Combine Testing (1)
If the NFL Draft is one of America's grandest festivals, then the event officially known as the NFL Scouting Combine is a lavish banquet laid out for the league's franchises and media alike.
Eighteen clubs belong to the scouting network The Nation, and another eight belong to BLESTO, which could fairly be called the origin of the modern football scouting system.
The remaining six teams, belonging to neither, prepare for the Combine with scouting systems of their own making.
Roughly 330 players receive Combine invitations each year, and eligibility is limited to those who earn a majority of votes in the NFL Scouting Selection Committee's meeting.
Each team is granted 60 fifteen-minute meetings. These first two days of interviews mark the traditional opening of the Combine.
"Pleasure to meet you."
"Pleasure's mine, Sir."
"Impressive. Have a seat."
"Yes, Sir."
#. Tuesday, February 28, 2023
#-1. Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
#-2. Lucas Oil Stadium
#-3. The Houston Texans' Booth
Sixty meetings may sound like a generous number, but NFL teams choose their interview subjects with extreme care.
Because these interviews are the only chance to verify what no other test can reveal — and because on rare occasions, they become the place where a draft promise is made.
In that light, the news that Houston would hold its first interview with Dwayne Moi Stone became a major talking point inside the Combine venue.
"I hear you arrived the day before yesterday."
"Yes, Sir. I wanted to see my friends."
"Friends at Georgia?"
"Yes, Sir."
The Houston Texans, who had plunged into last year's TFM, hadn't actually approached this draft with quite the same desperation as other teams.
As long as they landed inside the Bottom 3, they could draft an excellent quarterback even if it wasn't Moi — and they also held extra draft capital from the Deshaun Watson trade.
And yet the reason the Texans had gone out of their way to schedule a meeting with Dwayne Moi Stone came down to a single recent event.
Nick Caserio, General Manager of the Texans.
He turned to the man beside him.
DeMeco Ryans.
As a linebacker at Alabama, he built a reputation as the finest college OLB in the nation before being drafted by Houston, and he went on to a decorated playing career in the NFL that included two Pro Bowl selections.
After retiring, he became the 49ers' defensive quality control coach, climbed steadily through the ranks to Defensive Coordinator, and took over as Texans head coach this past January.
He was also the man who had provided the single biggest reason this meeting now existed.
"DeMeco? Anything you'd like to ask?"
"I hear he had dinner with them last night. Did you buy?"
"Yes, Sir."
"Did things like that happen often in college too?"
"Yes. Feeding people and getting close through food is just the culture in Hawaii and Korea. Ever since I started making money, I've paid every time."
"Do you have friends outside of that group?"
"I'm sorry — what do you mean?"
"Friends you made off campus, I mean."
"I've got a few girls I'm friendly with, but no guys."
"Is that so? Understood."
As with every team sport, work ethic and team chemistry become especially critical in football once players reach the professional level.
In particular, the character and diligence of the players rated as starters shape the entire organization from the earliest stages of season preparation.
Anyone looking to form cliques and throw their weight around, or to run with a bad crowd, is the first kind of player to filter out.
DeMeco Ryans's opening questions to Moi had been designed to confirm exactly that.
The questions kept coming after that as well.
"How did you spend your birthday party last year?"
"In my dorm."
"How many people showed up?"
"Insanely many. The room next to mine was empty, so I had to ask the RA to open it up too and use both. Around 50 came from the team alone… and the girls were probably about the same."
A quarterback is generally expected to have a good personality.
Leadership and a sense of responsibility are required as well.
At the answer that friends had flooded his birthday party to overflowing, the Texans men chuckled as they listened.
"And no problems?"
"No, Sir. Always clean. I have rules."
"Rules? What kind of rules?"
"Five punch cups, three beers. And I made everyone keep an eye on each other — as a way of looking out for one another. Some guys hated it, but I told them it was free booze and free food, so they could put up with it. If anyone wanted more than that, or wanted to go off with the girls and… you know. Anyway, I told them they were free to leave the party anytime. From sophomore year I had the standing to set terms, so I let them know that showing up late to practice the next day cost them attendance at the next three parties. My friends started calling it the HKS Rule."
