Get ready for prospects to tell teams to pound sand re private workouts...

[Beerfish]

CB Nick Nelson tore his meniscus in a private work out and is out 4 months with surgery and though he was not a super highly rated prospect he just screwed any draft cache he had.

We saw what happened re bole games the last few years.  I can see more guys telling teams to jam it with all of these private workouts.

You have the game tape, you have the combine, you have pro days.

[Untouchable]

This happens more often than you would think.

Kentavious Street just tore his ACL working out for the Giants the other day.

I don’t think it will effect the private workouts that much.

[j4jets]

Yeah if prospects are scared of getting hurt in private workouts, good luck making it work in the NFL. 

[56mehl56]

53 minutes ago, Beerfish said:

CB Nick Nelson tore his meniscus in a private work out and is out 4 months with surgery and though he was not a super highly rated prospect he just screwed any draft cache he had.

We saw what happened re bole games the last few years.  I can see more guys telling teams to jam it with all of these private workouts.

You have the game tape, you have the combine, you have pro days.

Its part of the job requirement. It would be like refusing to do an interview with a perspective employer because your afraid you might not make a good impression.

[20andOut]

5 minutes ago, j4jets said:

Yeah if prospects are scared of getting hurt in private workouts, good luck making it work in the NFL. 

They are scared of getting hurt 3 weeks before a 7 or 8 figure payday with no guarantees. That is alot different than saying they will be afraid to put it out there on gameday. How much more are these teams learning from a private workout at this point anyway.

[Lith]

1 hour ago, Beerfish said:

CB Nick Nelson tore his meniscus in a private work out and is out 4 months with surgery and though he was not a super highly rated prospect he just screwed any draft cache he had.

We saw what happened re bole games the last few years.  I can see more guys telling teams to jam it with all of these private workouts.

You have the game tape, you have the combine, you have pro days.

Shoot.  I just drafted him for the Packers a couple of days ago.  Glad I added Kevin Toliver yesterday.

[j4jets]

11 minutes ago, 20andOut said:

They are scared of getting hurt 3 weeks before a 7 or 8 figure payday with no guarantees. That is alot different than saying they will be afraid to put it out there on gameday. How much more are these teams learning from a private workout at this point anyway.

You’re hurting your draft stock by saying no. You’re taking a chance by saying yes. 

[rammagen]

he should have insurance to cover anything he may have lost esp if hes representation 

[flgreen]

1 hour ago, Beerfish said:

CB Nick Nelson tore his meniscus in a private work out and is out 4 months with surgery and though he was not a super highly rated prospect he just screwed any draft cache he had.

We saw what happened re bole games the last few years.  I can see more guys telling teams to jam it with all of these private workouts.

You have the game tape, you have the combine, you have pro days.

If they are concerned about being injured why wouldn't they tell teams to pound sand at the combine?  The useless meat market the combine is I'm stunned players go.  I'd much rather do a private work out, on my field then the combine.

If you refuse privates, your draft stock will drop a lot more then if you miss the combine, and do the privates for teams that are interested.  In private work outs teams want to see QB's etc.  doing things that are relevant to their position.  No vertical leaps for QB's no 40 yard dashes for guards

[jetstream23]

Those lower rung guys (late rounders, borderline draft or RFA guys) really can't say no.  The upper echelon guys....sure, maybe they can say, "I threw at the Combine, I threw at my Pro day, you have two years of game film on me....I'm sincerely sorry but my agent is suggesting that I don't do any private workouts.  It's not you....I'm not working out for ANY team.  And, if I did work out for you, I've got 17 other invitations for private workouts....it's not fair to pick and choose."

[Bleedin Green]

29 minutes ago, j4jets said:

You’re hurting your draft stock by saying no. You’re taking a chance by saying yes. 

This.  Top rated prospects could probably get away with it if they wanted, but that would be about it.  Lower rated talent are thrilled to simply be getting asked for a private workout, and would never say no to that, and their agents certainly wouldn't advise it either.

[Pcola]

Agreed.  Teams already have game film, the combine, and pro days to assess athleticism.  Private visits should be tours of the facilities and Q&As in the classroom.

These guys are going to from 3rd or 4th rounders to undrafted players needing to rehab and will likely miss a good portion of their rookie seasons.  And that’s IF a team signs them while they are injured.

[Jetsplayer21]

Did he trip over his own shoelace ?

[Villain The Foe]

I remember when Billy Price ripped his Pectoral at the combine. This was a guy who was projected as a late 1st, to 2nd rounder. 

That's the risk. Guys are still going to do these private workouts though. If you're not a top QB then you pretty much have to maintain your perceived value. 

[Thai Jet]

2 hours ago, Untouchable said:

This happens more often than you would think.

