The most important part of the NFL scouting combine isn’t the ability for coaches and scouts to watch players working out in their underwear. It’s the ability for team doctors to poke and prod players in their underwear.
Most of the time, teams want to ensure that college injuries won’t affect a player’s ability to perform in the NFL. But in the case of Arizona State wide receiver Chris McGaha, the medical exams had a different benefit.
Alex Marvez of FoxSports.com reports that McGaha learned he had 20/60 eyesight from taking the vision test at the combine (which presumably comes before players strip down to their underwear), and as a result he had Lasik surgery that improved his vision to 20/15.
“It will finally be nice to actually see the ball he’s catching and not that brown blur he has been so accustomed to over the past couple of seasons,” McGaha’s agent, Kenny Zuckerman, said.
It’s not clear why the folks at Arizona State didn’t think to test McGaha’s vision, but if better eyes lead to better hands, McGaha may have become a better pro prospect thanks to the combine eye exam.