"HKS Rule?"
"Hawaiian Korean-Samoan Rule."
"Hahahahaha."
Within mere minutes of the interview's start, these men had developed a genuine, human fondness for Dwayne Moi Stone.
The questions about family, football, and values continued, and soon the allotted fifteen minutes had run out.
"Unfortunately, that's our time."
"Thank You, Sir."
There were still about twenty minutes left before the second meeting was to begin, and the Texans were thinking hard about whether they could pry Pittsburgh's #1 overall pick away with their own #3 and #12 picks plus additional compensation.
The odds didn't look promising.
But DeMeco didn't want to give up.
"What if…."
"?"
"What if we took Chicago's #2 pick?"
Ninety percent of pick-for-pick trades in the NFL are made on draft day itself.
That's when picks hold their peak value, and only after the Combine and Pro Days is enough information on a specific player finally accumulated.
In truth, rookies' market value fluctuates most wildly in March, and the free agency market sways with it.
The league's Hard Cap, which permits not the slightest flexibility, has every NFL franchise bloodthirsty to save every last dollar — and that culture has only reinforced this pattern.
With roughly seven weeks until the NFL Draft, the Texans began wracking their brains for a way to take the Bears' #2 pick.
#. Crowne Plaza Hotel
#. Room 803
The first day of the Combine passed rather boringly.
I only had a single team interview, after all.
While the other guys went through interviews with several teams over an hour or two, mine was with the Texans and the Texans alone.
I'd expected it, but it still stung a little.
Like being the loner nobody wants to talk to, you know?
"Can I smack the back of your head?"
Nolan Smith, who'd come looking for my room, raised his hand with exaggerated sincerity, eyeing me with playful menace.
So I laughed and dodged.
The linebackers and linemen had started the Combine ahead of the quarterbacks, running through a battery of physical tests today, and the media declared Nolan the day's biggest winner.
"4.39, was it?"
"Damn it. I could've run faster."
"No kidding. You went faster back at school."
Right now Nolan was under enormous stress over the endless Size question.
The media was saying that at 6'2" (188 cm) and 230 pounds (about 104 kg), his frame fell short of what it takes to be an elite linebacker — and that talk was coming from certain NFL teams as well.
And so, I wanted to tell him this.
"You're Top 3."
Certain people — fine, let the media be media, but even some NFL executives don't yet grasp that the trends of football have shifted.
Yes, the physique of an outside linebacker charging at the quarterback matters. But as tactics have diversified, so too has what's demanded of the outside linebacker.
Just as the offensive line blocks to open running lanes for the running back or quarterback, in recent years it's the nose tackle who carves out the outside linebacker's path.
Naturally, the ability to shoot through a gap fast, like a running back, has become the crucial skill — and Nolan is the best in the business at exactly that.
If any team wants to upgrade its OLB position in this year's draft, they should take this guy first. No conditions, no exceptions.
Otherwise they'll regret it.
He's a seriously smart kid.
Knock knock.
"YO!!"
Voices came from outside the door, and when I opened it, there stood Broderick with sodas and chips in hand.
Darnell and Kelee were beside him, and Jordan was back there fiddling with his phone.
"Get in here."
Once six big bodies had settled in, the already-cramped room grew even more crowded.
"You brought a PlayStation?"
"Yup."
"Damn- why didn't I think of that?"
"Six days on a Nintendo alone? Not happening."
"Screw it. Can I play?"
"Yup."
While Jordan Addison played with a headset on, the rest of us talked over the day.
"Pittsburgh was pretty aggressive, huh."
"Yeah."
"Same here."
"Really?"
Broderick, Darnell, and Kelee Ringo all said their interviews with Pittsburgh had stuck with them — that the team had treated them more warmly and respectfully than anyone else.
Maybe a few of us would end up playing together, huh?
"That'd be great, honestly."
"Well, you're rich anyway."
