Combine Stars aren’t Always NFL Stars

Photo By: Sports Illustrated

Indianapolis, Indiana (PSF) - As we are gearing up for the 2023 NFL Draft Combine we will see a ton of good prospects looking to improve their upcoming draft stock. The combine is a good thing for these prospects because we see all the time that players that show out at the combine tend to improve their draft stack.

One thing I will say about the combine is that it is a tad overrated when it comes to evaluating these prospects. I have always said if a player can ball then you will know it. I think in the past we have seen a lot more players with really bad combine performances usually have a more successful playing career than the prospects that break records at the combine.

I will start with cornerback Byron Jones. To this day Byron Jones has the greatest combine performance in its history. He was not only setting NFL combine records, but world records as well. That being the broad jump breaking it by jumping 12.3 feet. Now, Jones has had a solid NFL career to the most part but he has only had one pro bowl season and that was in 2018 with the Dallas Cowboys. Jones was lockdown that year and soon after he got paid and kind of fell out the league and is now currently considering retirement after 7 seasons.

Enter John Ross. In 2017 John Ross broke the 40 yard dash combine record at 4.22 seconds. Unfortunately this is the only thing John Ross will be remembered for in his career after not panning out after being selected 9th overall in the 2017 NFL Draft by the Cincinnati Bengals. To name some other players like safety Gerald Sensabaugh who broke the combine record of the vertical jump at 46 inches in 2005. Stephen Paea, a nose tackle in his playing career broke the combine record of the bench press with 49 reps.

I can promise only a select few of NFL fans can tell you they know who Gerald Sensabaugh and Stephen Paea are. I only know of them because I am a Dallas Cowboys fan and they all happened to play for them at one point in their careers. I don’t want to take away the importance of the combine but I also want NFL fans to realize that just because a player had an outstanding combine doesn’t mean they will become these generational NFL stars.