Odell Beckham Jr. explains why the combine is overrated
NFL fans will be bombared with buzzwords like upside, measurables, and motorfor a solid three hours Thursday night during the first round of the NFL Draft, and by the end of the night you'll probably have heard the phrase "shuttle drill" 100 times. One of the downsides of the NFL Draft, for college football fans at least, is that actual on-field performances over the course of a player's football career is seemingly forgotten and replaced by a stat sheet with results from the NFL Combine. It's hard for fans to legitimately care about a wide receivers hand meausurement, but combine results play a huge role in determining any given player's "draft stock."
Giants wide receiver and two-time Pro Bowler Odell Beckham Jr., for one, thinks teams place too much importance on raw test results. In an interview with DraftKings released Wednesday, Beckham recalled a meeting he had prior to the 2014 NFL Draft.
"I'm going to keep it real, I think it's a lot more politics. I remember going into all the rooms and they're like 'you can only bench seven [times] on the bench press.' And I'm like 'bench is not football.'
In one play, you're not going to [hit someone] 32 times in one play, you're going to seven times. It's going to be one .... At the end of the day, the eye in the sky never lies.
You can go watch that film, you turn it on, you'll be able to see - no matter what they did at the combine - you can watch what they do when they're playing football."
