INDIANAPOLIS - One of the narratives attached to the NFL Scouting Combine this offseason involves how many of the prospects aren't participating on the field.
On Saturday, for example, 11 of the 21 running backs in attendance didn't run a 40-yard dash for one reason or another. And the running backs position is not an outlier in that regard.
Fernando Mendoza, the presumptive QB1 and No. 1-overall pick in the draft, didn't throw. And only seven of the 16 quarterbacks in attendance ran 40s.
But the biggest reason teams annually gather in Indy is to conduct medical testing and glean as much medical information on the prospects as possible. A close second, according to Jeff Legwold of ESPN Denver, is the getting-to-know-you component the Combine affords.
"Some people pooh-pooh the interviews but a lot of teams still like sitting down face to face, they consider that a big part of the process," Legwold said.
Legwold has attended every Combine, beginning in 1987, and is, perhaps, the only media member who has covered every Combine since.
"There weren't many here at the first one and I don't see anybody else around," he noted.
Legwold has also been a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Board of Selectors since 1999.
"Everybody films the interviews, they have whatever experts they have on staff, 'What's his demeanor like?'" he continued. "They have all kinds of people now who are breaking all that stuff down, even little things like that.
"Teams don't make football mistakes, they make co-worker mistakes. Who doesn't show up on time? Who doesn't work very hard? Who doesn't make the most of his abilities? That's the information they're looking for. People don't make football mistakes. When you really look at it, they're not surprised by the football player they get. They've watched every game the guy has played, ever. You could say, 'Oh, there's a bust here or a bust there.' But a lot of that is the other part, the co-worker mistakes.
"How are you in the locker room if you add them to the team? I think a lot of us undervalue the pushback a team, a general manager, a head coach, the pushback they get from the locker room when they bring the wrong guy in. Players don't like it, and I don't care what team you're talking about. You bring the wrong guy in the locker room, they're not gonna like that. And that's not what you want as a head coach, to have to deal with all that."