NFL Combine: Inside the player experience in Indianapolis

By Geoff Schwartz
FOX Sports NFL Analyst

The NFL Scouting Combine is upon us, welcoming the newest batch of pro prospects to Indianapolis for four days of vital job interviews. While the public only gets access to the physical portions of the event, there’s so much more to a player's visit.

The combine is primarily three separate events all wrapped into four long days: interviews, medical evaluations and physical testing. Contrary to what you might think based on the prime-time coverage of the physical testing and on-the-field drills, the combine’s main purpose is the medical evaluations.

The origin of the combine was to have a centralized location for all NFL teams to conduct medical testing of each prospect. The bulk of a player's schedule over the four days in Indianapolis consists of being poked and prodded by medical staffs. Team doctors and head athletic trainers are grouped into six rooms, and the players are herded through like cattle. 

Members of each medical team have every prospect's file from college, and they are ready to pull, tug and grab in an effort to do a thorough examination. If a player had a documented injury in college, it will be extensively tested for stability. 

I sprained my knee at the end of my first training camp in college. I dressed for every game that season and played in four as a true freshman. Then, during my physical at the combine after my senior year, a doctor tested the stability of my knee ligaments and asked if I had sprained my MCL in the past. Four years later, the doctor could feel instability in the joint. 

It's really not that surprising, though. NFL medical teams will even ask about childhood injuries or health concerns and probe anything else they find in your chart.

If doctors determine that further testing on a body part is needed, they will schedule an X-ray and/or MRI. That's in addition to the customary X-rays, lab work and heart testing each player goes through no matter his medical file. The hotel is equipped with multiple portable MRI units, and, if necessary, shuttles to the hospital are provided. 

If you have three or more body parts needing a scan, you’re stuck at the hospital for hours waiting for those tests to be completed. All the while, you’re just hoping the tests don't find anything, that they're just precautionary and/or a cross-check of your recovery. Any new "injury" or issue could knock you down draft boards.

The interview process of the combine marks the first time an NFL team front-office member or coach interacts with a prospect. There are two types of interviews, private and informal, although the latter is ever-changing because of COVID protocols and the evolving style of the process. 

Players are allowed up to 15 private interviews with teams' player personnel departments and coaching staffs. These 15-minute interviews are different for every team. Some ask questions that appear inconsequential — "Would you rather be a dog or cat?" — or more pointed questions about your life on and off the field. 

Each question has a purpose. Teams want to test how you respond to questions that you are not prepared to answer. Do you get nervous or anxious? Are you easily excitable? Experts help teams craft the questions and study how players answer each one. 

Teams can structure these private interviews any way they’d like. For example, they can review your film with you, or ask you to get on the white board to draw plays.

The number of private interviews a player is scheduled for is an outstanding indication of his draft stock. Coming out of Oregon in 2008, I had a single interview, with the Seattle Seahawks. General manager Mike Holmgren grilled me about my effort playing Washington State during my senior season. I was a late seventh-round draft pick. 

My brother, Mitchell, had 12 interviews and was a high second-round pick. More interest in getting to know a prospect equals a higher draft pick. It's as simple as that.

The second type of interview is very informal and usually takes place in a giant hotel ballroom. (With COVID, I’m not sure if these will continue the same way.) Normally, each team has a table filled with scouts and coaches. If a player is not conducting a private interview, he is dropped into this "pen" of team tables. 

The second your feet hit the floor of the ballroom, all madness breaks loose. Teams yell for you or scouts attempt to drag you toward their table. These informal sit-downs are with either position coaches or area scouts. The scouts try to get simple answers about your background and love of the game. You must at all times tell everyone within ear shot that you love football, because heaven forbid you have outside interests. The coaches will discuss your game, provided they’ve watched you play. 

And you do this 32 times over the four days of your combine stay.

The final part of your trek to Indianapolis is the physical evaluations. This is the first year that measurements, bench and on field-testing will occur on the same day. Having measurements and workouts on the same day might change how players approach the weigh-in. 

Previously, with the weigh-in on the first full day, you could cut or gain weight heading into the combine, weigh-in and then fuel up or down to run. I cut nearly 10 pounds for my weigh-in, only to add some weight back for my workout after eating properly again.

The weigh-in and measurements take place in your tights and in front of all the scouts. This scene would never happen in any other job. A scout takes your height and yells it out: "Geoff Schwartz, 0665 (6-foot-6½)." I step on the scale: "Geoff Schwartz, 331 pounds." Next they measure my arm length, wing span and hand size. Then I do mobility drills to show scouts my ankle and hip flexibility. All of this happens in front of at least 50 scouts staring at your almost-naked body.

We all know about the bench press, which I’m not certain shows functional football strength. But the NFL enjoys watching its hopefuls attempt to rep out 225 pounds. It makes for good social media and TV bites, but I’ve never viewed it as anything more than a basic test of strength.

The final combine activity is physical testing, which consists of tests and position drills that measure straight-line speed, hip explosion, lateral quickness, change of direction and stamina. 

I have long believed that the physical testing is a cross-check for scouts. They have watched your film and should have an informed opinion about your physical abilities. The combine (and pro day) numbers of physical testing and position drills should confirm what they see on film.

If they don't, it requires reasons why. If a player is slow on film but runs and moves fast at the combine, then a scout must figure out why that player is slow on game days. Does he not know the plays well enough to play fast? Are his eyes in the wrong place, etc.? If a player is fast on film but slow in testing, maybe he's just a gamer, someone who plays fast in the spotlight but not might test well. 

I was slow on film and slow at the combine. No double-checking needed for me.

Because so much emphasis of combine coverage is on the prospects' physical feats, or lack thereof, it’s important to note what that means for NFL teams. If a draft profile consists of 100 data points, the physical testing in Indianapolis might account for two of them. A subsequent pro day, which mimics the combine drills but without the lack of sleep, all-day medical testing and interviews, would be another one or two data points. 

It’s important to keep this in mind as we watch our favorite draft hopefuls this week in Indianapolis.

Geoff Schwartz played eight seasons in the NFL for five different teams. He started at right tackle for the University of Oregon for three seasons and was a second-team All-Pac-12 selection his senior year. He is an NFL analyst for FOX Sports. Follow him on Twitter @GeoffSchwartz.