There are new drills.
In the interest of making combine drills more reflective of the modern NFL on the field, there will be 16 new drills, and 10 old ones will be eliminated.
“First, we want to make sure the drills are reflective of today’s game,” said Jeff Foster, president of the National Invitation Camp, which runs the combine. “We’ve been using the same drills for many, many years, which is great to use as comparative analysis. But we also wanted to make sure we were updating the drills to reflect how the game has changed. The second piece was to add some elements to it that would be more attractive to the players and the fans.”
Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm told me on Tuesday that he only had a couple of days to prepare for the fade drill; prospects weren’t really able to vet this. And there are agents who will undoubtedly hold their top players out with this as one reason.
Quarterbacks will now throw end zone fades, and smoke/now passes during their throwing sessions. The 10-yard fade routes will be thrown to the right side of the end zone, and pylons will be used to direct receivers. The smoke/now reads, popular in RPOs, test a quarterback’s ability to process a pre-snap read and make a quick throw to an option route receiver based on coverage.
Running backs will now run the Duce Staley drill, named after the former Eagles running back and current assistant coach. The back will up behind a horizontal step-over bag that is part of three bags laid to form a cross. The running back will step over the bag in front of him, then laterally over the perpendicular bag, then backward over the other horizontal bag before repeating the path in the opposite direction. Coaches lined up eight yards away holding pop-up dummies will move in coordinated fashion, creating a hole for the running back to identify before exploding through it. The drill is designed to display a running back’s ability to use his eyes while navigating physical obstacles as a ballcarrier might perform while running an inside zone play, which doesn’t create a defined target for the running back, but instead the possibility for a number of options to run through.
In addition, running backs will run Texas routes, which are angular routes in which the back runs outside the backfield and then back to the middle of the field. This is a staple route for running backs going back to the Bill Walsh days in San Francisco.
The pitch and cone drill and the find the ball drill have been eliminated.
Receivers are now aligned with quarterbacks in the fade route drill. They will run 10-yard fade routes to the right side of the end zone with pylons as obstacles.
The toe-tap drill has been eliminated.
Tight ends will also run the fade route drill.
Offensive linemen will participate in new mirror and screen drills. In the mirror drill, the player lines up at a set point between middle of two cones roughly six yards apart and slides laterally left and right based on a coach’s direction. This drill places emphasis on feet and change of direction ability of player with at least four movements to right and left.
In the screen drill, the player will set in pass protection position, then release and sprint toward first coach holding blocking shield 15 yards wide of starting point to simulate engage and release action of a screening lineman. If the first coach steps upfield, the player must adjust direction and advance to second coach, at whom he will break down and engage. If the first coach remains stationary, the player will break down and engage him (and will not advance to the second coach).
In addition, the pull drills will include engaging a one-man sled instead of a bag. Inclusion of “rabbit” is eliminated in pass rush drops and pass pro mirror drills, with a coach’s hand motion changing direction of a lateral slide in the latter drill.
Defensive linemen will now participate in run and club drills and run the hoop drills. In the run-and-club, five stand-up bags are in a vertical line, five yards apart, with the final bag including “arms”. The defender will fire out of a three-point stance and run through the bags, clubbing the first with his right arm, spinning on the second bag, clubbing the third bag with his left arm, ripping through the fourth bag and flattening downhill to slap the bag with his arms to simulate a strip.
The stack and shed drill has been eliminated.
Linebackers will no longer do pass drop drills. They will now participate in shuffle, sprint, change of direction; and short zone breaks drills.
In the shuffle, sprint, change of direction drills, the player will start in a two-point stance five to seven yards outside the hash before shuffling across the field. He’ll then open his hips and sprint on the coach’s command, then change direction on command and finish with a catch of a thrown football.
In short zone breaks, three different route reactions are involved. First, the player drops at a 45-degree angle, flattens out at five yards and breaks forward (simulating breaking on a short out) before catching a ball. Then, the player drops at a 45-degree angle, flattens at five yards again and breaks inside (simulating breaking on an underneath route) and catches the ball. Finally, the player takes a flat drop and reacts to a coach’s signal to turn and run with a wheel route before catching a ball.
Defensive backs will no longer do the close and speed turn, and pedal and hip turn drills. They will now do the line drill, Teryl Austin drill, box drill, and the gauntlet drill.
In the line drill, players will backpedal, open their hips at the direction of the coach, return to backpedaling, then open the hips again on command, then catch the ball being thrown from the opposite location of the coach.
In the Teryl Austin drill, named after the Steelers secondary coach, a player will backpedal five yards, then open and break downhill on a 45-degree angle before catching a thrown ball. Then a player will backpedal five yards, open at 90 degrees and run to the first coach and break down, then plant and turn around (180 degrees) to run toward a second coach and catch a ball thrown by a quarterback before reaching the second coach.
In the box drill, the player will backpedal five yards and then break at a 45-degree angle on the coach’s signal. Once he reaches the cone, the player will plant, open his hips and run back five yards with his eyes on the coach. On the coach’s signal, the player will break toward a coach at a 45-degree angle and catch a thrown ball.
In the gauntlet drill, similar to the one run by receivers, a player will start with two stationary catches with each made in opposite directions before sprinting across the 35-yard line catching balls from throwers alternating between each side. The drill will be timed from the second stationary catch to when the defensive back reaches a cone 10 yards upfield from the final catch. The player will also perform in a second time in the opposite direction.