Latest / NFL explained. / What is the NFL Combine?

Transcript

What is the NFL Combine? · NFL explained.

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: NFL Explained is a production of the NFL in partnership
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: with I Heart Radio. Welcome to NFL Explained, a production
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: of the NFL in partnership with I Heart Radio. This
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: podcast is sponsored by Kindrell. Kindrell designs, builds, manages, and
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: modernizes the mission critical technology systems that the world depends
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: on every day. Kindrell the heart of progress. Up Work
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: is the world's work marketplace. Empower your business and hire
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: the world's most in demand developers, designers, project managers and
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: more at www dot up work dot com. All the
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: confetti has fallen, the Lombardi Trophy has been placeted, and
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Aaron Donald, Cooper Cup and Matthew Stafford. They have celebrated
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: with the big years Mickey Mouse, which means the NFL
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: season now a distant memory, not too distant, but that's okay.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: We're here to talk about the future of the league.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Thought it was fun seeing the Rams pull off victory.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: My co hosted d D kinkoball a little bums. I
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: would imagine that Joe Burrow and his team didn't get
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: the w No. I mean, isn't my job as an impartial,
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: unbiased reporter to just tell it like it is uh yeah,
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: but you're you're around those guys like I would imagine
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: the storylines just changed a little bit when well, sure,
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: but you know, and I'll tell you covering what was
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: it nine nine Bengals games this year and spending the
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: time with them, great team, so fun, such wonderful energy.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: So you're just happy for a great game and great experience.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: A heck of a halftime show, Mike, which this will
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: be a whole other episode, but I shared a green
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: room on Super Bowl Sunday with Snoop and his cohorts,
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: so um yeah, I want to hear some of those
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: stories that went down, and you're right, an epic halftime show,
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: and I get to relive my college years and you
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: know those aurists that was when fifty comes out? Are
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: you kidding me? In the club? One of those songs?
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: All right, well, look, you and I can you know,
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: dork out about the halftime shows and we can go
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: down memory lane with some of these songs. We'll do
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: that on another episode of NFL Explained. But no NFL
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: games officially being played now for a little bit of
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: time with the league on vacation. But there's something really
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: cool about the NFL we got a lot of different
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: moments throughout the year that give us something to talk about.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: We've got NFL free agency in mid March, the NFL Draft,
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: which all eyes will be on in April, and then
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: before that we got the NFL Combine also starting in March,
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: and today on the NFL Explained Pod, we're taking that
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: deep dive into the history of the NFL Combine, one
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: of my all time favorite events. Let me tell you so,
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: the Combine, and we'll probably get into this at some point, Mike,
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: but there is consideration to move the Combine out of Indianapolis,
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: which would really and truly make me shed a tear.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: One of the things that's so phenomenal about Indianapolis is
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: that everything is within walking distance, and you're all right
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: there Lucas Oil Stadium, in all these hotels and a
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: ton of restaurants and bars and everything. And what happens
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: at the come line is that every single team's scouting
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: department and assistant coaches and head coaches and gms and
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: agents and everybody is in town for this week. While
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: the hundreds of future NFL prospects are all showing off
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: every piece of why they are potential NFL players from
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: on the field to off the field to all of that.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: And so it's just this tremendous chance to catch up
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: with people not in the midst of the season, but
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: outside of the season and hang out on a personal
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: level and as you just said, get to know the
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: guys that will populate the league as we move forward.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: All right, give me a handle here, give me a
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: better sense of of actually what's happening for the players
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: during the week of the combine. Okay, So they'll take
