Winners and losers from the 2020 scouting combine

The 2020 NFL Scouting Combine has concluded in Indianapolis. Who won the week, and who leaves town with work to do?

Winner: The Ben Bartch shake

(Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports)

Sports fans love to root for underdogs. In the NFL, the idea of a Division III offensive tackle working his way through the draft process and into the NFL is the perfect underdog story. Enter Ben Bartch, the offensive tackle from St. John’s (MN), a Division III school. Bartch entered college as a tight end from Oregon, but put on 70 pounds over the course of his time in school and transitioned to offensive tackle. 

When I say transition, I mean transition. Look at the evolution of his headshots, from “hopeful freshman tight end” to “nasty offensive tackle:”

How did Bartch add this weight? There were rumors of a nasty concoction of a shake that he would drink during his off-campus job, and when he addressed the media on Wednesday, Arif Hasan from The Athletic – Minnesota asked for the recipe:

Incredible.

The recipe took on a life of its own, with Bartch appearing on the NFL Network with Colleen Wolfe to prepare and consume the shake on air. That clip, complete with Bartch going into full QVC salesperson mode, is a must-watch. 

But while the shake is fascinating, so to is its creator. Bartch showed he belonged down at Mobile, where at times he seemed like the best offensive tackle at the Senior Bowl. He tweaked his knee down there and will not be working out until the Pro Day at the University of Minnesota, but his recipe was one of the winners of the week. 

Loser: BradyWatch 2020

(Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports)

Two storylines truly dominated last week in Indianapolis.

At the forefront was the fight over a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. Players such as Richard Sherman and Aaron Rodgers made their feelings known, and prospects of a quick conclusion to the labor issue were dashed just as quickly. Coaches, such as Bruce Arians, were asked about the negotiations but given how they are somewhat in the middle, they largely avoided the topic. As Arians said “we’re in the middle on this, so we’ll just go along with whatever they tell us.”

The other storyline, however, remains on everyone’s mind: Brady Watch 2020. Every hushed conversation in a hallway, every shouted conversation at the the bar at the J.W. Marriott, and every discussion in between inevitably turned to where Tom Brady would be playing next season. Even while the testing was taking place on Saturday afternoon, more NFL writers were trying their hand at lip reading instead of tweeting about testing results:

Brady, Julian Edelman and Jimmy Fallon were in attendance at the Carrier Dome as Syracuse hosted UNC in men’s basketball. Edelman could be seen saying on camera “he’s coming back.” Brady’s response, however, was less clear. Some thought Brady said “he’s not.” Others thought he was saying “this guy,” in reference to Edelman. 

Yet more speculation.

No one knows where Brady is going to end up next season. But the fact of the matter is, the quarterback carousel will not truly start spinning until he makes a decision. The butterfly effect of what he decides to do will change the course of NFL history. Every team that is looking to address quarterback will have their plans altered in some way based on what he decides. That is why Brady Watch 2020, as it lingers, haunts us all. 

After ten years of practicing law in the Washington, DC area, Mark Schofield now dedicates his time to his first love: The game of football. The former college quarterback’s work has been featured a number of places, including The Washington Post, Bleacher Report, SB Nation, Pro Football Weekly and the Matt Waldman Rookie Scouting Portfolio.

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