It’s going to happen. It’s moving in that direction. It’s just a matter of time.
One of these years, one of the top prospects in the draft will decline to show up for the Scouting Combine. He just won’t come. He won’t need to.
It needs to be a year when the No. 1 guy is clearly the No. 1 guy. So clear that staying away wouldn’t cause him to fall.
The signs are there. Multiple LSU players refused to be measured this year. Receiver Marvin Harrison, Jr. refused to meet with the media. Quarterback Caleb Williams declined to submit to medical evaluation, which is the cornerstone of the entire Combine process.
Eventually, someone is going to just not go. He won’t need to. And before anyone criticizes him for not going, let’s remember what the Combine is for.
Roughly 125 to 150 players are known to be draft-worthy before the Combine and Pro Day workouts. The pre-draft effort helps draw the lines, imperfect as they might be, as to the next 200 or so players who will be selected.
Yes, the process helps some players move up. It also helps the teams when it comes to not pissing away their picks. Because the picks will be made. They used to do the draft in late December, for crying out loud. And the picks were made, with far less information.
At the very top, it’s all pointless. They know they’re at the very top. Why play the game? Why give value to the league and the Combine when no added value is being given to the player?
Yes, there will be anger and blowback if/when someone doesn’t show up at all. How dare they choose not to entertain us? And if the team with the top pick doesn’t select the player who is the consensus top pick because he didn’t go to the Combine, that team will do so at its own peril.
