The Combine's Here, Bitch!

[Direckshun]

http://www.arrowheadpride.com/2014/2...-list-workouts

2014 NFL Combine schedule: TV channel, online streaming, invite list, workouts and more
By Matt Conner
on Feb 20 2014, 10:12a

he road to the NFL Draft is longer in 2014 than any other offseason given the league's decision to push it back a few weeks to May 8-10. For the next three months, draftniks will circle around prospects like hawks, analyzing their every move and weighing the pros and cons of each player.

The process starts en masse this week with the start of the 2014 NFL Combine in Indianapolis. If you love the Draft, then this is a big week for you.

For those who are new to the NFL Combine, it's a seven-day event broken up into four-day shifts for each position group (quarterbacks to punters). Each group comes to Indy for four days to meet with representatives from each NFL team for medical assessments, interviews and a number of workouts. It's termed the Underwear Olympics for that reason, as teams fall in and out of love with prospects based on 40-yard dash times and vertical leaps.

The quick guide to the Combine

• NFL Network will televise; NFL.com will stream
• Andy Reid (Thursday, 2:15 p.m.) and John Dorsey (Friday, 12:15 p.m.) will speak to the media (full schedule here)
• Workouts take place Saturday-Tuesday
• Here are the players invited

Now that you have the basics, let's dive into a little more what's going down this week in Indianapolis.

The Combine workout schedule

Here are the days the actual workouts for each position group:

Saturday, Feb. 22: Tight Ends, Offensive Linemen, Special Teams

Sunday, Feb.23: Quarterbacks, Running Backs, Wide Receivers

Monday, Feb. 24: Defensive Line, Linebackers

Tuesday, Feb. 25: Defensive Backs

There are four groups of players arriving as shown above. Each group has four days of events.

Day 1: Travel to Indianapolis* ~ Registration ~ Hospital Pre-Exam & X-rays ~ Orientation ~ Interviews

Day 2: Measurements ~ Medical Examinations ~ Media ~ Interviews

Day 3: NFLPA Meeting ~ Psychological Testing ~ PK/ST Workout ~ Bench Press ~ Interviews

Day 4: On-Field Workout (timing, stations, skill drills) ~ Departure from Indianapolis

With the first arrivals coming on Wednesday, that puts the first day of workouts on Saturday.

The players invited

Every top college football player will likely be in attendance in Indianapolis, even if some of the top athletes won't participate in the workouts. The NFL invited over 300 players to attend. Teddy Bridgewater to Jadeveon Clowney, your favorite college players will likely be there.

Who is eligible to be invited to the Combine? Basically, seniors without college eligibility left and those who have declared early.

And how are players selected to the Combine? Read this:

Participants are determined annually by a Selection Committee. The Directors of both National and BLESTO scouting services, which combined represent twenty-five NFL teams, are joined by members of various NFL player personnel departments to form the committee. The participating NFL executives can rotate on a yearly basis, and remain anonymous. ALL eligible players are reviewed and voted on by the committee members. Each athlete receiving the necessary number of votes, by position, is then extended an invitation. While it is not a perfect science, the goal of the committee is to invite every player that will be drafted in the ensuing NFL Draft.

You can find the full list of players expected to attend at the bottom of this post. While the list is comprehensive, there are a few players every year who are drafted but didn't get invited to the Combine.

The workouts

The most important one is not a workout -- it's the interview. Teams will have the opportunity to interview players where they'll get about 15 minutes with them. With so little time, the questions have to be precise and all have a purpose.

The second most important item there is getting the medical check-up -- essentially confirming that the player is healthy or checking out previous injuries. Team doctors will want this information so the GMs and coaches can make an informed decision.

Some of the other workouts, via Big Blue View:

40-yard dash: Measures straight line speed over a distance. Not very important for non-skill position players, but coming from the 40-yard dash is the "10-yard split." That is the time it takes to travel the first 10 yards of the event and gives a measurement as to the player's explosion and first step. Very important for defensive and offensive linemen. Dontari Poe had a 10-yard split of 1.7 at 330 pounds, which is decent for a linebacker.Bruce Irvin at 235 pounds had a 10-yard split of 1.57, which is a good number for a defensive back. Both help push those players into the middle of the first round.

Bench press: Fairly simple, it measures upper body strength. Moreso it shows if you have stayed in good condition over the offseason. Poor numbers here possibly indicate not working hard enough.

Vertical and Broad jump: Another measurement of explosion and lower body strength. Also important for wide receivers and defensive backs to show off their leaping ability.

3-cone drill: Essentially a change of direction drill. Most important for skill position players. Shows off lateral agility and ability to accelerate out of a turn. One of the drills that translates best on the field. A good score in the 3 cone is often a marker for a high draft pick.

20/60-yard shuttles: Shows the ability to come to a complete stop and accelerate. Obviously important for any position and a good score here is indicative of explosion and body control. As you can see, explosion is a big factor here and one that the NFL is keen to see.

Position-specific drills: Each position has specific drills that test for many different attributes. Change of direction and hip swing for defensive backs, hands skills for wide receivers during the "gauntlet," kick slide drills for the offensive linemen, power for the defensive linemen in hitting bag drills and accuracy for quarterbacks in throwing drills.

How do I watch the Combine?

NFL Network will televise some of it.

NFL.com will stream the action.

KCChiefs.com will have full video of Andy Reid and John Dorsey's press conferences but will not stream them live.

