JP Finlay is at the NFL Scouting Combine (or was, as he was on his way home by the end of Thursday’s show) – and it was three decades ago that a young Brian Mitchell was there as a participant – and he remembers just how tough it was.
“I walked in healthy, I left out injured…well, feeling injured, because the way that they poke and prod, and stretch and yank, and pull and push?” BMitch said. “Dude, if you have something that's injured and you don't know, you will find out, and if you have something that was injured a while ago, they might reinjure it, because they're gonna find out. They're making a major investment.”
Brian still had fun, but realizes that it is, or SHOULD be, a dog and pony show baseline.
“I was still able to have fun with it, but as I’ve said, I don't think the Combine should be anywhere close to outweighing the years you played in the actual sport,” Brian said. “I always tell JP, I don't care about rehabbing when you're out on the football field with the trainer and the trainer says run to that cone, put your right foot in the ground, run that cone, put your left foot on the ground – I care when you start running and somebody shows up unexpectedly and then you have to plant and drop your weight and shake a little bit and come out of it. That tells me when a person is 100 percent, because we've seen guys over and over again who run straight ahead and do all this stuff, and they cannot play still the game of football. So that's why I look at the combine very similar to that – you’re out there running the route with nobody checking you, the quarterback is in the pocket with nobody rushing them, so you can sit there all day and could deliver a perfect pass.
What if the guy is right in your face and instead of following all the way through, you gotta flick the wrist a little bit more to get more speed on the ball and things like that? Then we're gonna find out how accurate you are.”
So, yeah, take the Combine with a grain of salt.
“I understand what the league is doing. If my product is gonna make people watch it and make numbers like they do, I'm gonna do the same damn thing. But ultimately, those days in Indianapolis, that's all just putting their plan out, should not outweigh the years you played. And for me, it's kinda hard to really sit there and watch those things when I know they act as if it's the end all be all, but I don’t put that much importance on it, because I’ve lived it.”