7 sneaky important storylines you’ll want to watch at the 2019 NFL Scouting Combine

INDIANAPOLIS — The 2019 NFL Scouting Combine, the league’s annual Underwear Olympics, is here.

Players will be poked, prodded, and asked some of the dumbest questions ever. Through the lunacy, some storylines will be apparent. But not all of them are obvious before the big event begins.

These are the key ones to follow this week at the combine:

There’s an interesting \Murray measurement to follow this week, and it’s not the one people have been debating since he made his NFL intentions known. That one would be his height — the expectation is that Murray will be just shy of 5’10. It’s not even his weight. Murray was listed by Oklahoma as 185 pounds. The word is that he’s well above 200 after preparing for the combine, and he should weigh around 200-206 pounds.

The size measurement to watch with Murray is his hand size. Some NFL teams have a baseline hand size for quarterbacks. Too small, and a player’s grade will be knocked. For some teams that size is 9 1/4 inches. For reference, that’s the size of hand for last year’s first overall pick, Baker Mayfield.

If Murray’s hands are small, there will be some concerns about his ability to hold onto the ball or get enough grip on it to create throwing velocity into tight windows.

Murray’s hand size is the most important measurement at Lucas Oil Stadium, but it’s not the only one that matters.

There’s a logjam of pass rushers in the first round that includes Florida State’s Brian Burns, Clemson’s Clelin Ferrell, Florida’s Jachai Polite, and Mississippi State’s Montez Sweat. The one who could jump ahead of the group is Burns. But he has to hit a solid weight to do so. He was listed at Florida State as being 236 pounds. For some that is too small to be considered a base defensive end for teams that run a lot of four-man fronts.

A.J. Brown and D.K. Metcalf, the pair of Ole Miss wide receivers, look like they could compete for the WWE tag team titles if football doesn’t work out.

That’s a good look if you’re throwing suplexes and dropping elbows. But is it a good for wide receivers who will make their money in the NFL with quickness and separation? Both jumbo receivers will be closely watched for how flexible and quickly they move.

Although the week is meant for football’s best prospects, plenty of speculation about NFL veterans will take place in Indianapolis.

It’s only natural when coaching and front office staffs from all 32 NFL teams are in town, along with every football agent alive.

Of course, Steelers veterans Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell will be front and center. Pittsburgh general manger Kevin Colbert will speak to the media for 15 minutes at 11:15 a.m. ET on Wednesday. In the past, he’s been pretty open. That included last year when I asked him about the future of linebacker Ryan Shazier. Colbert has already said three teams have inquired about trading for Brown, so he won’t be shy about negotiating publicly.

There are a few more big things to follow with NFL veterans. John Elway of the Broncos will dodge questions about acquiring quarterback Joe Flacco on Wednesday afternoon. Cowboys coach Jason Garrett will be asked about his rapidly diminishing defensive line. Jon Gruden of the Raiders will probably say something weird again.

For most, the top two quarterbacks in the draft are Murray and Ohio State’s Dwayne Haskins. After them, Duke’s Daniel Jones and Missouri’s Drew Lock come in some order. But after that, the fifth quarterback spot is murky. In Indianapolis, maybe someone will finally emerge.

Among the quarterbacks who have a good chance of stepping up are West Virginia’s Will Grier, North Carolina State’s Ryan Finley, Northwestern’s Clayton Thorson and Boise State’s Brett Rypien.

Of that group, Finley is the one who could stand above the rest. Just don’t expect it to be because of his workouts. Finley is an average athlete and won’t wow people with his arm. But he threw for 11,147 yards and 63 touchdowns in college, and he is by all accounts a student of the game. Maybe Finley’s role in the NFL is as a nice backup who can start occasionally. But there’s plenty of value in that role, especially on a cheap rookie contract.

Going into the 2018 combine, Oklahoma offensive tackle Orlando Brown and Michigan defensive tackle Maurice Hurst were top 64 players. They ended up being drafted in the third and fifth rounds, respectively, because of what happened in Indianapolis.

Brown plummeted from being potentially the second offensive tackle taken to the ninth because of his poor workout. He ran the 40-yard dash in 5.85 seconds and only pushed the 225-pound bench press 14 times. He turned out to be a third-round steal for Baltimore and started 10 games at right tackle.

Hurst went into draft weekend free fall after a heart condition was revealed during his medical check. Had he received a clean bill of health, Hurst without question would have been taken in the first two rounds.

Obviously it’s impossible to guess which twists will come, but they will happen. A player will drop because of a workout. Someone could get busted for failing a drug test. Just remember that what happens this week shouldn’t override the games that initially got the player invited to the combine.

The flip side to these players who could drop is those who will rise. SB Nation’s Charles McDonald has a nice bit of analysis on some players who could gain the most at the combine. Here are a couple more to consider:

When following the workouts, keep this in mind from soon-to-be Hall of Famer Gil Brandt:

At this time a year ago, Oliver was considered to be arguably the best prospect for the 2019 draft. Now many projections have him potentially falling into the teens due to what was a essentially a lost junior season at Houston.

Oliver missed five games last season because of a right knee bruise, had a very public spat with head coach Major Applewhite on the sidelines, and has been surpassed by Quinnen Williams of Alabama, and maybe others, among the best defensive tackle prospects.

Oliver can flip all that around at the combine. Don’t forget, he’s this guy:

Oliver is still that guy. He’s still a better athlete than your favorite defensive tackle, unless your favorite defensive tackle is Aaron Donald. And don’t compare the two. No one comes close to Donald. Think of Oliver as more of a Geno Atkins-type of player.