Philadelphia Eagles G.M. Says NFL Combine Won’t Change Draft Board

A lot is always made of the NFL Draft Combine and how it can affect the stock of certain prospects that bring their all and convince teams that they’re worth selecting higher than initially projected. The combine runs deeper than the first two days and can affect players projected to be taken much later in the draft. If you’re a sixth round prospect and you display your skills at the combine well enough, you could top out as a fourth or fifth round pick.

Even if you don’t raise out of your projected round, the higher you go the more money you get.

But while a lot of people tend to geek out over the combine results, NFL general managers apparently don’t take it as seriously as the fans. Philadelphia Eagles general manager Howie Roseman said that the combine is a cute idea but it’s not going to change his draft board.

“It really shouldn’t change drastically,” Roseman said. “I think some of the problems you get into is you get into the Senior Bowl, you get into the Combine and all of a sudden your board changes drastically. It’s got to be back on the tape.”

The combine has drawn criticism over the years for being a meaningless showcase of athleticism over game skills. The inclusion of the Wonderlic Test is also a major sticking point for people around the NFL as the test is largely deemed to exist only to embarrass players that fail the test — and it really serves little purpose outside of that.

But the question becomes is it wise to discount the combine like Roseman seems to be doing or is it a necessary evil to help put the little guys attending? To be fair, Roseman and the Eagles are expected to pick the best available player in the draft so they might be an isolated case. But let’s not forget that ‘Workout Warrior” Mike Mamula scored a 49 on his Wonderlic test and was a first round pick while Tom Brady was notoriously poor at the combine and is one of the best quarterbacks to ever have played the game.