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Is the 40-yard dash soon to be a thing of the past?
Well, maybe not, but the NFL isn’t taking anything off the table at this point.
According to a report from USA Today, National Football Scouting Inc., which runs the league’s yearly combine, is going to be giving some consideration to changing up the way it conducts business.
The NFL Combine, which has become so popular that it is now televised by the NFL Network, will begin on Wednesday.
Given the advances in technology and sports science, the report claims that officials will be evaluating just how relevant each step of the process players are going to go through in the coming days is to their draft evaluation.
“Our first focus is to look at what we do currently and making sure that that’s relevant,” National Football Scouting Inc. president Jeff Foster told USA TODAY Sports. “And if it is, great, we’ll continue to do it, because historical comparison is really important to the evaluation process. But if we believe that there’s something that’s not relevant, then what can we replace it with that will help us evaluate the players?”
The scouting organization has formed a committee of NFL executives, scouts, coaches, trainers and physicians to examine the process.
USA Today’s report claims that the 40-yard dash could be one of the items on the table for modification, as well as other displays of athleticism that might not be relevant to how a player performers in pads on the field during a game.
“We’re continuing to explore everything in an effort to improve,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said. “So, if there are ways to tweak, improve, modify anything we do, we’ll explore that (and that includes) the combine. The mantra is, how can we get better?”
It will be interesting to see what the committee finds, and also what type of technology may be on the horizon that changes the way that the process is conducted.
Nick Cole is a former print journalist with several years of experience covering the SEC. Born and raised in SEC country, he has taken in the game-day experience at all 14 stadiums.
