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So it's the NFL Combine time.. here's a coupla to get you started..

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LeCharles Bentley on the NFL Combine: It's often 'more show than substance'
By Special to The Plain Dealer
February 23, 2010, 6:15PM
Terry Gilliam / Associated PressLeCharles Bentley (in white jersey) was a dominating center during an impressive collegiate career at Ohio State. But when he attended the NFL Combine before the 2002 draft, he learned how little performance seemed to matter. "There aren’t any opportunities during a game to bench press 225 pounds as many times as possible or run a 40-yard dash without a helmet," he says. "All of the game film that has been studied suddenly becomes irrelevant because a guy ran a great 40."Editor’s note: LeCharles Bentley grew up playing football — for St. Ignatius High School, Ohio State, the New Orleans Saints and even briefly for the Browns. But his pro career actually started with the NFL Scouting Combine. Here he takes a look at how the combine works and what it was like to go through the process of trying to impress teams.

LeCharles Bentley

Special to The Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Annually the NFL holds its job fair -- referred to as the Combine -- that often ends up being more show than substance.

For a week, Indianapolis explodes with top NFL brass, all seeking to leave no stone unturned while prying for information on every potential hire. Former college football players undergo a vetting process that would turn any partisan sect green with envy. The NFL expends such massive amounts of money, time and resources on evaluations that logic is often cast to the wayside for sake of "numbers."

Tracy Boulian / The Plain DealerWhat a 21-year-old isn’t equipped for," writes LeCharles Bentley, "is the harsh reality of transitioning from coddled collegiate athlete to highly expendable product with an expiration date."

NFL SCOUTING COMBINE
Who: More than 300 players eligible for the 2010 NFL Draft. Every NFL team is represented by its full scouting and coaching staffs. All NFL general managers and some team presidents attend.
Where: Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis.
When: Wednesday through March 2.
What happens: Players are divided into groups by position. Each group stays four days. Day 1 consists of registration, orientation and medical exams. Day 2 is measurements, exams, media interviews and psychology testing. Day 3 is meetings with NFL players association, more tests and some workouts. Day 4 is final workouts. Players have interviews with teams every day.
TV: Portions of the interviews and workouts will be shown on the NFL Network.
— Tony GrossiIt should go without saying that the NFL is an exclusive club that is intended for the best football players our world has to offer. The primary objective of all NFL teams' scouting departments is to pillage every collegiate roster for the most impressive players, then extend combine invitations to all 300 of them.

Yes, of the 15,000 plus college football players, 300 are invited to Indianapolis.

Scouts from every team study endless hours of film and log thousands of travel hours in order to evaluate talent. Each one of the 300 players who earn an invite does so because of his accomplishments on the field. Somewhere along the path, the logic and rationale that went into determining who receives combine invites goes out the window during the week in Indianapolis.

Having been a player that earned an invitation, I know how exciting the Combine experience can be. First, it's an honor to be selected as one of the 300 best college football players in the country and it's not one to be taken lightly.

Players can spend months preparing for a two-day interview and agents will spend thousands of dollars preparing their client. There is a lot put into combine preparation because so much can come out of it. Every player will be evaluated through the NFL's battery of testing procedures, many of which have absolutely zero bearing on the athletes' ability to play the game of football.

There aren't any opportunities during a game to bench press 225 pounds as many times as possible or run a 40-yard dash without a helmet. What ensues are general managers and coaches falling in love with a guy who could potentially be a workout warrior. All of the game film that has been studied suddenly becomes irrelevant because a guy ran a great 40.

Every coach in the league believes he is the best, or he wouldn't be coaching in the NFL. This fact leads them to believe they can coach any wide receiver who is 6-6 and runs a 4.3 40 to be the next Randy Moss.

The NFL is a business of attrition and is not designed to be a developmental league. Some may refute this by pointing to practice squads, but the term "practice squad" is fancy for "irrelevant body." When a player signs an NFL contract, he is immediately in a battle with time, and unfortunately time -- through age or lack of performance -- always wins out. This is why it is vital for every team to know who they are drafting and more importantly, why. Far too often, team officials leave Indianapolis with a rose-colored view of potential draft picks.

The Combine's real value is the mental component. All teams that draft the best recognize this. This doesn't apply to the Raiders as much as it does the Colts, Ravens and Patriots.

Sure, the testing is strenuous but athletes are built for that. What a 21-year-old isn't equipped for is the harsh reality of transitioning from coddled collegiate athlete to highly expendable product with an expiration date. Amateur athletes are thrust into a world of seasoned men whose livelihoods are contingent upon the performance of these young men.

