Agents plotting boycott of NFL Scouting Combine

The NFL Scouting Combine is on the horizon … maybe

Reports Monday were that agents representing nearly half of the more than 300 players invited are organizing a boycott of the annual event. This year’s event is scheduled for March 1-7 in Indianapolis.

Agents representing more than 150 draft prospects are organizing a boycott of all testing, on-field workouts and interviews at next month’s NFL scouting combine if heavy “bubble” restrictions aren’t changed, sources tell me and @TomPelissero

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 21, 2022

Per ESPN.com:

The NFL sent a memo last week to draft prospects and their agents outlining rules for the combine, including a bubble that would keep prospects from interacting with their personal trainers, doctors, nutritionists and agents while in Indianapolis. A group of agents representing more than 150 of the 324 invited prospects has pushed back, saying it will hold its players out of combine drills and interviews if the league does not relent on those plans. Those players would, if the boycott is implemented, participate only in the medical evaluations at the combine. They would do their combine drills at their individual pro days instead of in Indianapolis.

And the momentum seems to be building toward a confrontation.

The NFLPA just sent this memo to agents, reinforcing the union’s “long standing opposition to the NFL Scouting Combine” and expressing support for those who don’t attend in light of the “bubble” environment this year. pic.twitter.com/ktjv346B2J

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) February 20, 2022