Combine!

[Francis Cole]

Who's watching the combine this weekend?
Any players in particular you are looking forward to watching

[ZTO333]

I always love watching the QBs even though my team (the Eagles) don't need one

[goalieump413]

The QB's of course, and also the DB's. I want to see how many comparisons are made between the incoming class of DB's vs what the Seahawks have done to revolutionize the game (obvious gloat from me...)

[Marinersfan51]

I am looking forward to seeing Clowney dominate, I am also curious about what kind of a time Austin Seferian-Jenkins runs, he looked slow this past year at UW and what time he runs will have a huge impact on his draft position.

[StLee]

LSU's plethora of pro prospects.

[GiantYankee]

I want to see how Khalil Mack & Blake Bortles.

[baseballonly]

Speaking of the combine, how will this work in BTS? Sorry if it was already brought up in FAQ, but I don't feel like looking through the whole thread to find it.

I assume you would see things like 40 yard dash time and vertical jump, but what about how they preform in drills that are not measurable?

[Francis Cole]

assume you would see things like 40 yard dash time and vertical jump, but what about how they preform in drills that are not measurable?

The scouting report on the combine/college players will be a matter of how much time we have for V1. I'd prefer not to have something in V1 rather than do half a job which results in something needing to be completely re-written for V2.

[james17]

Originally Posted by Francis Cole

The scouting report on the combine/college players will be a matter of how much time we have for V1. I'd prefer not to have something in V1 rather than do half a job which results in something needing to be completely re-written for V2.

Geez! Not only am I ready to buy V1 now, I'm ready to pre-order 2,3, and 4!

[Le Grande Orange]

So this isn't a thread about the enemies in Half-Life 2?

[Cole]

Originally Posted by Francis Cole

The scouting report on the combine/college players will be a matter of how much time we have for V1. I'd prefer not to have something in V1 rather than do half a job which results in something needing to be completely re-written for V2.

You've got a year or more, get to it

And, to the earlier question at hand about things that aren't measurable.. Sorry, as I'm not intimately familiar with everything in the combine, but I thought all the various tests in it were measureable?

[Spharv2]

Interviews and such wouldn't really be measurable, though you could get impressions like, "Seems to have a good grasp of offensive structure" Or "Couldn't think his way out of a wet paper bag" or "Too concerned about image over football" "Could not give a reasonable explanation as to why he was arrested 43 times in college" things like that.

[Francis Cole]

If the scouting reports end up as "Couldn't think his way out of a wet paper bag" I'll give up I am planning far more extensive reports than that!

[baseballonly]

Originally Posted by ripwalk

You've got a year or more, get to it

And, to the earlier question at hand about things that aren't measurable.. Sorry, as I'm not intimately familiar with everything in the combine, but I thought all the various tests in it were measureable?

No there are things like the drills where QBs throw the passes to WRs and the one where WRs run across the field catching passes from various places. Nd the offensive line...

I guess you could give a score to each player for every drill. But I would suggest breaking it down into smaller category like for a passing drill footwork, arm strength accuracy and timing. Also maybe an overall rating and the importance of each category could be set with sliders by the player.

[olivertheorem]

I'd think the easiest way to generate combine results for the drills would be to randomly generate results based on the underlying (hidden) ratings within a normal distribution. For example, say a player's speed rating is 50 on a 1-100 scale (obviously at this point, I'm making up numbers). Now, let's say that a 50 translates to a true 40-time of 4.80, but one standard deviation out makes the typical range 4.75-4.85, and farther out for higher SD. It would have to be made clear what the results-to-ratings translations were, but you would end up with most players that you were fairly certain about their measurables, but you'd still have players have flukishly high or low performances that would help or hinder their draft stock accordingly.

But then, from what I've read so far I'm fairly certain Francis has considered the problem already. :P

[Spharv2]

Originally Posted by Francis Cole

If the scouting reports end up as "Couldn't think his way out of a wet paper bag" I'll give up I am planning far more extensive reports than that!

I was only talking about the interview part Good to hear that it's going to be more in depth than that though.

[SmoothGentleman]

Aaron Donald was awesome!

[baseballonly]

Originally Posted by olivertheorem

I'd think the easiest way to generate combine results for the drills would be to randomly generate results based on the underlying (hidden) ratings within a normal distribution. For example, say a player's speed rating is 50 on a 1-100 scale (obviously at this point, I'm making up numbers). Now, let's say that a 50 translates to a true 40-time of 4.80, but one standard deviation out makes the typical range 4.75-4.85, and farther out for higher SD. It would have to be made clear what the results-to-ratings translations were, but you would end up with most players that you were fairly certain about their measurables, but you'd still have players have flukishly high or low performances that would help or hinder their draft stock accordingly.

But then, from what I've read so far I'm fairly certain Francis has considered the problem already. :P

That would work but now be very realistic. I am pretty sure that the are a lot of factors (Fatigue, Motivation, Pressure to preform well, etc.) that go into how a player runs the 40, not just speed and random chance.

[ezpkns34]

My only suggestion regarding the combine would be not to make it the main focus in evaluating rookies like it is in Front Office Football

Combine should be used as a supplemental scouting tool, not a primary one

[Lee]

Originally Posted by ezpkns34

My only suggestion regarding the combine would be not to make it the main focus in evaluating rookies like it is in Front Office Football

Combine should be used as a supplemental scouting tool, not a primary one

Agreed, would be cool to have "film" grade come into play too where your scout or coaching staff give the player a grade based on college game film. That could create some interesting draft day decisions.


Do we take the guy that graded out well on film with average combine numbers, or draft the combine freak that looked raw on film and might need time to develop. I know getting to this level may be a few versions down the road, but just throwing it out there.