Should the Senior Bowl or the Combine Workouts Matter?

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by That Guy

and again, that tape will show almost nothing in div II or div III where lots of players running 4.8s make 4.5 guys look like lightning. saying its totally worthless is completely retarded. its only a piece, but just dismissing it outright is awfully short sighted.

i mean, doughty had 120+ tackles, but he's slow and wouldn't be a good starting safety, even though he obviously played football well and had good tape. meanwhile cooley had 1260 yards receiving in div II and turned out to be great...

It can't be dismissed outright, you're right, it serves a SMALL purpose. But watching a D II or D III player on film is still more valuable than testing his 40 time on a track. Speed isn't everything. Doughty was not drafted to be a starting safety. He was drafted because he is a tremendous form tackler, and he showed ON GAME TAPE that he has absolutely no fear when running down the field on kickoff coverage. And he made several great special teams plays for us.

NFL Scouts spend the majority of their time traveling to watch players play in games, or watching game film of them. So why the hell do fans spend so much time focusing on workout results? You'd get a lot more information by watching game film. If you're putting any more time into the workout results than simply glancing over the 40 times and checking the height and weight, then you're wasting your time.

And besides, how many D II or D III players get considered? It's 90-95% D I players you're scouting. Game tape of them shows how they look against their peers.