"Plus I can introduce you to Kendall's model friends."
"WHAT?! Shut up."
"Kkkkkkk."
Darnell caught the pillow I hurled at him with style and laid it casually across his lap.
"Your tests are tomorrow, right?"
"Yup. Two of them."
"Ahh- there you go again, milking that QB status."
"What the Fuck. I didn't make the schedule?"
The room was small, but being together like this felt just like hanging out with friends back in the campus dorms.
Thank God I'm not alone at the Combine.
And thank God it's these guys.
We were deep into gossip about this and that when another knock came at the door. I opened it, and faced with showing the packed room behind me, I had no choice but to tell them the room was full.
Peter and Kenny, shoulders slumping in disappointment.
"Damn it. What do I do now."
In the end I called my agent, asked whether NFL rules had anything against it, and told there was no problem, I grabbed my card and headed down to the lobby.
Then I stood at the reception desk and said this.
"One suite, please."
"…Sorry?"
And so I became, in the history of the sport, the first rookie ever to check into a suite with his own money — because the room was too small.
#. March 1, 2023
#-1. Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
#-2. Lucas Oil Stadium
#-3. The Testing Room
"Hm?"
"Here."
"…You're done already?"
"I can just leave, right?"
"…."
After handing the Wonderlic Test sheet to the bespectacled man eyeing me with unmistakable suspicion, I took the most careful steps I could manage and slipped out of the testing room.
The others were still working through their tests.
About six minutes had gone by, I figured.
"Looking for the restroom?"
"No. I'm here for the S2 Test."
"Hmm… and the Wonderlic?"
"Finished it."
"…Sorry?"
"It's through here, right?"
"Yes? Ah — yes. Follow the pink line on the floor."
"Yes, Sir."
The Wonderlic Test is a piece of cake.
It's basically just an IQ test, after all.
What I'm actually looking forward to is the S2 Cognition Test — an exam that evaluates how you perceive and process information in in-game situations.
According to the materials handed out at yesterday's orientation, it runs a total of eight tests measuring nine cognitive functions, and the staffer explaining it had called it something like a video game.
The moment I stepped into the room where the S2 Cognition Test was administered, a man and a woman who were mid-preparation spun around, startled.
"Uh… the Wonderlic room is…."
"Already done. Should I wait somewhere?"
"You finished it?"
"Can I take this test now?"
Finishing a mere Wonderlic in a few minutes — apparently nothing short of astonishing, judging by how every single person reacted the same way.
The female staffer, barely collecting herself, guided me to my seat, and I sat down in front of what looked like a gaming laptop, fitted on the equipment, and picked up the Xbox pad.
Whoa-
This is actually a game?
Never got to experience anything like this in my past life.
"Have you played Xbox before?"
"All the time in the dorms."
"Then I won't explain the pad. When the software launches, instructions will appear on screen. The equipment you're wearing tracks your eyes down to two-millisecond intervals and records them through the pad. Well then — are you ready?"
"Of course."
The female staffer gave me a smile, fitted her own equipment, and stepped back. As a voice wished me luck, text began to appear on the screen.
Mark the area where the point does NOT appear.
Diamond shapes began flashing onto the screen and vanishing, over and over, and I checked the one quadrant among the four that hadn't lit up.
Got a rough sense of how this works.
Fun, actually?
Now this, at last, was making the Combine interesting.
#. About Two Hours Later
#-1. The Seattle Seahawks' Booth
The Wonderlic and S2 results from the quarterback position had just been transmitted to the camps of all 32 NFL teams.
"That's impossible."
"What is?"
"Moi got a perfect score on the Wonderlic. And on the S2 Cognition Test, he posted 99%. Effectively the highest score ever recorded. I thought Joe Burrow's 97% would never be touched."
"…."
Seattle Seahawks General Manager John Schneider handed the document to a staffer and walked over to his head coach, Pete Carroll, who was holding the same report.
Pete Carroll spoke to John Schneider.
"Did you see this?"
"What?"
