As every year since 1982, the NFL combines will bring together the best university players in one place. They will be measured, interviewed and evaluated via various workshops. Because the country is immense, having them all on hand is very practical for NFL franchises. And because the university sporting level is very disparate, confronting each player with the same exercises is a good indicator.
Where and when does the combination take place?
It is held in Indianapolis, in the stadium of the Colts. From February 23 to March 3, 2025, the 329 invited players are divided into four groups: PK & DL & LB, DB & TE, RB & QB & WR, OL. The events take place mainly over two days per group: one day for the workshops then one day with the famous “bench press” (developed-hand). Players will also have to respond to many media solicitations.
NFL Network as usual will transmit all the events, which will also be visible on the site and the application of the NFL. The full program is as follows:
Combine assessment process
To be invited, a committee examines the applications of each player who must collect a number of votes necessary to be eligible. Although this is not an exact science, the purpose of the committee is to invite players who will have as much chance possible to be selected during the draft. You can find the full list of players here.
The combination can be divided into three distinct categories: medical assessments, interviews and finally agility and position workshops.
Medical assessments
The combination started in the early 1980s to allow each team to carry out medical checks on a neutral and practical site instead of forcing players to travel from cities to cities, passing the same exams. A complete assessment is requested from blood analysis to joint movements. Over 300 MRIs are also carried out. Drug screening is also part of the process. This gives a starting point for each player. Each team uses its own rating system, but a common digital system ranging from 1 to 5 is common throughout the league: 1 zero problem representing and 5 being strong concerns, the famous red flag. Each case is different, but a “4” or a “5” can get a person out of the recruiters' paintings.
Interviews
In general, these interviews are the first opportunity for chief coaches and general managers to speak with prospects. Most teams also bring psychologists and specialists to observe each interview. Filmed, these videos are then watched and analyzed to draw up the psychological profile of each player met. Staffs are entitled to 45 team interviews, lasting 18 minutes each. Informal interviews take place outside the stadium framework, a kind of unorganized and disorderly speed dating, where the wildest questions can be asked to assess the degree of reaction of each candidate.
Agility and positioning workshops
A real job interview under the spotlights: the 40-yard dash, Three-Con Drill, Short Shuttle, Long Shuttle, Vertical Jump, Broad Jump, Bench Press etc, as many exercises that allow teams to match Quantitative data with a player's videos. They make it possible to compare each player equally because they evolve on the same land, in the same framework and in the same circumstances. The different workshops will be detailed to you tomorrow in another article.
329 guest players and 257 draft choice in 2025, the competition is tough. So who will raise their rating?