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: medical tests, they'll do team interviews. Some of them are
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: kind of at the train station, which is super super quick,
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: you know, you get maybe five minutes, and then some
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: of them are intense and they'll have been in hotel
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: suites or rooms and go through kind of being put
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: on the board. There's on field drills that show their
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: athletic abilities as well as their mental abilities. And you
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: have to be invited to Indy. So it's obviously a
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: very lite group. How do you get that invite, Mike.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: It's an anonymous committee that's made up of executives from
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: all thirty two NFL teams player personnel departments. There are
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: directors from the National Football and Blessed scouting services that
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: are also there. And here's a little random tidbit, because
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: our show is so good at random tidbits, right, blessed O,
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: which I'm sure you've heard, right, you've heard blessed O.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: Have you ever wondered what BLESSO stood for? Mike, Yes, yes,
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: I am here to tell you. It is for the Lions,
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: Eagles and Steelers talent organizations. And then the Bears joined
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: and that made it Blessedo. So it was LESTO Lions, Eagles,
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: ste Allers Talent Organization LESTO, and then the Bears joined
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty four and it became the less Sto Bears.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: Oh my, that's right. Blesso does sort of have a
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: good little ring to it. I think the other thing,
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: Addy is when a lot of these teams Blessed Scouts
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: however you want to describe it, they're assessing some of
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: these players like it's not an exact science. And I
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: think it is important to sort of go back here
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: because we've chronicled in a lot of ways the history
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: of the NFL how teams got their names, and encourage
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: people to go back to listen to some of our
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: previous episodes but I think if you have listened to it,
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: you'd realize that the league has actually been around for
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: over a hundred season. But the NFL Combine didn't start
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: until the great year of nineteen one. You know why
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: it's a great year? Hello? Alright, so blessed o the
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: National Football Scouting Like they gathered players in Indianapolis for
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: those medical tests, no team interviews or on field activities
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: were actually conducted at that point. Nowadays, the players should
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: do in the interviews the drills, and it's the reason
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: why we only have records for what the players have
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: actually performed in those drills since two thousand three also
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: another great year because that was the year that I
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: graduated college. So in nineteen eighty two, the National Invitational Camp,
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: which was the official name for the NFL Scouting Combine,
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: began with only a few teams participating. So the first
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: National Invitational Camp was held in Tampa, Florida, with a
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: hundred and sixty three players taking part. But during that time,
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: other camps actually started to pop up until one all
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: twenty eight teams with the goal of splitting the cost
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: of all the medical exams, got on board. So I
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: was talking about the dollars right, That to me makes
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: sense to sort of streamline things well. And I think
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: that the medical tests are incredibly important because you want
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: some sort of consistency right to some degree, every team
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: wants its own physicians to check out every player, but
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: that's just not feasible. So you want to make sure
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: that the players are healthy enough to compete at a
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: high level. So every position group is in Indie for
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: four days, and three of the four days are spent
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: on medical testing and interviews, and only one of the
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: days is about on the field workouts. And now part
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: of that is because obviously the tape is the tape,
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: the film shows what it shows, and an on field
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: workout is not nearly as valuable as this other sort
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: of intensive examination. It's a good point, especially when you
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: consider the amount of money that's going to be invested
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: in a lot of these individuals. To have some sort
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: of consistency on the medical testing and then to get
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: to just know some of these players is really important.
