Plankton
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 12,260
- Reaction score
- 18,651
http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2017/02/28/nfl-combine-interviews-business-football-themmqb-andrew-brandt
Although every NFL player evaluator will attend the combine, my experience has been that combine results do not change opinions on players much. Team scouting departments have just spent a month putting “The Board” together. Performances that deviate, whether positively or negatively, may shift a player up or down in a round—or perhaps even moving them into a different round—but that is the most. The combine is used more as an affirmation than a new set of judgments.
Most players not only do physical training for the combine but also interview training for their meetings with teams. They are quite rehearsed at these sessions, although I always remember seeing puzzled their faces as if to say, “Did I already say this to these guys or was that another team?”
I found the rehearsed and cliché answers largely useless—every player loves his mother, his coach, his teammates, his university, etc. Thus, when I sat in the interviews my goal was to get them to talk beyond the script. Truly successful people not only maintain focus—most can do that without difficulty—but they are also able to pivot when obstacles arise and seamlessly re-focus. Paraphrasing the eminent philosopher Mike Tyson: “Everyone has a plan … until they get punched in the face.” I would ask players questions that may have been different than what they were planning to answer to see how they adapted. Some of my questions were:
• Tell me about a time you did the right thing and no one saw you do it.
• Have you had a friendship sour? Why?
• What has been your greatest achievement (non-football)? Your greatest disappointment?
• Tell me something you have never told anyone else.
Although every NFL player evaluator will attend the combine, my experience has been that combine results do not change opinions on players much. Team scouting departments have just spent a month putting “The Board” together. Performances that deviate, whether positively or negatively, may shift a player up or down in a round—or perhaps even moving them into a different round—but that is the most. The combine is used more as an affirmation than a new set of judgments.
Most players not only do physical training for the combine but also interview training for their meetings with teams. They are quite rehearsed at these sessions, although I always remember seeing puzzled their faces as if to say, “Did I already say this to these guys or was that another team?”
I found the rehearsed and cliché answers largely useless—every player loves his mother, his coach, his teammates, his university, etc. Thus, when I sat in the interviews my goal was to get them to talk beyond the script. Truly successful people not only maintain focus—most can do that without difficulty—but they are also able to pivot when obstacles arise and seamlessly re-focus. Paraphrasing the eminent philosopher Mike Tyson: “Everyone has a plan … until they get punched in the face.” I would ask players questions that may have been different than what they were planning to answer to see how they adapted. Some of my questions were:
• Tell me about a time you did the right thing and no one saw you do it.
• Have you had a friendship sour? Why?
• What has been your greatest achievement (non-football)? Your greatest disappointment?
• Tell me something you have never told anyone else.
