Layers of the NFL’s immense popularity continue to peel back. The draft lays out what lies ahead for the league and its teams; the combine shows what to expect at the draft itself. With the 2013 NFL Combine set to begin on Saturday, organizers of the event are already looking for ways to draw more fans to the evaluation of prospects in the future. Bringing an element of direct competition to the combine’s drills could be next, Albert Breer of NFL.com reported on Tuesday.
NFL Combine 2013: Competitive drills considered for the future
As the NFL Combine becomes more and more popular, its organizers are mulling the idea of making drills such as the 40-yard dash competitive events.
Brian Spurlock-US PRESSWIRE
Already-popular drills such as the 40-yard dash, bench press and positional drills could pit prospect against prospect in head-to-head races, workouts and skills tests in an attempt to make the event even more made-for-television.
Jeff Foster, National Football Scouting president, is the guy in charge at the combine, and says in Breer’s report that while the idea could have some merit in terms of fan-friendliness, adding an element of competition may not add anything to the actual goal of the combine: evaluating players.
Here’s Foster, from the report:
“What do you gain? You already have more than 20 games of film of these guys going against each other competitively.”
Potential injury concerns will be a factor in whether this idea actually becomes practice, along with the thought that, as Breer writes, changing a given drill’s basic setup could skew results, as times and repetitions could be judged more against a lone competitor than an entire group or trends of recent years.
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