Tavon Austin can fly, but how does he grade out athletically as a receiver? (Photo: US Presswire)
By Marc Sluis, Staff Writer
Around this time of year everyone goes a little crazy. No it’s not just tax season but the NFL combine participants probably feel like they’re being audited, just not by the IRS. Their future employers are picking and prodding them for the most intense job interview you can imagine. Us draft fans seem to forget all the games we watched, all the stats we’ve checked and completely forget how these athletes actually play the sport of football, me included. The wealth of numbers, measurements and times thrown at us would make even accountants feel overwhelmed. Yet, it’s exciting, so exciting in fact we become infatuated with how good prospects look in the interesting new Under Amour workout gear.
So is it purely a show to distract us from the prospects’ real value? No not at all. It’s a time to confirm what we saw on tape, directly and accurately compare the athletic tools we witnessed throughout the season and start to form the first really precise Big Boards in preparation for our favorite time of the year. And yes, it’s better than a tax refund.