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: So that official combine, by the way, has been held
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: in New Orleans, uh it was eighty four and eighty six,
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: Arizona in eighty five, and then last year obviously with
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: the cole COVID situation, the combine was canceled. But this
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: year's combine, how about returns to Indianapolis for a thirty
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: fifth time a d D which is pretty cool, well,
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: which I already told you that it's my favorite place
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: for it to happen. So I don't know if anybody
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: in decision making capacity is stening to us right now,
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: but hey, I vote for Indie. I vote for a
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: repeat to indian Especially after coming home from a Super
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: Bowl in l A. I would prefer the combine in
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: Indy to l A. But that's a whole other conversation, Mike,
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: So let's get into it, like what actually happens, Like
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: what are teams looking into when they're trying to assess
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: who exactly they are drafting. There's obviously questions that range
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: from testing football and playbook knowledge, and then of course
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: getting to know players about the way they were raised
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: and their passions and their general philosophies on life. All
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: of that, and one of my favorite games is hearing
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: the somewhat bizarre questions that are leaked and hearing from
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: coaches what questions they are told they are not allowed
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: to ask, because that has happened too. Yeah, and actually
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: it has changed a d D in a lot of
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: ways because look, i mean sometimes you know, there's only
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: so many things that you can ask a lot of
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: these players but also keep them on. I've thinking a
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: lot of these teams, even before they get into that
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: interview room, are doing their own investigations and getting a
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: better sense of some of these players, whether it's talking
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: to former coaches, former players, just to sort of paint
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: the picture on what these guys can actually do. But
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: there's there's so much on tape, right, Like you got
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: the film on these guys, but it's now all about
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: getting to know who that player is. So I'd love
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: to get into some of these questions with you. You You
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: wanna have a little bit of fun here on on
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: some of these Sure, why not? There was a player
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: who was asked, and that was Cam Newton. Would you
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: rather be a cat or a dog? Add How would
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: you answer that question? Dog? Why? Um? Dogs are loyal
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: and loving and offer a companionship in a way that
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: cats are aloof I don't I'm trying to think of
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: a very clean way to say this, but I just
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: don't really love the idea of an animal that goes
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: to the bathroom in the open in the house. Okay,
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: that's fair. So there's that, and um, yeah, let's move on.
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: All I was gonna say was, there's this one moment
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: on NFL Network that I'll never forget watching a lot
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: of the coverage. Charles McCoy was actually asked you wear
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: a jockstrap or a G string when you play, which
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: to me is like an awkward thing to have to
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: ask in like an interview setting. But he told the
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: story on NFL Network and it was actually really hysterical,
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: and it just got me thinking about all of these
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: odd questions cat or dog or you know what kind
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: of garments you wear? Like, to me, that's it's just different.
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: And I guess some of these teams feel like you
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: can gather some sort of intel about someone's personality based
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: off of how the answer those questions. Sure, and I
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: do remember a assistant coach with a team telling me
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: that the head coach had instructed this assistant coach he
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: was not allowed to ask about a player's personal life
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: during an interview. So anything is game and not everything
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: is game, which is maybe Mike part of why that
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: In January of this year, the NFL sent a memo
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: to remind teams that any club rep who displayed a disrespectful, inappropriate,
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: or unprofessional conduct during the combine interviews with prospects could
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: lead to teams losing a draft pick and also a
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: fine of as much as a hundred and fifty thou dollars.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: And those inappropriate questions quote unquote include questions on race, religions,
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: sexual orientation, marital status, disabilities, national origin, etcetera. The memo
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: also says, quote prospects are encouraged to report offensive conduct
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: without retaliation. And we should also point out that the
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: NFL eliminated one of my favorite tests, the Wonderlick. I mean,
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: the wonder Like has been a very very telling test.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: In fact, I just had a conversation with somebody about
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: Josh Allen and how his Wonderlick score was significantly higher
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: than some other quarterback prospects in his draft class and
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: why that may be surprising but is so telling as
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: we sit here and look four years later. Yeah, well
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: no more wonder Look that is officially now in the
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: rear view mirror. Have you ever taken one? No? I haven't.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: Have you I did? Yeah? I killed it? Oh so
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: that's the only reason why you brought it up. If
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: you scored like really bad, you'd never asked me that
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: question to bring that up. So never. But I'm an
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: Ivy leaguer, you know, I didn't go to Fordham or anything. Oh,
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: here we go. It's here's what I've learned about you
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: Ivy leagueers. You guys there, there must be like this
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: insecurity that you have that you always have to go
