The NFL scouting combine begins Tuesday in Indianapolis with approximately 250 draft-eligible players invited for the league's franchises to observe and evaluate at close range. That's not a random number. A total of 253 players were taken in the 2016 draft, including supplemental picks, so the idea is to have very nearly every likely draft prospect on hand for inspection.
Most of the outside attention, naturally, will go to the players expected to be taken on the first day of the three-day draft extravaganza to be held April 27-29 along the Ben Franklin Parkway, an event that should do wonders for traffic.