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CHICAGO — The initial pair of combine scrimmages took place Thursday, with two more coming Friday as teams continue to hold interviews and conduct business behind the scenes. As usual, when the entire league gathers in one place for an extended period of time, information travels and draft speculation starts to get serious. A series of agency-run pro days continues to take place here in Chicago, and top executives will head to California next week to finish that circuit.
The first day of games at the combine tends to be more important than the second, if only because players who start out hot are often withdrawn from the event by their agents. There’s a strategic degree of teasing that takes place and often works to the benefit of prospects, particularly those with real chances at cracking the first round. Last year, Josh Primo, Bones Hyland, Josh Christopher and Quentin Grimes were among those who successfully built momentum at this event. Conversely, many prospects on the fringe of the first round who opted not to play wound up slipping into the second round on draft night.