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: and bring it up. I've been around enough of you
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: to know that that is the case. But I think
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: a lot of us, if we're building a team, we'd
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: of course want to know absolutely everything about a player.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: I think there's some that just sort of are fascinated
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: by the forty yard dash dd the fastest man of
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: combine in the forty Well, actually, I'll give you some
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: time to think about that, because we'll get into that,
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: plus explain why the forty yard dash records might actually
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: be obsolete and why you hear the term hand size
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: more than you ever expected. That's still to come. And
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: also one other note, we got a mail bag episode
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: right around the corner. Feel free to fire off some
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: of your burning questions at a King Kabwala at Mike Underscore. Yam,
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: I've been compiling some of these questions that we've been
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: getting over the last few weeks. A few months. Um
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: Our malt last mail bag episode was really successful, so
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: we thought we'd bring that back. So make sure you
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: have a question you just don't know who to ask.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: ADDI and I have you covered. We'll get to that
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: coming up. NFL explained America's most reliable network is going
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: ultra with Verise in five G Ultra wide band in
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: more and more places, so you can do more without
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: the ten times faster speeds. You can download a movie
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: in mirror minutes. What yes, that's faster than your morning coffee.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: Run lights camera coffee. And while you're at it, go
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: on and download a whole series in minutes or a
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: new song in seconds A one two one to Oh,
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: it's done. Stock up on all that entertainment. And sure
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: you can download work files faster too if you have to,
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: so you can quickly get back to all these great movies,
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: shows and songs you've just gotten your hands on. Verizon
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: five G Ultra wide band is now in more and
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: more places. Verizon is going ultra so you can to
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: five G Ultra wide band available in select areas. Most
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: reliable based on rankings from the Root Metrics US ROOTS
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: score report dated first half excluding C band and not
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: specific to five G networks. Your results may vary. Not
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: an endorsement speed comparison to Media and Verizon four G
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: LTE speeds downloads very based on network conditions and five
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: G content optimization. Where do you find the perfect developer? Well,
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: we found her at her home office in Prague, but
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: you can find her than thousands like her right now
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: on up work. When the world is your workforce, finding
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: the perfect developer, designer, marketer, or whomever you may need
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: becomes a whole it easier up work the world's work marketplace.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: Hey guys, welcome back to NFL. Explained Mike Yam and A. D. D.
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: Kinkaballah with you, and before the break we talk a
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: little bit about the history of the NFL Combine and
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: I had mentioned some of the great performances, one in
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: particular that I think everyone associates the combine with, and
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: that's that forty. Keep in mind we can only go
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: back to two thousand three when they started to keep
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: track of records. Over three hundred players eligible for the
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: NFL Draft take the field to perform some of these
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: drills in front of their coaches so they can display
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: some of that athletic ability. The college that's sending the
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: most players to Combine national champs not a shock here
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: that Georgia Bulldogs. Man, those dudes looked fantastic, terrific, and
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: they were fast as hell on the football field. In
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: the Natty they got fourteen dudes that are going That
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: ties the record with Ohio State. But one of the
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: premier drills, yes, it is the forty a d d
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: the person who has the fastest forty time anyone come
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: to mind. I do know this one actually, because of
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: course he lived in the division that I call my wheelhouse,
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: and that of course is John Ross out of Washington
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: who ran a four to two. But here's the thing.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: Speed doesn't necessarily translate into incredible football playing ability. Now
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: for Chris Johnson, who ran an official four to four,
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: it did. Obviously the running back was incredibly successful. But
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: I also remember Dree Archer, who was with the Steelers
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: for a while after running a four to six out
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: of Kent State didn't too much. And then there was
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: of course Marquis Goodwin who ran a four to seven
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: out of Texas and competed for an Olympic birth too.
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: Did he actually make the Olympics or was he just
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: a national champion? I think just the national champ if
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: I'm not mistaken, didn't actually, but he did compete in
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: an effort to try to make the Olympics, you know, um,
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: And I'm with you there on that forty And we'll
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: get into why it might be obsolete here in just
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: the minute. But John Ross is a guy that I watched.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: I literally watched every one of his games when he
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: was playing at Washington, and speed did kill the opponents
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: when he was playing. There was some vivid memories that
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: I have at that speed. Do you remember this story
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: about that forty time where he would have been gifted
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: an actual island had he warned the right cleats at
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: the combine? Do you remember? So? Yes, I do remember this,
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: And it's like he missed out on the easiest thing.
