Every year the NFL invites about 3% of approximately 10,000 college football players to participate in a series of tests called a combine. A combine is designed to assess the skills of promising college football players. These athletes give it their all in hopes of getting drafted and consequently being offered a contract. Although the tests used during the 5 days of the combine require skill and athleticism, its predictive value is in question.

The NFL uses the combine as a key element of the player-selection process. A recent study calls into question the validity of most of the exercises and suggests a significant amount of money is wasted. Researchers found combine skills clearly lack any meaningful predictive value of player performance, except for running backs and sprint times. One explanation the researchers give is the popularity of combine prep courses. Other than marketing claims, there is no research that shows any course improves combine performance. If they do, however, these programs could dilute performance differences. Unfortunately for the players being tested, and team owners who write the checks, these improvements in combine skills do not transfer to athletic ability on the field.
(Journal of Strength & conditioning Research 2008;22(6))