The Combine's Here, Bitch!

[Direckshun]

http://www.arrowheadpride.com/2014/2...-list-workouts

2014 NFL Combine schedule: TV channel, online streaming, invite list, workouts and more
By Matt Conner
on Feb 20 2014, 10:12a

he road to the NFL Draft is longer in 2014 than any other offseason given the league's decision to push it back a few weeks to May 8-10. For the next three months, draftniks will circle around prospects like hawks, analyzing their every move and weighing the pros and cons of each player.

The process starts en masse this week with the start of the 2014 NFL Combine in Indianapolis. If you love the Draft, then this is a big week for you.

For those who are new to the NFL Combine, it's a seven-day event broken up into four-day shifts for each position group (quarterbacks to punters). Each group comes to Indy for four days to meet with representatives from each NFL team for medical assessments, interviews and a number of workouts. It's termed the Underwear Olympics for that reason, as teams fall in and out of love with prospects based on 40-yard dash times and vertical leaps.

The quick guide to the Combine

• NFL Network will televise; NFL.com will stream
• Andy Reid (Thursday, 2:15 p.m.) and John Dorsey (Friday, 12:15 p.m.) will speak to the media (full schedule here)
• Workouts take place Saturday-Tuesday
• Here are the players invited

Now that you have the basics, let's dive into a little more what's going down this week in Indianapolis.

The Combine workout schedule

Here are the days the actual workouts for each position group:

Saturday, Feb. 22: Tight Ends, Offensive Linemen, Special Teams

Sunday, Feb.23: Quarterbacks, Running Backs, Wide Receivers

Monday, Feb. 24: Defensive Line, Linebackers

Tuesday, Feb. 25: Defensive Backs

There are four groups of players arriving as shown above. Each group has four days of events.

Day 1: Travel to Indianapolis* ~ Registration ~ Hospital Pre-Exam & X-rays ~ Orientation ~ Interviews

Day 2: Measurements ~ Medical Examinations ~ Media ~ Interviews

Day 3: NFLPA Meeting ~ Psychological Testing ~ PK/ST Workout ~ Bench Press ~ Interviews

Day 4: On-Field Workout (timing, stations, skill drills) ~ Departure from Indianapolis

With the first arrivals coming on Wednesday, that puts the first day of workouts on Saturday.

The players invited

Every top college football player will likely be in attendance in Indianapolis, even if some of the top athletes won't participate in the workouts. The NFL invited over 300 players to attend. Teddy Bridgewater to Jadeveon Clowney, your favorite college players will likely be there.

Who is eligible to be invited to the Combine? Basically, seniors without college eligibility left and those who have declared early.

And how are players selected to the Combine? Read this:

Participants are determined annually by a Selection Committee. The Directors of both National and BLESTO scouting services, which combined represent twenty-five NFL teams, are joined by members of various NFL player personnel departments to form the committee. The participating NFL executives can rotate on a yearly basis, and remain anonymous. ALL eligible players are reviewed and voted on by the committee members. Each athlete receiving the necessary number of votes, by position, is then extended an invitation. While it is not a perfect science, the goal of the committee is to invite every player that will be drafted in the ensuing NFL Draft.

You can find the full list of players expected to attend at the bottom of this post. While the list is comprehensive, there are a few players every year who are drafted but didn't get invited to the Combine.

The workouts

The most important one is not a workout -- it's the interview. Teams will have the opportunity to interview players where they'll get about 15 minutes with them. With so little time, the questions have to be precise and all have a purpose.

The second most important item there is getting the medical check-up -- essentially confirming that the player is healthy or checking out previous injuries. Team doctors will want this information so the GMs and coaches can make an informed decision.

Some of the other workouts, via Big Blue View:

40-yard dash: Measures straight line speed over a distance. Not very important for non-skill position players, but coming from the 40-yard dash is the "10-yard split." That is the time it takes to travel the first 10 yards of the event and gives a measurement as to the player's explosion and first step. Very important for defensive and offensive linemen. Dontari Poe had a 10-yard split of 1.7 at 330 pounds, which is decent for a linebacker.Bruce Irvin at 235 pounds had a 10-yard split of 1.57, which is a good number for a defensive back. Both help push those players into the middle of the first round.

Bench press: Fairly simple, it measures upper body strength. Moreso it shows if you have stayed in good condition over the offseason. Poor numbers here possibly indicate not working hard enough.

Vertical and Broad jump: Another measurement of explosion and lower body strength. Also important for wide receivers and defensive backs to show off their leaping ability.

3-cone drill: Essentially a change of direction drill. Most important for skill position players. Shows off lateral agility and ability to accelerate out of a turn. One of the drills that translates best on the field. A good score in the 3 cone is often a marker for a high draft pick.

20/60-yard shuttles: Shows the ability to come to a complete stop and accelerate. Obviously important for any position and a good score here is indicative of explosion and body control. As you can see, explosion is a big factor here and one that the NFL is keen to see.

Position-specific drills: Each position has specific drills that test for many different attributes. Change of direction and hip swing for defensive backs, hands skills for wide receivers during the "gauntlet," kick slide drills for the offensive linemen, power for the defensive linemen in hitting bag drills and accuracy for quarterbacks in throwing drills.

