NFL Combine Redux

This podcast is a continuation of our last one. I am once again talking with Jeffrey Meier about the NFL combine. When talking about the fastest 40 times, I mistakenly refer to Chris Johnson as Charles Johnson. I don’t think the bench press is a good measurement of actual football strength and I feel it would benefit the NFL if they invested in better exercises to measure players with.

They make a ton of money off of athletes in the draft and the majority of the picks are busts. Every year the NFL draft consists of 256 picks. That equates to around 15% of the total number of roster slots in the entire league. That leaves teams to decide on roster slots every year with an over abundance of players. Most of the players taken in later rounds never actually make it into an NFL game. NFL teams have to decide to cut players that have been in their system for a few years or draft picks based on potential and what they observed in practice.

We also dive into the invitation process of the NFL draft as it seems more and more like an exclusive club every year. The league picks and chooses who they want to punish and who they want to stay in the league. This means that some players are targeted by NFL rules officials while others seem to skate by without a second glance by the league. Basic science disproved the league’s stance on football deflation but they still ruled in favor of punishment anyway. Meanwhile, their old golden boy Peyton Manning was able to have HGH shipped to his house without any further investigation. It seems like these transparency issues could be a prominent reason why the league is struggling with dropping television ratings.

Richie Leahey, Jeffrey T Meier