Kentavious Street just tore his ACL working out for the Giants the other day.

I don’t think it will effect the private workouts that much.

It won't but it should. Poor Nelson figured he had no leverage being a mid rounder to tell them to go pound it. Beerfish is exactly right, you've got the tape, combine, proday... that should be plenty. This will cost the poor kid plenty.

[Thai Jet]

1 hour ago, j4jets said:

You’re hurting your draft stock by saying no. You’re taking a chance by saying yes. 

McCafferey told them to pound it last year and it didn't hurt his 1st round status at all.

[Thai Jet]

39 minutes ago, Jetsplayer21 said:

Did he trip over his own shoelace ?

Ignorant comment.

[Larz]

I'm ready 

Now what? 

[JoJoTownsell1]

 

32 minutes ago, Thai Jet said:

McCafferey told them to pound it last year and it didn't hurt his 1st round status at all.

It's definitely an option for some elite players, but these guys getting hurt aren't consensus first round picks like McCaffrey was last year. These are generally guys fighting to go from 4th/5th round players to a 3rd round pick. 

If a team calls a kid that is projected to go in the 5th round for a private workout, and you were his agent would you blow off the team? That would be a way to alienate yourself from one of the few teams that may jump to take him a little early. 

The reality is these private workouts are just workouts. They are doing football stuff, not anything unusually risky. Many of these kids play pick up basketball games or other sports where they could get injured. 

[Thai Jet]

7 minutes ago, JoJoTownsell1 said:

 

It's definitely an option for some elite players, but these guys getting hurt aren't consensus first round picks like McCaffrey was last year. These are generally guys fighting to go from 4th/5th round players to a 3rd round pick. 

If a team calls a kid that is projected to go in the 5th round for a private workout, and you were his agent would you blow off the team? That would be a way to alienate yourself from one of the few teams that may jump to take him a little early. 

The reality is these private workouts are just workouts. They are doing football stuff, not anything unusually risky. Many of these kids play pick up basketball games or other sports where they could get injured. 

I know what you're saying. I just feel bad for the kid. Now he's worse off that ever because a cleat stuck. Like several of us said by now teams HAVE to know all about the kid. Maybe these kids shouldn't have agents like Lamar Jackson. Then you couldn't get a hold of the prospect, thus no workout thus no chance of injury. lol

[j4jets]

1 hour ago, Thai Jet said:

McCafferey told them to pound it last year and it didn't hurt his 1st round status at all.

The high ranked prospects aren’t hurting as much as the lower ranked prospects. 

[Thai Jet]

Just now, j4jets said:

The high ranked prospects aren’t hurting as much as the lower ranked prospects. 

I know. People like Nelson could not say no. He was one of those who could least afford it and he lost a lot. Slippery slope.

[Greenseed4]

2 hours ago, Villain The Foe said:

I remember when Billy Price ripped his Pectoral at the combine. This was a guy who was projected as a late 1st, to 2nd rounder. 

Impossible, Grandpa! 

That was over a month ago.

[jgb]

Considering the combine is the end result of regional scouting coops between teams to eliminate private workouts, I tend to agree. It's actually fascinating to read the origin story of the combine. It's called "combine" for a reason: to combine all the private workouts into one event. We've now gone backwards. What would make more sense is for teams to have some ability to request a prospect perform a certain throw/drill/etc. at the combine. The private stuff should be interview/whiteboard only imho unless it's guys not invited to combine.

History[edit]

Tex Schramm, the president and general manager of the Dallas Cowboys from 1960 to 1989, proposed to the NFL competition committee a centralization of the evaluation process for NFL teams. Prior to 1982, teams had to schedule individual visits with players to run them through drills and tests.^[6] The national invitational camp (NIC) was first held in Tampa, Florida, in 1982.^[7] It was originated by National Football Scouting, Inc. as a means for member organizations to look at NFL draft prospects. For non-member teams, two other camps were created and used 1982–1984. The NIC was renamed the NFL scouting combine following the merger of the three camps in 1985 to cut the cost of running the extra camps. The NIC was held in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1984 before the merger. It was held in Arizona in 1985 and once again in New Orleans in 1986 before permanently moving to Indianapolis in 1987.

 

[Dcat]

On 4/6/2018 at 1:38 PM, Beerfish said:

CB Nick Nelson tore his meniscus in a private work out and is out 4 months with surgery and though he was not a super highly rated prospect he just screwed any draft cache he had.

We saw what happened re bole games the last few years.  I can see more guys telling teams to jam it with all of these private workouts.

You have the game tape, you have the combine, you have pro days.

private workouts are going to have to be severely limited.  If a prospect is "worked out" by dozens of interested teams in an unstructured unregulated way, then devastating injuries can and will happen.