"Bryce Young. Wonderlic 27. Ordinary. But on the S2 Cognition Test, he scored a full 98%. Without Moi in the picture, that's effectively the best in the class. And take a look at this."
"…."
What Pete Carroll pointed to was C.J. Stroud's score.
Wonderlic: 23.
S2: a mere 18%.
"Couldn't we make use of this?"
"…You can't be suggesting we leak the scores?"
"I only mean we ought to try everything. If we fail to take Chicago's #2 pick and it lands with another team, we'll be left combing the free agency market instead. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but this year's rookie quarterbacks are genuinely enticing. Bryce Young. C.J. Stroud. In any other year, those two would be unquestioned top priorities."
For quite a long time now, the argument that the various tests administered at the Combine are of little real use has been repeated without pause.
Standardized, one-size-fits-all testing that ignores position-specific differences can't yield objective judgments, and the S2 Cognition Test, newly added in 2015, was said to be of little help either.
The S2 Cognition Test in particular drew criticism for being administered only once — the argument being that given individual condition and motivation, it should be run at least three times and averaged.
Indeed, C.J. Stroud is currently taking a bit of flak for his attitude heading into the Combine.
Where Bryce Young is proving himself with desperate intensity, Stroud has shown a somewhat indifferent demeanor.
If the media could tie C.J. Stroud's S2 result to questions about his work ethic, dragging down a player's value through the press would be all too easy.
"Fine. We'll try after the Combine wraps up."
"Good. Sounds like a reasonable play."
"…Separate from all that — Moi is slipping out of reach, isn't he."
"A perfect score and 99%. There's not a crack to squeeze through."
"Phew-"
John Schneider let out a long sigh. And across the league, the 30 other GMs and head coaches holding the same documents were expressing enormous astonishment at Dwayne Moi Stone's test results.
A perfect Wonderlic score at an official Combine was only the second in history, and a 99% on the S2 Test was the first ever recorded.
And exactly one team—
"He's Good."
"Yeah-. He's Damn Good."
The Pittsburgh Steelers, smiling contentedly, tossed the report carelessly onto the table without even bothering to check any other quarterback's scores.
Morning of the Combine's second day of testing.
Once again, Moi had cornered the market on every headline.
#. 4 PM
#-1. The Pittsburgh Steelers' Booth
Maybe it was because we'd done our interview before the Combine proper, but the meeting with Pittsburgh was completely different from the day before.
Effectively, we were just shooting the breeze.
"Highland Park's a good call too."
"Oh, I couldn't agree more."
"Where's that?"
"There's a river called the Allegheny — it flows into the Ohio, and on down toward the Mississippi. It runs straight through Pittsburgh, and the neighborhood sitting along its banks is Highland Park. If you prefer quiet, that's what I'd recommend."
"Wow. This is basically real estate small talk."
"Hahahahaha."
It started with them asking what food I liked, slid naturally into Pittsburgh's best restaurants, and now we were discussing which neighborhood I should live in.
These guys are completely transparent.
"T.J. will definitely push you toward Ross Township."
"And where's that?"
"The suburbs."
"I see. But, gentlemen—"
"?"
"Don't you have any questions for me?"
"Nope. Not a one."
Having filled the full fifteen minutes with talk of Pittsburgh and its surrounding neighborhoods and their best eats, I stepped outside, and Wade Buck came up to me.
What did we talk about? he asked.
I answered honestly.
"Didn't I tell you before? They told me to find a house ahead of time."
"I answered this last time too — are you insane?"
"Haha."
Nobody's going to like that.
It's the kind of thing that reads as anything but humble.
Once again my interview schedule ended with Pittsburgh alone, and having finished earlier than anyone else, I headed with Wade Buck — who'd joined me today — toward a famous donut shop downtown.
After ordering, we stood outside waiting for the donuts.
"Medical testing tomorrow, right?"
"Yes."
"How's it all going? Not bored?"
"It's a rite of passage. Can't be helped."
Day two of the Scouting Combine.
Two more days until the main event.