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: Was it superstition or was it comfort or ease or
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: what was it that prevented him from So Adidas was
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: going to give the fastest forty winner or time. They
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: were going to give them an island, and John wore
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: Nike instead of Adidas, so that obviously wouldn't count. So
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: we didn't get the island. He was asked about it,
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: and John such a great kid, and he said, well,
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: I don't swim anyway, which I thought was a great
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: response to not getting getting the island. But um always
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: a ton of fun when he was on the football field. So,
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: but you're right, like it's hard sometimes to use forty
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: as a measuring stick in a barometer for NFL six
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: US well, of course, because you know, as we run
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: through the list of the fastest forty times ever, only
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: running back Chris Johnson, who made the Pro Bowl three times,
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: and wide receiver Dural Mathis who made the Pro Bowl
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: once have actually been selected to sort of the exalted
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: land of their profession, being the Pro Bowl as opposed
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: to the Super Bowl. I don't know, I don't know
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: if that's saying the exalted land. Well, let's just say
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: they have been the only ones that have been recognized
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: as amongst the best at their positions. Yeah, is it
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: just me? Or every time I see a forty I
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: always think richis who has raised so much money for St.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: Jude over the how many years has it been now? Ten,
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: fifteen years that he's been running the forty in his
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: suit and sneakers, fifteen years, handling business a D fifteen years. Yeah,
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: but his fastest time, by the way, is a five
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: point nine four. So I guess being fast doesn't necessarily
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: equate success because he's about as successful as they come
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: at our network. Right, Yeah, Look, I'm sure you've covered
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: a bunch of pro days. I have as well. It's
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: not just the forty that is used as a measuring
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: stick or something that I think NFL teams are hoping
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: is at least a little predictor of success. Broad jump,
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: three cones, drill, the vertical jump, the bench press, all
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: different measuring sticks. To me, it's almost like a horse
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: and pony show watching some of these guys, because physically
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: they're so gifted, and to see some of these numbers
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: a D it's jaw dropping. Well, and I think it's
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: important beyond them numbers, just to explain why these drills
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: are relevant, you know, Like when we talk about the
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: forty mic, it's often well, when do you see a
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: guy really running forty yards? Right? Like? Why does a
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: forty yard time matter for an offensive lineman who never Yeah,
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: like a lineman never moves more than five yards, so
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: why does the forty time really matter? I think it's
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: a good idea to jump through. Like, okay, so the
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: broad jump. You're never seeing anybody do a broad jump
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: on a football field. Why does that matter? Because how
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: far a player can jump is a good measurement for
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: sort of their lower body explosiveness, which we know is
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: incredibly important. The three con drill assesses how fast a
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: player can change direction, and you know that you want
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: just about anybody on a football field to have a
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: good change of direction. The vertical jump is a good
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: indicator for lower body explosiveness from the ground up, and
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: you know that might mean something different for a wide
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: receiver who's trying the high point a ball versus a
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: defensive lineman who's trying to block a pass or a
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: field goal, but still it's important. The bench press is,
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: of course, all about strength, and it's always fun to
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: see who can lift the most, and in some ways
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: it's important, some ways it's not. The guy that's number
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: two on the list is offensive lineman Mitch Petris. He
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: did this in two thousand and ten at Arkansas, and
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: I covered him with the new York Giants, but Mitch
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: was never a full time long starter in the NFL.
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: So there you go. There is something really impressive watching
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: some of these players at the bench press. Like I've
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: covered enough pro days where the guys who do it
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: well on the higher reps and like it really is
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: something to watch and then just everyone getting around because
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: it's it's that pure strength. It's kind of like freakazoid level.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: I mean not everyone can do it and do it
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: at that level, so it is kind of cool just
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: from a fan's perspective, Like I get why people check
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: in on coverage just to see some of these videos. Sure,
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: but again that's not the be all end all of
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: whether you will be a successful NFL player or not.
