This past season, an SEC assistant football coach (anonymity requested) was perplexed as to why his young physically gifted player was still struggling to make an impact on the field as they’d just wrapped up a third of their schedule.  The young player was a physical specimen who was expected to be a significant part of the team’s plan, but he just couldn’t consistently execute the elements of the system.

The exasperated coach finally let out his frustrations in a coaches meeting.  “He just doesn’t get it!” exclaimed the coach.  “I meet with him every morning to review his responsibilities and it just doesn’t carry it over to the field.  I don’t know what else to do!”  Afterward, a senior member of the staff, who happened to be in the meeting, went up to his office and printed out the player’s APTUS assessment results. 

The combine is over and the major NFL draft scouting events have come to an end. While draft boards can still be adjusted by Pro Days, future workouts and unexpeted news on prospects, most of our evaluations are finished and scouting reports are being worked on.

Also, we never include quarterbacks in our rankings, as the position is too different from the others to be "ranked" with every position.

The Pro Day circuit continues on, with the second day of scheduled Pro Days featuring a handful of big names.

Khalil Mack made Buffalo a must-stop on the Pro Day schedule, and put on a 40-time show for scouts there. After not being able to test at the combine, Dee Ford did every drill at Auburn’s Pro Day and certainly didn’t disappoint. And while working out at Northwestern’s Pro Day, quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo got the chance to throw once again in front of NFL scouts, and one NFL head coach in particular took interest.

The first day of Pro Days across the country saw three schools put on shows. Though not much is expected to change, important red flags will need to be avoided by a number of prospects and the ability to somewhat personalize the workouts will be of some use to NFL teams.

Johnny Manziel got the most buzz after the combine based on his workouts and reported success in interviews, but I know a few teams that still aren’t interested. And despite our Teddy Bridgewater ranking, concerns have opened up about his interviews in Indianapolis.

That, plus Clowney scenarios, a trade in the works, defensive back combine performance talk and the next step in determining which quarterbacks go where on draft day.

The NFL Combine has come and gone, and it’s time to update the mock draft. While the performances in Indianapolis didn’t do much in terms of moving player draft grades, it did wonders to determine who teams value, what positions they’ll target in free agency and who they’ll consider on draft day

The Texans target a quarterback first overall, Johnny Manziel is still falling, and the draft’s offensive tackle value continues to stay high.

Every year, the NFL Combine tests the top athletes in the country in a number of physical (and mental) tests, revealing the quickest and strongest NFL prospects in the country. Over the years, the Combine has earned a poor reputation as an unreliable measure of football talent, despite some high-profile risers like Dontari Poe and Bruce Irvin potentially making up for famous workout warrior draft busts like Mike Mamula and Vernon Gholston.

For the most part, however, evaluators know the overall athleticism and physical capabilities of incoming prospects and there are few surprises. Now, the Combine is largely useful for encouraging talent scouts to take a second look at a prospect or answers questions that the tape can’t resolve by itself. With that in mind, there will always be some winners and losers in the combine.

The combine has nearly come and gone, but there has been no shortage of storylines, interviews and player performances throughout.

On Monday, the attention turned to a pair of high profile defensive ends in Jadeveon Clowney and Michael Sam, a breakout linebacker performance and Jerry Jones making a surprising announcement.

With Johnny Manziel performing, receivers wowing and Jadeveon Clowney interviewing,  you’d think the stars of the draft would steal the headlines in Indianapolis on Day Four.

But it was a failed coach trade and a player claiming God told him to leave the combine that made Sunday in Indianapolis loaded with topics of discussion.

The NFL combine is usually thought of as simply a field of physical and mental tests that prospects need to undergo (and excel at) in order to earn high consideration in the draft, but more often than not it can be a useful barometer for the state of the NFL.

The first day of the combine only involved physical measurements and some press conferences, but still contained a lot of useful information for any dedicated NFL fan.