[Direckshun]

Joe Marino ‏@TheJoeMarino · 23m
James Gayle, Jackson Jeffcoat, Jadaveon Clowney and Aaron Donald all turned in 1.60 or better 10 yard splits. Excellent "get off" burst.

More and more people getting on the Gayle train, for one reason or another.

Rumor is that Jeffcoat's going to hit the 3rd day of the draft.

[Direckshun]

Hageman looks very powerful in drills. Not the most fluid athlete, but just total power.

[Direckshun]

Jernigan has extremely fast feet.

Anthony Johnson looks very quick.

Edit:

Dan Kadar ‏@MockingTheDraft · 1m
Jernigan's feet <3

[OldSchool]

I am not really surprised that Clarke timed better in the 40 than Ealy did.

[Direckshun]

Gotta give it up to Rich Eisen and Mayock, along with all the on-the-field folks over the days. They are making this very relaxing and entertaining to watch.

[Exoter175]

Starting to get big on Jeffcoat, not sure how he fits but I like his fluid, natural movement there.

[Direckshun]

Rumors:

2014 NFL Combine Rumors: Sunday, Feb. 23, 5:05 p.m.
By Tony Pauline, http://draftinsider.net/

Austin Seferian-Jenkins, TE, Washington:
In the last hour, I've learned much more on the injury which kept Austin Seferian-Jenkins from working out yesterday. It was an injury medical examiners at the Combine accidentally found. Doctors X-rayed Seferian-Jenkins left foot with the sole intention of examining the ankle, which he sprained a year ago and kept him on the sidelines during a small portion of the 2012 season.

In reviewing the X-rays, doctors noticed what seemed to be a potential small fracture in the foot and ordered more tests. I'm told Seferian-Jenkins was getting ready to take the field for his workout when he was pulled from the line and told additional tests were needed. The big tight end was as surprised as anyone as he'd never experienced pain in his left foot to that point. Seferian-Jenkins' Combine weight of 262 pounds is a number significantly lower than his playing weight of 2013. I'm told Seferian-Jenkins had been timing in the 4.6s during recent training.








2014 NFL Combine Rumors: Sunday, Feb. 23, 10:30 a.m.
By Tony Pauline, http://draftinsider.net/

News and notes from the fifth day of the combine in Indianapolis.

Blake Bortles, QB, Central Florida:
In conversations here in Indy it's apparent the quarterbacks stack up 1) Blake Bortles, 2) Teddy Bridgewater, 3) Derek Carr, 4) Johnny Manziel on a number of team boards.

Bortles officially announced Monday he would throw at the combine, but I was told the strong-arm quarterback decided long ago he would participate in the entire combine workout. Throwing at the combine was never a question in Bortles' mind.

Miami Dolphins:
Word around Indy is Miami Dolphins offensive tackle Jonathan Martin will eventually be traded but its a question of when. Someone close to the situation told me yesterday, "there are a lot of moving parts." I get the idea everyone wants to make sure they are covering their you know what.

Cincinnati Bengals:
I'm told the Cincinnati Bengals may have to cut Carlos Dunlap in order to create the salary cap room necessary to sign a number of other highly considered players on their roster about to hit free agency.







Atlanta Falcons:
The feeling from the combine says the Atlanta Falcons have a 50/50 chance of re-signing starting center Joe Hawley.

Pittsburgh Steelers:
LaMarr Woodley's contract is likely to make re-signing Jason Worilds very difficult if not impossible. I'm told at least at least a dozen teams here at the combine have expressed great interest in Worilds if he hits free agency.

New England Patriots:
Last night at dinner with a few scouts I learned that an FBI profiler was brought in to review the interview tapes of Aaron Hernandez from the 2010 combine. The profiler pointed out a number of signs during the interview which would've raised red flags had he seen it in 2010; body language, the way Hernandez answered questions, his body language answering questions. Bottom line is more teams will bring in profilers to review these interview tapes.

Follow Tony Pauline @TonyPauline.

[OldSchool]

Ealy is a 3-4 DE if he comes here, no way he kicks out to OLB. 4-3 DE.

[Direckshun]

Originally Posted by Exoter175

Starting to get big on Jeffcoat, not sure how he fits but I like his fluid, natural movement there.

Rumor is that he's going to fall like a rock on draft day. Will go on the 3rd day due to size concerns...

[Direckshun]

Some positive buzz building up on a guy I'm not that crazy about:

Matt Miller ‏@nfldraftscout · 1m
DeMarcus Lawrence is a guy I really like as a stand-up edge rusher. Put him in a 3-4 scheme and let him loose. Needs coverage work, but wow.

[OldSchool]

Who's still on the Donald train? I am.

[jonzie04]

Originally Posted by Direckshun

Joe Marino ‏@TheJoeMarino · 3m
Aaron Donald/Will Clarke both displaying superb change of direction ability initially in drills.

Will Clark would be an excellent midrounder for DE.

clark is looking awesome. really standing out to me as well.

[Direckshun]

3 cone right now.

[Exoter175]

Originally Posted by Direckshun

Rumor is that he's going to fall like a rock on draft day. Will go on the 3rd day due to size concerns...

I'd like to be able to bank on that and shore up more pressing concers like WR/ILB

[jonzie04]

Originally Posted by OldSchool

Who's still on the Donald train? I am.

this guy.