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: I was just going to mention this speaking of like
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: complete performances and guys who have done well. Tristan Worse
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: out of Iowa plays for the bucks fastest forty, best vertical,
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: best broad jump by any player, weighing at least three
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: and twenty pounds at the combine. He was drafted thirteenth overall.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: Back in Another guy that comes to mind, DK Metcalf
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: also had a great combine, shocking right fastest forty among
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: players when at least to five only player to record
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: a sub four four forty vertical jump of at least
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: forty inches and a broad jump of eleven feet and
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: have twenty plus reps on the bench. He was drafted
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: in the second round at sixty four Ferndon Davis, another
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: guy fastest forty. It was a four or four guy
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: best vertical jump when at least two fifty pounds. So
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: I know what you're saying not necessarily a precursor for success.
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: Those guys obviously have had success in the NFL. But
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: just the visuals of seeing guys that look like that
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: that way that much do things that other people can't do,
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: to me is one of the best parts of watching
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: any coverage around the Combine or any of the pro
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: day stuff. Some of this is not surprising to me, however.
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: I mean, you're naming guys that are really, really good
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: at what they do, and obviously they show an exemplary athleticism,
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: and what you're saying is is not that they were
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: the best at one discipline. They were amongst the best
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: at everything. So it feels a little chicken and eggish
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: to me. I'm with you all, I'm saying is from
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: like a visual standpoint. Watching stuff like that is just
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: it's it's really cool. It's fun. And now I understand
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: if you've seen the videos and you follow some of
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: these guys and they work out routines like that, that's
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: why because they do things that not everyone can do.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: You want the confidence of knowing that the people, places,
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: and things that matter to you are protected. At Kitta,
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: they're bringing you that confidence in smarter ways than ever before,
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: introducing the kid As Smoking carbon Monoxide Alarm with Smart Features.
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: The alarm connects with the kid a app to bring
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: real time information on potential issues and alarm status right
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: to your fingertips. It alerts you to both smoke and
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: carbon monoxide using a single alarm, and includes features like
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: ten year battery backup for peace of mind, whole home
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: alarm activation so when any alarm goes off, all alarms
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: will sound and send a mobile notification, and the convenience
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: of voice control capabilities. The kid Is Smoking Carbon Monoxide
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: Alarm with Smart Features is just the latest innovation from
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: a trusted fire safety leader for more than one years.
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: Explore Kitta today and take control of a safer home.
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: Visit kidda dot com slash Safer Home Today. To learn more,
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: that's k I d d e dot com slash Safer
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: Home Today. This podcast is sponsored by Kendrell. Kendrell Designs, builds, manages,
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: and modernizes the mission critical technology systems that the world
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: depends on every day. Working side by side with their customers,
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: they imagine things differently. By forging new strategic partnerships, they
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: unlock new possibilities, creating a world powered by healthy digital systems,
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: alive with opportunity, oxygen to innovation, and energy to change
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: the world. Kendrell the heart of Progress. Okay, let's move
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: on to, of course, the most glamorous position, and that
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: of course is quarterback. And since you and I talked
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: about our height a fair amount, and you obviously lie
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: about your five inches, whatever, can you guess? Yeah? Yeah,
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: can you guess the shortest quarterbacks to be drafted in
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: the first round? I know the shortest one only because
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: I watched him a ton when he was in college,
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: and he's a guy that I roote for, so like,
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: this entire group of players to me are like the
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: can do guys that I just like because I'm obviously
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: not six five, but Kyler Murray. All the hoopla and
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: the fanfare around his size and for him to still
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: have the success that he's had at the NFL, to me,
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: it's just really cool. But I know it's Kyler Murray
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: h and you are correct. Number two would be Johnny Manzel,
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: who officially measured in at five ft eleven three and
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: a quarter inches. And I was there when Johnny Manzell
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: was drafted and I interviewed him, and you could find
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: photos of me next to Johnny Manzell, not five ft eleven.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: The Browns next quarterback or car quarterback, Baker Mayfield is
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: supposed to be six ft and five eight inches, and
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: I will tell you that he is taller than Johnny Manzel.
