The second group is arriving at the NFL Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, home of the Colts. This group includes quarterbacks, wide receivers and running backs.
Here's a quick schedule for this group:
Today: Travel, Registration, Pre-exam & X-ray, Orientation, Interviews
Friday: Measurements, Exams, Media, Psych Tests, Interviews
Saturday: NFLPA Meeting, Psych Tests, Interviews
Sunday: Workout (timing, stations, skill drills), Departure
Here is the NFL's Combine Blog and the Combine website.
Click over to see the players headed there today.
I've been thinking about what teams can actually get from the Combine. I hope the Chiefs don't completely base their draft decisions on what they see at the Combine but maybe affirm what they already knew.
There are a few things that will be accomplished at the Combine.
First, teams will complete a thorough medical evaluation of players they might be interested in. This is very important for players with an injury history to prove that they're 100%.
Second, the interviews give teams an idea of what type of person the player is. When you're thinking about investing millions of dollars into someone, this is crucial. Players are coached by their agents (and others) to ace these interviews but sometimes that coaching isn't enough. And sometimes they've been coached so well that teams have to be able to dig deeper to find out what type of person the player is.
One NFL GM said the interviews can create some insight, but not always.
"It's really a first impression, and you can't read too much into it. Some players have been prepared more than others, and some players just don't interview exceptionally well. The [player] interview process can be revealing at times, but we weigh each part of the process accordingly."
Third, teams will be looking at athleticism (obviously). Some players (Vernon Davis) will become workout wonders and shoot their way up draft boards. Other GMs will look at two players who are graded closely and base part of their decision on the most athletic one.
The Jaguars GM Gene Smith agrees with this type of decision making.
"Sometimes, you have two guys graded very close, and the athleticism ranking can be the tiebreaker, per se. If all things are equal, we'll take the guy with more ascending athletic ability to develop."
So, I don't think any teams are basing their total decisions off this combine, but it's a good start to making draft decisions.
Quarterbacks
Jason Boltus, Hartwick; Rhett Bomar, Sam Houston State; Tom Brandstater, Fresno State; Nathan Brown, Central Arkansas; Hunter Cantwell, Louisville; Rudy Carpenter, Arizona State; Chase Daniel, Missouri; Nate Davis, Ball State; Josh Freeman, Kansas State; Cullen Harper, Clemson; Graham Harrell, Texas Tech; Chase Holbrook, New Mexico State; Brian Hoyer, Michigan State; Stephen McGee, Texas A&M; Curtis Painter, Purdue; Mike Reilly, Central Washington; Mark Sanchez, USC;
Wide Receivers
Ramses Barden, Cal Poly; Kenny Britt, Rutgers; Deon Butler, Penn State; Demetrius Byrd, LSU; Jeremy Childs, Boise State; Austin Collie, BYU; Quan Cosby, Texas; Michael Crabtree, Texas Tech; Jarrett Dillard, Rice; Dominique Edison, Stephen F. Austin; Brooks Foster, North Carolina; Brandon Gibson, Washington State; Brian Hartline, Ohio State; Percy Harvin, Florida; Darrius Heyward-Bey, Maryland; Juaquin Iglesias, Oklahoma; Manuel Johnson, Oklahoma; Taurus Johnson, South Florida; Aaron Kelly, Clemson; Johnny Knox, Abilene Christian; Quinten Lawrence, McNeese State; Jeremy Maclin, Missouri; Brennan Marion, Tulsa; Mohamed Massaquoi, Georgia; Kenny McKinley, South Carolina; Andrew Means, Indiana; Marko Mitchell, Nevada; Louis Murphy, Florida; Hakeem Nicks, North Carolina; Jordan Norwood, Penn State; Kevin Ogletree, Virginia; Greg Orton, Purdue; Darius Passmore, Marshall; David Richmond, San Jose State; Brian Robiskie, Ohio State; Jordan Shipley, Texas; Sammie Stroughter, Oregon State; Nate Swift, Nebraska; Brandon Tate, North Carolina; Mike Thomas, Arizona; Patrick Turner, USC; Tiquan Underwood, Rutgers; Mike Wallace, Penn State; Derrick Williams, Penn State; Jaison Williams, Oregon
Running Backs
Kahlil Bell, UCLA; Andre Brown, N.C. State; Donald Brown, Connecticut; Glen Coffee, Alabama; James Davis, Clemson; Arian Foster, Tennessee; Mike Goodson, Texas A&M; Shonn Greene, Iowa; P.J. Hill, Wisconsin; Rashad Jennings, Liberty; Gartrell Johnson, Colorado State; Ian Johnson, Boise State; Jeremiah Johnson, Oregon; Anthony Kimble, Stanford; Marlon Lucky, Nebraska; LeSean McCoy, Pittsburgh; Knowshown Moreno, Georgia; Chris Ogbonnaya, Texas; Branden Ore, West Liberty State; Cedric Peerman, Virginia; Javon Ringer, Michigan State; Bernard Scott, Abilene Christian; Kory Sheets, Purdue; Tyrell Sutton, Northwestern; Javarris Williams, Tennessee State; Chris Wells, Ohio State
Fullbacks
Jason Cook, Mississippi; Tony Fiammetta, Syracuse; Quinn Johnson, LSU; Eric Kettani, Navy; Marcus Mailei, Weber State; Brannan Southerland, Georgia
H/T PFT for the invite list.