On a personal note, I spent six hours in an MRI tube to have a sprained ankle that I suffered in high school photographed, then was told I was expected back at the RCA Dome to run my 40. I passed on that opportunity and opted to spend the next 10 hours being interrogated by three teams. What makes this so profound is that neither team drafted me. This was either because I was an awful interview or the person they really wanted to speak with was being interrogated by a team that didn't draft him either.

The Combine is as much a part of the NFL fabric as the Super Bowl and it will be forever. It's the first phase of initiation into the club of the National Football League.

Many teams will travel to the Combine seeking the best football players and will fall in love with the best athletes. As fans, all we can do is enjoy the ride and hope our team gets it right.



** Ya wanna see what a Wonderlic test is like?

Linkage

Has anyone other than LCB had a job interview and then was not hired?

Poor guy

Combine starts @ 2:30 today.

http://www.nfl.com/combine

Thats the link to the combine site on NFL.com Lots of info there..

Pretty funny. There's a wrong answer in the set. It's Question 4.

And a couple typos.

What kind of moron wrote this?

Here's a TINY bit of info from WalterFootball . . .

http://walterfootball.com/combine2010stock.php

POSITIVE . . .

Charles Brown, OT, USC - Charles Brown's weight was a big concern going into the Combine. Brown was around 290 during the 2009 season, and sub-300-pound tackles just don't go in the first round. Fortunately, Brown weighed in at 303 pounds, while his arms measured 35 1/4 inches. Brown is now a sure first-rounder and a possible candidate at No. 14 for Seattle.

Bruce Campbell, OT, Maryland - Bruce Campbell was an impressive 6-6, 314 at the Combine with long 36 1/4-inch arms. The Combine is Campbell's time to shine, and assuming he runs a great 40 on Saturday (as expected), he'll become a great player and a lock to go to Al Davis at No. 8 overall.

Russell Okung, OT, Oklahoma State - Russell Okung solidified his top-five status by weighing in at 6-5, 307, with 36-inch arms. It'll be very difficult for the Chiefs to pass on a stud left tackle like Okung at No. 5 - assuming he makes it there.

Tony Washington, OT, Abilene Christian - Tony Washington impressively weighed in at 6-6, 311, with 35.5-inch arms. Washington is an offensive tackle to keep your eye on during the Combine.

NEGATIVE . . .

Bryan Bulaga, OT, Iowa - Bryan Bulaga's arms measured at just 33 1/4 inches. This shouldn't be a huge deal, but it could be enough to scare some teams off and keep him out of the top 10.

Aaron Hernandez, TE, Florida - Aaron Hernandez weighed in at 6-2, 245, but had an arm length of just 32 1/4 inches. Unlike Jermaine Gresham and Rob Gronkowski, Hernandez is not much of a blocker, and that arm length severely compromises his ability to become successful in that department.

Jared Veldheer, OT, Hillsdale - Jared Veldheer is an athletic tackle who should perform well on Saturday. Unfortunately, Thursday wasn't so kind to him. Jared Veldheer weighed in at 6-8, 312, but with 33-inch arms. That arm length is ridiculously short for a man of Veldheer's size.

http://walterfootball.com/combine.php

2010 NFL Draft Combine Schedule Dates:

Saturday, Feb. 27 - Group 1 (K, P). Group 2 (OL), Group 3 (TE)

Sunday, Feb. 28 - Group 4 (QB, WR), Group 5 (QB, WR), Group 6 (RB)

Monday, March 1 - Group 7 (DL), Group 8 (DL), Group 9 (LB)

Tuesday, March 2 - Group 10 (DB), Group 11 (DB)

I wonder when Seattle hired Pete Carrol, did they ask him if he would show preference to USC guys come draft day?

Well Bruce Campbell is certainly making a name for himself right now. 316 pounder putting up 32 reps, running a 4.78 (!!!) 40 and may have possibly broke the vertical record for OL.

Hopefully the guy isn't another Vernon Gholston.

Adam Schefter said Trindon Holliday ran a 4.22 forty but NFL Network said he ran a 4.27.

That's unreal I wonder what Jacoby Ford will run.

Trent Williams just ran a 4.88

Jimmy Graham 4.60
Andrew quarless 4.67
Dorin Dickerson 4.4


Also Mike Iupati has to be the most fit looking 331 LBS linemen I've ever seen!