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: So I'll buy that one. Now. Rex Grossman six one,
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: drafted twenty second overall in two thousand three. Totally by
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: that one. And then here's what's crazy. Patrick Mahomes, Christian Ponder,
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: and Aaron Rodgers are all six too, and that is
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: still included in the list of shortest first round quarterbacks,
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: which six two to me feels like a tremendously good height.
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: It's good height, and look at those are names of
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: guys that have actually had success at the NFL level.
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: So I think the outlier of the Murray's and the
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: Baker Mayfields of the world are probably the ones that
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: get the most attention just because they are the shortest guys.
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: But there's another measurement in terms of quarterbacks that always
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: comes up, and I've always felt like, does it really
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: matter talking about hand size two thousand three. The only
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: quarterbacks to be since two thousand three, i should say,
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: the only quarterbacks to be selected to the Pro Ball
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: with hands that measured nine inches or smaller at the
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: combine Jared Goff, Ryan Tannehill, Joe Burrow. So in fact,
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: twenty four quarterbacks have had hands that measured under nine inches,
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: only three have started a game in the NFL. Jake
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: from Brandon Allen, Charlie Fry so generally okay, and you
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: have to love though, you have to love Joe Burrow
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: a year ago, tweeting up, excuse me, sorry, I'm going
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: to have to retire because apparently my hands are so
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: small that the ball will slip out of my hands.
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: And here we are a couple of years later where
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: he absolutely galvanized a franchise and a fan base and
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: lead his underdog underdog underdog team to the Super Bowl
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: within basically a couple of plays of winning the Lombardi Trophy. Yeah,
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: and once again, sometimes these numbers are not an indicator
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: of success. I think it's just teams just trying to
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: figure out, Hey, like, what's what's that, what's that average? Where,
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: what's the threshold on where guys could actually sit? And Yeah,
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: but sometimes you wonder what the indicator of that is.
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: Because I can tell you that there's a guy who's
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: in the city that I live in right now that's
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: hearing this right now. Certainly you've heard about this. Oh
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: can you pick it? You're talking about yes, can you
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: pick it? People are questioning why does he wear two gloves?
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: Is he wearing two gloves a mask? The size of
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: his hand? Is his hand really under nine inches? Is
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: that really true? And or is it just because he's
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: got a double jointed thumb. Maybe I don't know. I
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: did see something that he's going to have to do
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: hand exercises to develop more accurate measurements at the combine?
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: Can we do some exercises to make us taller? Like
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: I don't even know what that means. That's just like
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: like like what do you? What do you? I don't know.
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: I thought it was kind of a cool little side note.
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: I just don't know what it means, you know. I
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: do wonder, though, I will say this, Mike, how long
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: before these measurements are outdated? Right? You know, the NFL
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: is always trying to be at the forefront of evolution
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: and the combine. It's no exception to that. So in
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: one our guy, Daniel Jeremiah, who's our draft expert and
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: who is one of the nicest humans on the planet,
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: tweeted that the forty yard dash is becoming obsolete, and
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: he specifically pointed to game GPS data as a much
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: more superior measurement of speed. And the Rams, who just
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: won the Super Bowl, by the way, have already been
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: using GPS data instead of actual forty times for their
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: draft picks. Not that you know they're all about high
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: draft picks. Clearly I don't have many of those. They
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: like trading away those picks, but hey, they they are
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: on a victory parade through l A, so more power
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: to them. Cooper Cup one of those guys, by the way,
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: the DRAMs drafted in the third round. Dude ran a
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: four six to forty at the combine. Now, I think
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: we've all seen him ball out this season, Like that
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: doesn't even seem relatively accurate. Offensive Player of the Year
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: Super Bowl m VP, by the way, doing something right there,
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: and drafted after your guy, Juju Smith Schuster ju Ju.
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: All right, But the RAMS like they were interested not
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: necessarily in that time, but more on the GPS data
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: side for the rats that he ran at the Senior
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: Bowl to gauge how quickly he could navigate in shorter spaces.
