As it turns out, players like T.J. Watt were built for the NFL Scouting Combine. And the league is banking on such players in the future in making the Combine into a primetime event with goal-oriented drills in the hopes of maximizing the profitability of an event that, frankly, was an afterthought and not even televised.
The germ of the Combine was driven not by the desire to watch large men run around in form-fitting leotards, but rather to obtain important medical information on players as they begin their professional careers. That still remains the most crucial element of the Combine, but it’s become so much more than that.