by his physical talent but he didn't have the brains to go with it and could not cut it in the NFL.

Medicals, measurables, and interviews.

Rupert Patrick wrote:

Hail Casares wrote: I'd love to read an article from an NFL scout or by a scout that explains why the combine does and/or doesn't matter.

I am reminded by one college star who had if memory serves a score of six on the test (which was among the lowest the scouts had ever seen), and this guy was a top three pick in the draft and was dumped after his rookie contract was up and his NFL career was over the following season. The scouts were overwhelmed by his physical talent but he didn't have the brains to go with it and could not cut it in the NFL.

Sounds like Vince Young, who compounded his problem by wasting away all the millions he had received--which I suppose would be an indication of how accurate the Wonderlic cane be, with respect to off-the-field behavior anyway.

I took the Wunderlich test and scored a 42, which I was informed afterward was as good as Blaine Gabbert. It was a tough test, because you have to answer all 50 questions in twelve minutes and I got thru them all with about 30 seconds to spare. I'm presuming they allowed calculators for the math questions although I used Excel a couple times for calculations. Here's the link if you're interested.

http://footballiqscore.com/

I found an article on the Wunderlich which listed the ten lowest NFL scores ever. Only two of them ever amounted to anything in the NFL and both have had long productive careers, but neither position requires much thinking:

http://www.therichest.com/sports/footba ... l-history/

When the combine first stared in the late-'80s, wasn't it Buddy Ryan and Jerry Glanville who were the only HCs who wouldn't attend (or at least in the very beginning they didn't) until everyone, pretty much, were expected to attend; HCs, GMs, execs alike. Anyone else who used to forego it?

74_75_78_79_ wrote:When the combine first stared in the late-'80s, wasn't it Buddy Ryan and Jerry Glanville who were the only HCs who wouldn't attend (or at least in the very beginning they didn't) until everyone, pretty much, were expected to attend; HCs, GMs, execs alike. Anyone else who used to forego it?

I don't know, but Glanville's refusal isn't surprising. He always said that he didn't pick his team in underwear.

I remember that former Bengals P/WR Pat McInally was the only player who got a perfect score on the Wonderlic Test (of course, McInally attended Harvard).