NFL Draft
3/18/25
5 min read
How NFL Teams Evaluate Draft Prospects: The Role of Pro Days
As per the Santa Claus song lyrics, NFL GMs, coaches, and scouts are making their lists and checking them twice (or almost every day) as the draft prospect evaluation process continues this month with pro days.
The ritual goes from checking out the 2025 class in person and on tape from games over the past couple of seasons to college all-star games such as the Senior Bowl and East-West Shrine Game to the Combine and now pro days. Still ahead are in-person player visits to team facilities prior to the April 24-26 draft for purposes of physical exams, interviews, and intelligence tests, along with possible further prospect on-field work on their campuses.
I’ve always said the draft process is an excessive expenditure of time and money by NFL teams with too much overanalysis. In my GM and team president days, I would make an annual proclamation to our player personnel execs, scouts, and coaches that, by far, the most important element of a player’s grade had to be how he played in actual college games.
Yes, the measurables obtained at the Combine and pro days, such as size, speed, agility, leaping ability, and strength, are an essential part of the puzzle. Physicals and interviews at the Combine are necessary, and in some instances, such as highly rated edge rusher Abdul Carter’s foot injury, the physical re-check in April is critical (although Carter is expected to work out at Penn State’s March 28 pro day so the “stress reaction” is not likely to be a serious concern).
But playing ability triumphs over all else as long as the player is healthy and not an off-field behavior risk.
Yet pro days are important in the grand scheme, especially for players who didn’t participate in on-field activities at the Combine. Those players included likely top 10 picks in quarterbacks Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders, cornerback/wide receiver Travis Hunter and Carter.
I think it’s a mistake for any player to not present themselves in every possible opportunity unless he’s an obvious first pick in the draft such as Andrew Luck in 2012. That’s what I preach to the rookie class in the agent firm I work with—IFA. Unless there’s an injury that needs more time to heal, the problem with skipping the all-star games and Combining workouts to only work out on pro day is the risk of bad weather that day or a player being sick or having a minor injury that hurts their performance.
It was a widely criticized move by wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. last year when he essentially turned his nose up at the pre-draft process when he only did team interviews at the Combine and did not show up at the Ohio State pro day. He took only three April team visits--with the Arizona Cardinals, Chicago Bears, and Los Angeles Chargers (all drafting in the top five).
The Cardinals selected him at No. 4 overall, a couple spots ahead of Malik Nabers, the second wide receiver picked (by the New York Giants) who didn’t work out at the Combine but did participate in LSU’s pro day.
It appears none of the top players are taking Harrison’s approach this year, which is a wise move on their part. Harrison was lucky it didn’t hurt him since he was not going to jump into the top three ahead of the players selected by quarterback-needy teams in 2024—Caleb Williams by the Bears, Jayden Daniels by the Commanders, or Drake Maye by the Patriots.
At pro days, teams are anxious to get the measurables of players who didn’t fully participate at the Combine and to get another read on players who did perform the drills and testing at the Combine. They also want to check out somewhat under-the-radar players who didn’t receive a Combine invite but will showcase their skillset at pro days around the country from March 3 to April 1.
My favorite pre-draft story, which illustrates the importance of pro days and pre-draft workouts in select cases, involves Hall of Famer John Randle. He went undrafted in 1990 as an undersized defensive tackle out of Texas A&I—Kingsville. He was not invited to the Combine, but one of our Vikings scouts (Don Deisch) saw him at his college pro day and in a private workout.
I signed Randle for $5,000 on a minimum rookie deal on Deisch's recommendation. By his fourth season, he had gained weight, developed into a dominant force, and made his first of seven Pro Bowls as a player Brett Favre once called “unblockable.”
In my team exec years, I would’ve loved how the Big 12 does a joint pro day for 16 schools in Dallas on March 18-21. That saves a lot of time and money instead of flying team personnel to all of these schools when they had separate pro days. Sanders and Hunter will be part of this event as they do the drill work they avoided in Indianapolis at the Combine and Hunter reportedly will do defensive back and wide receiver drills as an elite and unique player.
Draft boards were set up in earnest back in January and updated in scouting department meetings after the Combine. At pro days, GMs are looking to reinforce their grades and rankings of players, with the possibility of tweaking the grades depending on pro day performances.
It’s all part of the lengthy and challenging draft process—for players and team personnel—with millions in a rookie contract at stake if a player can elevate themselves to a first-round pick or even move up a round or two.
