We’re off and running with the drills in Indianapolis …
• The drop in number of NFL folks here for the combine is pretty unmistakable. And it’s not just the known list of high-profile head coaches that aren’t in Indy. It’s a smaller overall crowd of folks in town this week, and the amount who are taking the event in are doing so in smaller doses.
One such group would be the world champs.
The Kansas City Chiefs brought their full scouting staff, and a big contingent of coaches to town on Monday. But by mid-afternoon on Thursday, before the first 40-yard dash was run, save for some guys staying to help run the drills for the combine people, the Chiefs were gone. And there were others teams who had the GM and/or coaches leave well before the players hit the field.
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Why? Well, the schedule shifted again this year. So by midday on Thursday, teams were done with their formal interviews. There are fewer agents in town, too, a result of the NFLPA’s mandatory agent meeting being done over Zoom rather than in-person, making it easier for teams to stack those meetings earlier in the week. And then there’s the fact that television and the tape will give team folks as good a look at workouts as they’d get live.
Then, there’s the fact that the league has turned the combine into a circus, and a lot of football folks have pushed away from the combine, with technology that can give them what they need remotely, as Park Ave. has pulled the event further and further away from its roots.
And if the league people want proof of it, they can pan the television cameras in the dome over to the Lucas Oil suite assigned to the world champs.
You know, the one with no one in it.
Related: NFL Combine Notebook: Look for an Offensive Explosion at Top of Draft
• With formal interviews complete, we’ve got some reviews on a quarterback class that, by all accounts, was very impressive in that setting. USC’s Caleb Williams came across as very comfortable in his own skin, with command when the conversation turned to football. LSU’s Jayden Daniels was reserved, confident and smart. North Carolina’s Drake Maye might have gotten the best returns I’ve heard, coming across very much as an alpha. And Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy showed moxie and assuredness that fits his reputation as a winner.
One guy to watch in this area would be Oregon’s Bo Nix, who’s been excellent, and very likable, in his interviews. He’s one I heard coming into this week that possessed the capability to really carry a room, and help himself with quarterback-needy teams.
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• Good to see Iowa’s Cooper DeJean will work out on campus before the draft, as he rehabs from a broken leg. Everyone I spoke with last week raised his name as a guy who qualified as a potential combine freak—and lamented the fact he wouldn’t get to show that off in Indy. It’ll be cool to see what he can do in Iowa City.
Some project DeJean as a potentially dominant slot corner/safety type, like Minkah Fitzpatrick and Malcolm Jenkins were coming out of college.
• I understand the NFL looking at expanding the grounding rule to allow for quarterbacks to throw the ball away from the pocket. But I don’t like it. I think it’ll lead to ugly, boring football that will replace scramble plays that often are the most entertaining in the game.
• Being around a lot of coaches and scouts this week, one thing that keeps coming up is how wild it is that Bill Belichick couldn’t find a landing spot in 2024. Same goes for Mike Vrabel. And let’s just say those coaches and scouts don’t think it’s a very good reflection on NFL owners as a whole.
• A couple people have raised what a good fit Josh Jacobs would be for Jim Harbaugh’s Los Angeles Chargers. It’s a fun idea. We’ll see if it’s realistic, with the team having some cap issues to work out still, in a little over a week.