How do I watch the Combine?

NFL Network will televise some of it.

NFL.com will stream the action.

KCChiefs.com will have full video of Andy Reid and John Dorsey's press conferences but will not stream them live.

[Direckshun]

Matthew Fairburn ‏@MatthewFairburn · 49m
Colt Lyerla said all of his legal issues have been resolved at this point. "It's all on the table."

Matthew Fairburn ‏@MatthewFairburn · 50m
Lyerla said he's made an effort to not hang around the same people he was hanging around when he was getting in trouble.

Matthew Fairburn ‏@MatthewFairburn · 51m
Colt Lyerla said the low point for him was getting in trouble and having the whole thing become public.

Matthew Fairburn ‏@MatthewFairburn · 52m
Colt Lyerla: Everything from the times those things have happened has been a complete change.

Matthew Fairburn ‏@MatthewFairburn · 53m
Colt Lyerla talking now in front of quite the crowd. http://yfrog.com/nti7cveaj

[OldSchool]

Originally Posted by Direckshun

Matthew Fairburn ‏@MatthewFairburn · 49m
Colt Lyerla said all of his legal issues have been resolved at this point. "It's all on the table."

Matthew Fairburn ‏@MatthewFairburn · 50m
Lyerla said he's made an effort to not hang around the same people he was hanging around when he was getting in trouble.

Matthew Fairburn ‏@MatthewFairburn · 51m
Colt Lyerla said the low point for him was getting in trouble and having the whole thing become public.

Matthew Fairburn ‏@MatthewFairburn · 52m
Colt Lyerla: Everything from the times those things have happened has been a complete change.

Matthew Fairburn ‏@MatthewFairburn · 53m
Colt Lyerla talking now in front of quite the crowd. http://yfrog.com/nti7cveaj

Good stuff, may end up going around the 4-5th round if teams feel he is being truthful about everything. He has top talent, just red flags off the field will move him off of a lot of boards.

[Direckshun]

Interesting........................

Matthew Fairburn ‏@MatthewFairburn · 2h
Billy Turner said he has talked to the Packers and Chiefs in Indianapolis among a handful of teams.

My thoughts on Turner:

Originally Posted by Direckshun

OT Billy Turner, North Dakota State -- I can't recall ever watching tape on NDSU ever before, but Turner is almost too outstanding an athlete to play ****ing Fargo. You're talking about a 6'5", 315 lber who can run. Turner may come close to breaking 5.0 at the Combine, but that doesn't matter -- this guy runs very well on the field. He's as effortless an athlete as there is in this draft at the tackle position. He's a punishing run-blocker, especially when he has his sights locked in -- playing all the way to the whistle. Really impressive. Really good mirroring in pass blocking, but his feet are too narrow in his kickslide -- correctable. I think he's got some left tackle potential, but teams will be drooling thinking about him on the right side. 2nd day pick. I like him more than some of the projected 1st rounders.

[Direckshun]

Matthew Fairburn ‏@MatthewFairburn · 2h
Jake Matthews mentioned Mizzou DE Kony Ealy as one of the best players he played against this year. Mixed up his moves well.

[Direckshun]

Steelers GM:

Matthew Fairburn ‏@MatthewFairburn · 6h
Colbert says this might be the most talented group and most immature group of draft prospects he's seen.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Direckshun

Interesting........................

Matthew Fairburn ‏@MatthewFairburn · 2h
Billy Turner said he has talked to the Packers and Chiefs in Indianapolis among a handful of teams.

My thoughts on Turner:

You think Turner could play guard in the ZBS?

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Direckshun

Steelers GM:

Matthew Fairburn ‏@MatthewFairburn · 6h
Colbert says this might be the most talented group and most immature group of draft prospects he's seen.

I would imagine that's going to be the case every year from here on out. It's a societal thing.

[Dante84]

Originally Posted by Direckshun

Interesting........................

Matthew Fairburn ‏@MatthewFairburn · 2h
Billy Turner said he has talked to the Packers and Chiefs in Indianapolis among a handful of teams.

My thoughts on Turner:

This be that shit to throw in the Visited/Met with thread.

In case I miss these, please be sure to add these types of posts to it.

I got this one, thanks for catching it!

EDIT - Already had him - this makes twice that we've talked with this guy.

[Sandy Vagina]

good source for measurements

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...rive_web#gid=8

[mikey23545]

Originally Posted by Direckshun

I actually liked Tyler Larsen as a late-round center, but 31" arms is going to get you slaughtered in the interior.

How does he manage to put the ball on the ground before the snap?

[TambaBerry]

how do they measure their hands?

[OldSchool]

Originally Posted by dingleberry

how do they measure their hands?

I imagine it's tip of the thumb to tip of the pinky.

[TambaBerry]

Originally Posted by OldSchool

I imagine it's tip of the thumb to tip of the pinky.

cool mine are 9 inches lol so Amaro does have small hands

[Direckshun]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

You think Turner could play guard in the ZBS?

I'm not an expert, but I don't think he'll have any trouble translating to guard at all.

[bowener]

NFL.com mocks show Ealy going after the Chiefs pick. Anybody else here see him as a potential rushbacker for the Chiefs? He is a big ****er with great physical potential and still learning his skill set.