The NFL Scouting Combine is an absolutely unwatchable event, which I’ve already gone over earlier this week.
But now that this thing is finally underway in Indianapolis with prospects doing all sorts of things to prove that they are athletic and good at football (as if their game film from college wasn’t enough proof), it’s clear once again that this whole thing is an embarrassing way to try to woo a future boss.
Imagine if you were going out for a job and you had all this prior experience that showed you were pretty darn good at stuff that will be required for this new gig. But then the powers that be had you do a ton of different tests, all on live TV and in front of the other people who were looking to show the future bosses that they were better than you at a bunch of things.
Then imagine if you went out and made a mistake or didn’t look the part, everyone watching would know that you were out of your league and didn’t belong and that you had just blown the biggest opportunity of your life.
Pretty awkward, right?
Sure, this is all a test to see if you can hang in pressure-packed situations and perform when the lights are shining on you.
But it can also be pretty rough if you mess up, which one prospect learned during Thursday’s sessions.
That prospect was USF tight end Mitchell Wilcox, who went out and took a pass to the face in the gauntlet drill, which is where you run down a line and have a bunch of footballs thrown at you every few yards or so, because that totally happens to you when you reach the NFL.
Mitchell Wilcox just took a football to the face during the 'Gauntlet Drill' at #NFLCombine
The audible 'OHHHHH' is amazing. pic.twitter.com/9pm239QGS4
— Dan Fetes (@danfetes) February 27, 2020
Wilcox had a slow 40, then he had that ball bounce off his face, and then he had people on Twitter making fun of him, which is so Twitter because most of those people would never be invited to the NFL combine, let alone be able to nail a job interview with even a small fraction of the pressure that is on each and every prospect going through the drills in Indianapolis.
The combine itself just feels icky. Coaches and personnel people sitting in the stands like a bunch of creeps with notebooks and stopwatches, looking to record every little thing a prospect does.
The guys in suits on TV talking about how some prospects really made good impressions on the creeps in the stands, as if this combine is even a good way to tell if somebody is going to be a great pro (it isn’t) or not. And then how some guys didn’t make good impressions at all.
Then you have Fans weighing in about every little thing they see while, for some reason, watching on TV, including 40-yard dash times that don’t always mean you’re going to be a good player if you run fast. Seriously, for all the talk about 40-yard dashes look at how some of the fastest guys in combine history have had terrible careers.
The combine is two two things – a gigantic bore and a totally overblown event.
Ok, and there’s a third thing – it can also be embarrassing for some guys, like Mr. Wilcox.
Thankfully, in a few days this whole thing will be over and we can move on with our football lives!
Thursday’s biggest winner: Michael Smith.
Going to a professional darts event overseas has somehow become a bucket list thing for me in recent months, as the atmosphere in these events looks absolutely bananas. The latest example of this came in Dublin on Thursday when Michael Smith nailed the first 9-darter in the Premier League since 2017 and everyone in the crowd lost their darned minds. This looks like so much fun to be at. Who knew?
Quick hits: Jerry Jones’ shower thoughts… Tatum’s beard the real MVP?… WWE is a mess… And more!
– Jerry Jones shared that he’s been thinking a lot about Dak Prescott while in the shower recently.
– There’s a very good case being made for Jason Tatum’s beard being the difference lately with the Celtics.
– The WWE found a wild way to celebrate Throwback Thursday… and angered a lot of fans in the process.
– What does the latest Tom Brady report mean? Probably… nothing?
– The Astros need to turn full heel and go nuts on the rest of MLB.
[jwplayer 8CplNszB-q2aasYxh]