For 40 years, college footballers, hoping to be drafted by an NFL team, have demonstrated their speed, strength and personality in the league’s most important talent scout, the Scout Factory.
But recent changes to Tuesday’s event, rising professional days on university campuses and private training, and concerns about the plant’s own inequality have led to a growing number of calls for the showcase to be overhauled, even as the NFL seeks to increase commercialization. , which many of its executives call a “job interview” to become a professional.
Last week, agents of approximately half of the 324 players expected to attend the plant considered a boycott of training sessions that included 40-yard dash and bench press training in front of team staff to protest restrictions. with the coronavirus, which they feared would compromise the player’s performance. Combine organizers loosened those restrictions two days after the opposition of the agents became public, but the unusual battle was emblematic of a heated debate over the treatment of players who are not compensated for attending an event the NFL continues to commercialize.
“As it has become a reality TV show and has been displaced from its original need, it is becoming less and less valuable,” said JC Tretter, president of the NFL Players’ Association and the Cleveland Browns Center. “To make it a prime-time TV event, to push it late at night, is another case where it’s not in the players’ favor to go out there and perform, and their draft stock relies on good performance.”
The NFL and the National Invitational Camp, the company that runs the plant, say they are constantly striving to improve the players’ experience at the one-week event, and some changes to this year’s combine have been adapted without much controversy.
All trainings will now be held in one day, instead of two, for each group of positions. Food delivery to players has also been changed to give them more choice about when and what they can eat. Players will pass only one full orthopedic exam, and the results will be presented to all 32 teams, and there is no longer a built-in window for teams to administer their own behavioral tests.
Although these adaptations were designed to make the large-scale event more efficient and less stressful for potential customers, the last two years of pandemic-led intelligence have taught lessons that some agents say have reduced the plant’s central role.
The growing number of professional days organized by colleges with multiple candidates for player drafts and training organized by agents in private schools, as well as the growing digitalisation of medical records and the use of videoconferencing technology for player interviews, have given scouts alternatives to evaluation of players outside of Indianapolis, where the plant has been operating since 1987.
Each year, some leading prospects choose to sit in combined workouts. Former Alabama offensive striker Evan Neal, a potential No. 1 pick, will wait until his professional day to take field tests, his agent confirmed on Monday, devoting more time to preparation after an extended season at the college. Joe Barrow and Chase Young did not perform at the plant in 2020, and their position as number 1 and 2 is generally secure. And Lamar Jackson did not run or jump at any point before the 2018 draft, not wanting teams to use his athleticism as a reason to evaluate him in positions other than quarterback. But this year is believed to be the first time there has been a coordinated push against the conditions under which all potential customers must present themselves.
The combination has come under much criticism in the past, including allegations of racially biased assessments and comparisons to slave markets with a group of athletes, most of them black, who have been publicly tested. This year, the league will not administer the Wonderlic intelligence test, which some have criticized for having a built-in bias. However, teams can still use the test if they choose.
In January, the NFL also informed teams that they could be fined at least $ 150,000 and lose draft choices if a club employee behaved disrespectfully, asking players during interviews on topics such as sexual orientation and mental health. . This was the first time the league had indicated possible penalties for an offensive issue.
But the NFL’s expanded coverage has sparked further criticism that the routine assessment is becoming a commercial spectacle.
This year, 10,000 fans will be able to attend each of the four evenings when field assessments are conducted. And in May, NFL team owners will vote on offers from Indianapolis, Dallas and Los Angeles to host the plant in 2023 and 2024. The NFL Network will broadcast more than 50 hours of live broadcast this year with 40 hosts and analysts, especially focused on field events that were moved to prime time slots in 2020.
Despite the growing focus, the league said it was very deliberate in the way it expanded the plant to ensure that its main goal – assessing prospects – was not undermined.
“But there’s such a demand for fans – interest from college fans, NFL fans – and it’s grown since 2004 when he first joined the NFL Network,” said Peter O’Reilly, executive vice president of league events. . The staff of the team “saw what the draft turned into, the energy and how the prospects want to be there, as well as the main fans near the stage. This is a great demonstration of our games. “
The players’ union, as well as one of the agents involved in organizing the proposed training boycott, who asked for anonymity for fear that his clients would face repercussions, said the proposed boycott was just the beginning of discussions on how to protect themselves. the rights of prospects who are not yet employed in a team, nor are they represented by the union.
With the growing number of college players already receiving pay for the use of their names, images, and the like before their NFL careers, some observers have speculated that players should be paid to participate in events such as Combine and Draft.
“I suspect the harvester in the NIL country will have to reach the standard entry price,” said Robert Boland, a former agent for an NFL player who teaches sports law at Penn State. “You want me to do this as an activity, I want to be compensated.” This is a way to ensure that a few top recruits don’t show up. “
Troy Vincent, executive vice president of football operations at the NFL, did not rule out the idea.
“Based on the landscape of the sports environment, you have NIL, you have the transfer portal, we have to be prepared for everything in the future,” he said. “So I will not remove it from the table. I would just say that we must be ready and prepared for everything and discuss all things. “
Although complaints about the plant are real and numerous, few people expect it to disappear because it remains the only place where hundreds of the best prospects can compete in the same field and where teams can receive standardized health information. players, including for injuries they may have suffered.
“This is the only time of the year when we can gather all the prospects in one place,” said Rick Spielman, a former general manager of the Minnesota Vikings. “For me, it actually puts more stress on the player if you can’t finish everything in one week.”
Robert O’Connell contributed to the reports.