INDIANAPOLIS — Readers of my 2022 NFL Scouting Combine recaps from Thursday, Friday and Saturday night might wonder why I didn’t just pick the players with the fastest 40-yard dashes and farthest jumps as winners.
I didn’t base my selection solely on those results because the combine is a football evaluation event, not the national decathlon team trials. Athleticism testing matters, but so do the movement skills and natural athleticism shown by top players on the Lucas Oil Stadium turf during position drills.
Test results can reflect a player’s speed, agility, natural bend and flexibility, but seeing those attributes in a competitive football setting (even one without pads) can reveal a players’ skills in ways that even three-cone drills and short shuttles do not.
This is especially true of defensive backs, who took the field Sunday afternoon to show off their pure speed and change-of-direction skills. The “winners” listed below exceeded expectations with their efforts while the “losers” couldn’t take advantage of the opportunity to improve their draft stock.
