The first group of players invited to participate in the 2012 NFL combine will officially report to Lucas Oil Stadium on Wednesday. The Combine itself begins on Thursday.
As part of the check-in process players will have a pre-exam, x-rays and orientation. The next day the players are poked and prodded when they undergo a medical evaluation followed by the official weigh-in and measurements. This part of the process is utilized to identify any medical conditions or weakness in the players.
On Friday Feb. 24, the players will meet with the NFLPA. Later that day the players will undergo psychological evaluations with the place kickers and special teams players doing their workouts later in the day.
On Saturday Feb. 25, the players in this first group will do their timing drills, station drills and skill drills. The first group of players consists of kickers, special teams players, offensive lineman and tight ends.
The second group of players consisting of defensive backs reports in on Saturday Feb. 25 and will follow the same routine as the first group with their ending day being Tuesday Feb. 28.
Combine training makes the player highly adapted to a few movements that really have no impact on their ability to play the game. The movements in the combine tests, for the most part, bear very little resemblance to what actually happens in the game.
What do you really learn from some artificial and contrived tests? Probably not too much, or at least nothing you wouldn’t have been able to find on YouTube or other video archive of the player. The real answer is that teams get access to the player’s medical records and related testing. It just sounds nicer to have a big event when you ask.