This is one kid I would take with Berry on the board.

I fear he'll become a Steeler.

Dorin Dickerson is also only 225 pounds as a TE.

So we already know who the Raiders are taking in the 1st...Bruce Campbell.

Pitta made a big impression on me as well. His hands are so soft catching the ball. His hands put a lot of Wr's to shame.

Quote:

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Also Mike Iupati has to be the most fit looking 331 LBS linemen I've ever seen!

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Iupati is the best OG, but there are 4 OTs that rank higher on (most) draft boards, making him the 5th best OLineman.

It's my understanding that at the Senior Bowl, they experimented with Iupati at LT and RT. He did not have the foot speed to play LT and was considered a "maybe" at RT.

That means he would likely be the 5th or 6th best RT in the draft and with the Browns picking at 7...it would not be a good move to draft him that high.

Any OLineman that upgrades what you already have is worth the pick wherever it happens. This kid supposedly can't play RT ? He'd still be ten times better than what's there now.

My only hangup is taking him instead of Berry.

And I know what the book says about value, salary, waste,...etc. From all reports, this man is a helluva human being too.

Sorry Hack,....I'd pick him just to keep him out of Pittsburgh.

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NFL combine notes: Browns keeping draft options open
Filed by Scott Petrak February 28th, 2010 in Browns Notes, Sports.
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BEREA - With the Browns undecided on what to do at quarterback, general manager Tom Heckert left open all possibilities, including trading up from No. 7 to possibly draft Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford.

“I don’t think we’re closing the door on anything,” Heckert said Saturday at the NFL scouting combine. “We’re not shutting the door on moving up or even moving back. We’re listening to a lot of different teams.

“My job is to get good football players. If I think we can get a really good football player by moving up and if we have a chance to do that, we’ll do it.”

The Browns are still evaluating holdovers Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn and will explore trading for a veteran quarterback or signing a free agent. Then there’s the draft, where Bradford and Notre Dame’s Jimmy Clausen are considered the only first-round talents.

Bradford is coming off a shoulder injury that cost him nearly all of the 2009 season and required surgery. He said he’s at 85 percent and is “gonna put on a great show” at his pro-day workout March 25. He’s a candidate to go No. 1 to the Rams and likely won’t be on the board at No. 7.

“You never know,” said Heckert, who gave an abbreviated scouting report. “He’s a big kid, he’s accurate, he won a lot of football games. He’s a leader. That pretty much sums it up. He has all the tools to put it together.

“Everybody wants to say he’s a franchise (quarterback), but until he does it you never know.”

One year at a time
Heckert said the Browns are content to have their restricted free agents return under one-year contracts, and won’t explore long-term deals with them.

The key restricted free agents are running back Jerome Harrison, linebacker D’Qwell Jackson, fullback Lawrence Vickers, safeties Abram Elam and Brodney Pool and linebackers Matt Roth and Jason Trusnik. Heckert said the team will announce which guys they’ll tender and the size of the tenders Wednesday or Thursday. Free agency begins Friday.

• Heckert said internal discussions continue on whether to offer contracts to unrestricted free agents Rex Hadnot (guard) and Mike Furrey (receiver/safety).

• Heckert and coach Eric Mangini said they don’t feel adding a veteran receiver is a necessity. Rookie Mohamed Massaquoi was the leading receiver last year with 34 catches.

“I’m not saying we wouldn’t do that,” Heckert said. “But I think we’ll be OK.”

• Heckert said nose tackle Shaun Rogers (broken leg) was at team headquarters last week and should be ready for minicamps. Inside linebacker Eric Barton (neck surgery) is scheduled to go back to the doctor, but should be OK for the season.

“We assume all of our guys are going to be back ready to go (for the season),” Heckert said. “I don’t think we’re going to miss anybody.”

If we took Iupati in the top 10 I would break something.

they also had nice collegiate careers..

Gini' is no different from us.. When we want a particular player, we want that player...

sidenote: I wonder if Quinn and Clausen talk?

If Eric Berry, Rolando McClain, Joe Haden, and/or even Russell Okung are on the board at #7 and we take Iupati it will be a great disappointment. And I really like Iupati. Starting guards can be picked in the later rounds.

I was jumping up and down and crying when we drafted JT.

Iupati isn't anywhere near close to JT's level, nor the level of many prospects that will be available when we are picking at 7.

LeFevour ran a 4.66 forty. Pretty good for a QB.

NFL.com has a live feed of the combine if anyone wants to watch the RB's run the forty.