Understand this: The NFL’s National Scouting Combine is a mammoth event. Over 300 NFL prospects fly into Indianapolis about two months before the NFL draft to undergo medical testing, sit down for interviews with all 32 teams and participate in on-field workouts. It’s also a symposium for sports tech companies; a networking event for NFL coaches, scouts and media; and the de facto kickoff to free agency, when the illegal negotiations for free agents, known as tampering when it happens before the official start to free agency, begin in earnest.
But before all that can start, Jeff Foster has to compile a list of invitees, a process he tweaked in 2017 as president of the National Football Scouting Inc.