Underwear Olympics coming next week

[NAS]

Also known as the Combine - Feb 27 - Mar 2

Are you going to watch more closely this year than before, any specific players positions you want to watch?

I may actually tune in to watch the Edge and Defensive Line positions and maybe some late round Wideouts.  

Edited February 21, 2025 by NAS

[Mistuh Jones]

6'4 and above 320 lbs and over D Linemen 

[Steves89]

Honestly, every year I watch less closely as I think they are less and less informative of how successful a player will be. Combine superstars who go on to have successful in the pros usually already had success in college. But curious to hear what other people are looking for. Some people have a more discerning eye than I do. 

Edited February 21, 2025 by Steves89

[Mistuh Jones]

If someone intrigues me, I go to watch some tape of them on ze youtube. It's not gonna show ya everything but enough to get a better feel for em. TDLR: if they move great but don't jump off the tape- PASS 

[Mage]

Holy crap, it is already time for the combine?!

[MHS831]

I watch it as much as a I can.  I think this year, you will see some risers at the QB and WR positions.  I like it because it gives us more info on the prospects and then a week or two later, free agency--after free agency, we have a lot better idea of needs and mocking gets real.  Mocking in April is something you have to prepare for.  You have no excuses.  It is mock, or be mocked. 

[CanadianCat]

Underwear Olympics... we really need to diversify this sport...............

[Move the Panthers to Raleigh]

Who is gonna be this year’s Anthony Richardson?

[LinvilleGorge]

A lot to sort out on the DL and edge rushers. I could see teams having these guys ranked all over the place once you get past Carter and Graham.

[kungfoodude]

5 hours ago, Mistuh Jones said:

6'4 and above 320 lbs and over D Linemen 

How about good at football? How about likes to play football? How about wants to be the best at football?

Seems like we mostly ignore those guys.

[kungfoodude]

6 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

A lot to sort out on the DL and edge rushers. I could see teams having these guys ranked all over the place once you get past Carter and Graham.

This is an eye of the beholder draft because of the lack of elite options, IMO.

I think it might be one of the wilder drafts in the first two days.

[kungfoodude]

33 minutes ago, Move the Panthers to Raleigh said:

Who is gonna be this year’s Anthony Richardson?

I don't think there is a guy at that position in that class of bust. 

Richardson has strong Jamarcus Russell vibes. I will never understand how people were fooled by him.

I will say at QB Cam Ward is a little scary. He leans gunslinger, so the bust risk is just naturally higher, although his physical abilities are clearly the best in this draft at QB.

[kungfoodude]

5 hours ago, Steves89 said:

Honestly, every year I watch less closely as I think they are less and less informative of how successful a player will be. Combine superstars who go on to have successful in the pros usually already had success in college. But curious to hear what other people are looking for. Some people have a more discerning eye than I do. 

It's not necessarily less informative. The public only gets to see small amounts that matter. The interviews are a big deal if you do them correctly.

Also, the combine tends to be an information bubble. So, if I see an Underwear Olympics MVP but had an underwhelming college career, does something on the tape pop out? Was he not being utilized correctly? Was there some issue that wasn't the players fault? Or is this an Ian Thomas practice MVP?

The combine gives everyone an idea about the physical and athletic capabilities of an athlete but not necessarily how that translates to NFL success. That is a vastly more complex problem to solve. It involves tape study, player interviews/interactions, doing background research, etc, etc. 

The old school Al Davis "Combine Star" method does not work. At all. It's basically what we have done in Carolina for quite some time.

[Move the Panthers to Raleigh]

17 minutes ago, kungfoodude said:

I don't think there is a guy at that position in that class of bust. 

Richardson has strong Jamarcus Russell vibes. I will never understand how people were fooled by him.

I will say at QB Cam Ward is a little scary. He leans gunslinger, so the bust risk is just naturally higher, although his physical abilities are clearly the best in this draft at QB.

I meant more of a guy that jumped up the draft for no reason other than physical traits. Agree that I never wanted AR here, and I didn't understand the hype.

Cam Ward has had top-pick chatter about him all year so that is different to me.