Underwear Olympics, aka NFL Combine, irrelevant for evaluating NFL talent
Article By mflorio.tsn on 17th February, 2010
Mike Florio
In every fourth February, athletes from all over the world convene in exotic foreign cities (except when the games are played in the U.S.) for the Winter Olympics.
In every February, pro football players from all over the country convene in Indianapolis for the Underwear Olympics, aka the NFL Combine.
Though no medals will be awarded, the men who run the fastest, jump the highest, and/or lift 225 pounds the most times while wearing T-shirts and shorts could be poised to earn more money in July, based on the precise moment when they hear their names called out in April.
Jerry Rice didn't overwhelm anyone in pre-draft workouts. He did in the NFL. The Underwear Olympics process has little or no relevance to the sport of football. As we've heard time and again over the years, a football player needs to be able to run 40 yards in a straight line only on one of two occasions -- when something very good has happened, and when something very bad has happened.
And yet scouts continue to obsess over the Underwear Olympics, which provide tangible data regarding a transition process from college football to pro football that will be driven largely by intangibles like heart, desire, and the ability to take repeated shots to the chops from a grown man.
Because there's no way to know whether a player who played well among college-caliber players will be able to thrive when competing against the best of the best that more than 120 universities had to offer over the course of a decade or longer, NFL teams rely on the Underwear Olympics to provide superficial justification for decisions that ultimately are made at a far more visceral level. Seasoned coaches and scouts develop a sense for separating the skilled players who genuinely love football from the guys who are pretending to love it in order to get paid, but if a mistake is made based on a hunch tha...
Read Complete Article at Latest Sporting News Articles for NFL
In every February, pro football players from all over the country convene in Indianapolis for the Underwear Olympics, aka the NFL Combine.
Though no medals will be awarded, the men who run the fastest, jump the highest, and/or lift 225 pounds the most times while wearing T-shirts and shorts could be poised to earn more money in July, based on the precise moment when they hear their names called out in April.
Jerry Rice didn't overwhelm anyone in pre-draft workouts. He did in the NFL. The Underwear Olympics process has little or no relevance to the sport of football. As we've heard time and again over the years, a football player needs to be able to run 40 yards in a straight line only on one of two occasions -- when something very good has happened, and when something very bad has happened.
And yet scouts continue to obsess over the Underwear Olympics, which provide tangible data regarding a transition process from college football to pro football that will be driven largely by intangibles like heart, desire, and the ability to take repeated shots to the chops from a grown man.
Because there's no way to know whether a player who played well among college-caliber players will be able to thrive when competing against the best of the best that more than 120 universities had to offer over the course of a decade or longer, NFL teams rely on the Underwear Olympics to provide superficial justification for decisions that ultimately are made at a far more visceral level. Seasoned coaches and scouts develop a sense for separating the skilled players who genuinely love football from the guys who are pretending to love it in order to get paid, but if a mistake is made based on a hunch tha...
Read Complete Article at Latest Sporting News Articles for NFL
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Tampa Bay Rays Tickets: The Rays are a member of the Eastern Division of MLB's American League. Since their inception in 1998, the club has played at Tropicana Field.
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