Tuesday, February 24, 2009

NFL COMBINE – From an Insider Perspective

The NFL combine is held each year in February to evaluate and assess the talent of future professional football players. Over 300 hundred players are run through a battery of psychological, physical, medical, and football related tests. With over 600 NFL personnel critiquing and scrutinizing each event to gauge each individual’s NFL potential, I am often asked the role of a strength and conditioning coach in this process.

While the assistant coaches and scouts are present for the field events such as the 40 yd. sprint, 3 cone drill, 20 and 60 yard shuttles, vertical jump, and broad jump, the majority of strength coaches attend the Measurements session and the bench press workout.

During the Measurements session, the athletes are dressed in shorts giving the observer an opportunity to grade the physique of the athlete (height, weight, arm length, and hand width). Strength coaches are concerned with those qualities that define muscular fitness. This session provided me with the opportunity to grade the body condition of the athlete. The grading scale was determined by various factors including body type (ectomorph, mesomorph, and endomorph), visible muscle imbalances (upper/lower, front/back), body composition (muscle to fat ratio), and level of muscular development. I used the following five point grading scale to evaluate body condition:

5 - Excellent
4 – Very Good
3 – Average
2 - Below Average
1 – Poor

In the bench press, players are required to perform 225 lbs. as many times as possible. The NFL views this lift as a measure of upper body muscular fitness. Besides recording the number of repetitions accomplished, I also look for an uneven bar trajectory. The uneven trajectory is often a result of an existing shoulder problem. The bench press scores are recorded from highest to lowest with accompanying notes for bar trajectory or repetition mechanics. The results are normally evaluated by position (offensive linemen verses other offensive linemen) because of comparable height and weight ratios.

The body condition and the bench press results are incorporated into a spreadsheet and given to assistant coaches and personnel staff to help complete the player profile. This information is useful in formulating an opinion as to whether the organization will invest in the player through the draft or free agency. It is important, however, to keep the results of these tests in perspective and use them as a reference guide rather than as absolute criteria. The true test is whether the athlete can be successful where it counts – on the field.