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: So to me, once again, you said, like, is the
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: forty obsolutely Like I think you can make a case
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: like it kind of is at this point, Like there
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: are more opportunities to gauge what players can do real
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: time in real game situations, and data, as we know,
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: drives a lot of the things that we do in
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: the NFL from an analytic side of things, a players safety,
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: so I think from a future draft pick, like, you're
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: gonna probably hear a lot more of this in the
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: draft in April. But here's another thing, like combine is
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: generally speaking, we had mentioned you've got to be invite
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: only in the whole thing. This year, the NFL has
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: actually held its first ever, HBCU Combine players that attend
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: historically black colleges were able to showcase themselves and keep
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: in mind, like, there's some real dudes in the league.
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: Darius Leonard one of those guys that comes to mind
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: who came from an HBCU. So a lot of talent
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: that's there. And as a guy that just was covering
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: the nfl p A Collegiate Bowl in the East West
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: Shrine Game, there are more and more players that are coming,
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: Like Jackson State's got a kid at Dian Sanders had
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: comped to um to Mica Parson's Like, there's enough players
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: that are out there that we're going to see plan
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: on Sundays from HBCUs. Well, I do think that expanding
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: the search is just a smart thing, right, I Mean,
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: isn't that the whole idea. So it's funny though that
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: you talk about the sort of regional combines and general
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: locations for combine because, as I sort of hinted at
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: the top, the location of the Combine beyond this year
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: is kind of up in the air. You know, there
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: have been rumors and we do know that the league
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: signed a five year deal with Indie back in two
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: thousand sixteen, but that only takes us to two twenty two,
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: so there's another five year term up. And last June,
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: the NFL sent a memo to all thirty two clubs
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: and said, hey, we are looking for a partnership. So
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: now the combine joins the Draft and the Super Bowl
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: as another NFL event that could cycle between locations. And
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: according to Troy Vincent, the NFL looking into how to
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: quote unquote improve the athlete experience. Yeah, that's in Indianapolis
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: or elsewhere. I just hope that they settle on Indianapolis
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: because that really is the best place for this to happen.
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: Well keep in mind too, like the league continues to
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: expand and go international, they're also hosting international combines right Australia, Germany, uh, London, Mexico.
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: The list goes on and on. So the point is
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: expanding that searching to you that you made reference to
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: really critical to not only a pipeline from a fan
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: base perspective, but also to get some dudes in here
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: who could play that have untraditional paths. But wherever it
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: ends up, I know, I'm grateful we got the NFL
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: Combine to kind of get us through the through the
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: off season and get us to the start of next season.
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: But I think everyone's really excited about the combine. It
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: gives us a glimpse of the next generation of great
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: NFL star and it gives us something to talk about.
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: And of course we got everyone cover. We got the
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: Combine on NFL Network. We got complete draft coverage that's
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: around the corner here coming up in April. And do
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: not forget a d D. I made reference this a
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: little bit earlier in the show and the mail bag
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: episode that was so popular that you and I had
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: a blast doing. Keep the questions coming at a King
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: Kabala at Mike underscore, yam, I'm keeping a little notes
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: tab of all the questions that we're getting. If you
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: don't know who would ask the question to about anything
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: football related, d D and I have you covered just
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: like we did with the Combine, and that is the
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: NFL Combined takes place. America's most reliable network is going
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: Ultra with Verizon five G Ultra wide band and more
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: and more places without the ten times faster speeds. You
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: can download a movie in mere minutes. What yes, Verizon
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: is going Ultra so you can too, five G Ultra
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: wide ban available and select areas most reliable based on
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: rankings from the Root Metrics US ROOT Score report dated
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: first half one, excluding c ban and not specific to
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: five G networks. Your results may vary. Not an endorsement
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: speed comparison to Median Varizon four G LTE speeds, downloads
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: vary based on network conditions and five G content optimization.
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: Brought to you by upwork, where you can build a
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: team that will build your business. Learn more at upwork
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: dot com.