ROAD TO THE NFL

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•Game: The  Senior Bowl 

•Date: The 4th Saturday in January 

•Location: Mobile, Alabama 

•Notes:  Viewed as the top college all-star game, with the best senior talent in the nation receiving invitations.  

•Game: The East West Shrine Game 

•Date: The 3rd Saturday in January 

•Location: St. Petersburg, Florida 

•Notes:   A premier all-star game that is recognized as the second best college all-star game in the country. 

•Game: NFLPA Collegiate Bowl 

•Date: The 3rd Saturday in January 

•Location: Pasadena, CA 

•Notes:  A premier all-star game that is recognized as one of  the best college all-star game in the country. 

•Game: The Dream Bowl 

•Date: The 2nd Saturday in January 

•Location: Salem, Virginia 

•Notes:  A second-tier game that features players from FCS, Division II and D-III schools. NFL and CFL scouts attend the practices and the game.  

•Game: The Tropical Bowl 

•Date: The 2nd Saturday in January 

•Location: Daytona Beach, Florida •

Notes:  A second-tier game that features FBS players not invited to any of the three premier all-star games.  NFL and CFL scouts attend the practices and the game.    

The NFL combine is held the 3rd and 4th weeks of February at The RCA Dome in Indianapolis, Indiana.  The combine offers an opportunity for the top college football prospects to showcase their skills.  There is a maximum of 335 players that may be invited each year, with an average of about 330 being invited over the past 5 years.  93% of the players that attended last years NFL Combine signed NFL contracts (were drafted or signed as undrafted free agents).  66% of the participating players were drafted.   

Players are put through numerous athletic, aptitude, and health tests including: 40 yard dash, bench press, vertical jump, broad jump, three cone drill, 20 yard shuttle, 60 yard shuttle, position drills, physical measurements, NFL team interviews, the wonderlic test, the cybex test, injury evaluation, urine test.  

40 Yard Dash - The 40 yard dash is a test of speed and explosion. The player starts from a three-point stance and runs 40 yards. The player is timed in 10, 20 and 40 yard increments, to gauge the player’s explosion off the line.

Bench Press - All players, with the exception of quarterbacks and wide receivers, participate in this test of strength. The player bench presses 225 pounds as many times as possible.

Vertical Jump – This test is most important to wide receivers and defensive backs. To measure vertical jump, a player stands flat-footed in front of pole with a multitude of plastic flags sticking out. The bottom of the pole is adjusted to the height of the player’s fingertips when raised straight above his head. The player then jumps from a standing position, and tries to swat as many of the plastic flags as he can. The flags, staged every half inch on the pole, rotate and give the event judge a reading of the height the player jumped.

Broad Jump - The broad jump is also done from a standing position, but this drill measures how far a player can jump. This drill is most important to positions that use lower body strength to gain an advantage (i.e. offensive and defensive linemen and running backs). The length of the jump is measured from the starting point to the back of the heel upon landing.

3 Cone Drill - Tests speed, agility and cutting ability. Three cones are set up in a triangle or L shape, with each cone 5 yards apart. The player starts in a 3-point stance at the first cone. The whistle blows and the player sprints 5 yards ahead to the first cone, reaches down and touches a white line and then sprints back to the starting cone. At the starting cone, he reaches down and touches a white line, then heads back to the second cone. This time, he runs around the outside of the second cone, and cuts right to the third cone. He runs a circle around the third cone from the inside to the outside, then runs around the second cone before returning to the first cone.

20 Yard Shuttle - The 20 yard shuttle test lateral speed and coordination. The player starts in a three point stance, straddling a yard line facing the sideline. When the whistle blows, the player runs 5 yards to one side, touching the yard line. He then sprints 10 yards in the other direction and again touches the yard line, at which point he sprints back to the yard line he started from.  
 

60 Yard Shuttle - The 60 yard shuttle is basically the same drill as the 20 yard shuttle. The only difference is that instead of running 5 yards, 10 yards then 5 yards, the player runs 10 yards to one side, then back 20 yards and then 10 yards to the starting point. This drill is probably the best test of endurance in the entire combine.  
 

Position Drills - Maybe one of the best ways to test a player’s ability to play a position is to run them at drills specifically designed for players at their position. Coaches and scouts typically run the players through the drills, noting their performance. These drills are typically overlooked for some of the sexier drills, like the 40 yard dash and bench press.  
 

Physical Measurements - Each player in attendance will be measured for height, weight and arm and hand length. Offensive and defensive linemen, as well as running backs, are also measured for body fat percentage.  
 

NFL Team Interviews - Each NFL team is afforded the opportunity to interview up to 60 of the prospects in attendance. The interviews take place in the player hotel, and typically contain questions designed to test a player's character, mental toughness and football intelligence.  This is an increasingly important element of the combine as character and football intelligence often times play a key role in the success of an NFL career.  
 

The Wonderlic Test - This test is designed to test a player's I.Q. The test is 50 questions long, and players are only given 12 minutes to complete it. Though the test is very rarely completed, the Wonderlic is typically regarded as a good way to measure a player's intelligence.  
 

The Cybex Test – This test starts with a player strapped to a pod shaped machine. The machine tests the player's joint movement and flexibility. While this test does not typically receive much attention, this test can be the difference between the first day and second day on draft weekend for a player with either a recent injury or a history of injuries.  
 

Injury Evaluation - In conjunction with the Cybex test, each prospect also must survive a myriad of medical tests, including X-rays and physicals, to ensure that the player's injuries have all healed.

Urine Test - As with any prospective employees, each prospective player must pass a urine test, designed to identify any substances deemed illegal by the NFL including marijuana, cocaine and performance-enhancing drugs. 

College pro days are held between the last week in February and the second week in April.  These pro days give players that were not invited to the Scouting Combine an opportunity to showcase their talent in front of NFL scouts.  Players that were invited to the Scouting Combine are also given a second opportunity to impress scouts.  If a player is satisfied with his Combine performance he may choose to “sit on his numbers” and opt out of participating in his pro day.  However, if a player feels he did not perform up to his potential in any given drill he has the option of being re-tested at his pro day in any drill.

The athletic tests at the College Pro Days are all conducted at the Combine. However, the interviews, The Wonderlic Test, The Cybex Test, the injury evaluations, and the urine tests that are conducted at the Combine are usually not included in the Pro Day work out.

The Pro Days also offers an opportunity for a player to make a personal impression on NFL teams’ scouts and player personnel representatives.

After the Pro Day season is over, NFL teams will frequently invite draft-eligible players to their home facility to conduct an individual workout. This workout typically includes a physical exam (usually with blood and urine testing), position drills, and interview sessions with several coaches and player-personnel executives. Player interviews are becoming increasingly important because they give a team a tool to gauge a player’s football intelligence and personal character. Individual workouts can be critical because the team is focusing on only one player and the impression a player makes will be the last impression he makes on that team before the draft.