Source: Up to 155 players will announce Scouting Combine boycott on Monday

Posted by Mike Florio on February 20, 2022, 8:17 PM EST
NFL Combine - Day 4
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I may have picked a bad week to take a break from PFT Live and #PFTPM.

Per a source with knowledge of the situation, 155 players represented by 13 different agencies are prepared to announce on Monday a formal boycott of the 2022 Scouting Combine.

The NFL issued on Saturday an email regarding restrictions that will apply to this year’s Combine, due to the ongoing pandemic. The league intends to create a bubble environment, which will strictly limit the ability of players to interact with others.

There is great strength in numbers, and it’s great to see the players and agents coming together to push back against a process that thrives on pushing the buttons of young men who are wired to compete.

Hopefully, the effort prompts the kind of revisions that will get the players to choose to show up. If not, the Combine will proceed with nearly half of the 324 invited participants not participating.

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73 responses to “Source: Up to 155 players will announce Scouting Combine boycott on Monday”

  2. After a maskless Super Bowl how can the NFL pose restrictions on athletes not even employed by them.

  3. Wait wait. Mr Bubble advocate and whistle blower is now saying that he’s okay with people pushing back ?!

  6. So what exactly are the players upset about? Not being able to talk to each other? The NFLPA is constantly talking about player safety, so the NFL tries to set up the combine to help protect them from Covid, and the NFLPA is upset and the players are going to protest? Sound like a lot of them are afraid they’ll embarrass themselves. If they’re afraid they’ll hurt their draft stock, just don’t go – don’t blame it on the NFL, the league that’s about to make them millionaires.

  8. Hopefully the players stage a similar boycott during the preseason to lessen the NFL’s overbearing COVID restrictions.

  9. I understand their concerns, but this is a foolish maneuver. The players that actually show up and do well will have a huge advantage over the players that don’t show up. Don’t think for a moment that the NFL teams will downgrade players that don’t show up (esp players slated to be drafted in the middle and late rounds).

  10. Have they made clear the reasons? Until the reason is clear it’s hard to speculate. I’m sure a major reason is the fear of NFL prospect damage claims if they get Covid from the combine and can’t work out or prepare for the draft and lose draft position/income – you can blame the lawyers (of which I’m one).

  14. Only gonna hurt the small school players and all other possible late round picks. Also riddle me this. Would the players rather be poked around and questioned by 32 teams in one place or rather fly to up to 32 different cities to get the same things done to them???

  15. Chris Lemmo says:
    February 20, 2022 at 8:30 pm
    So what exactly are the players upset about? Not being able to talk to each other? The NFLPA is constantly talking about player safety, so the NFL tries to set up the combine to help protect them from Covid, and the NFLPA is upset and the players are going to protest? Sound like a lot of them are afraid they’ll embarrass themselves. If they’re afraid they’ll hurt their draft stock, just don’t go – don’t blame it on the NFL, the league that’s about to make them millionaires.

    ——

    People are over it. These young men are not at risk. They have better odds of dying traveling to the combine, than of dying of Covid.

  17. Firstly… If a GM needs the combine to determine whether the kid is draftable, then you need a new GM. Second, these comments about throwing your career away. Gimme a break. Whether Matt Corral runs the cone drill in 6.7 or 6.9 seconds will make zero difference in where he gets drafted. The combine is a joke.

  18. The jig is up. Truth out. Aaron Rodgers and Kirk Cousins stood up against the machine(I see you Kyrie!)

  19. So they want to skip the combine huh? Who advises these guys? Maybe get some new representation because skipping the combine only hurts you.

    Teams would be much better off just watching film and listening to scouts.

    Combine just screws up these owners who don’t trust their scouting process and force their GMs to draft pretty boys.

    Good luck though.

  20. Another thing… If the combine was such an effective tool, there wouldn’t be a 50% (?) bust-rate of first round draft picks. The combine is a joke.

  21. I’m so confused, I have read on this site that mask and restrictions were the only thing that could possibly save us from this virus. Now it’s good that the people are pushing back?

  22. This might be a good thing; fewer workout warriors and more drafting by scouting.

  25. Combine is a joke.Just dump it, better off without it. If scouts cant figure it out from the hundreds of hours of game tape then new scouts are in order.

  26. Glad to hear we still have leaders within our youth! End the hypocrisy or don’t end the hypocrisy, the rest of the world is going to keep moving forward. To those that say this will hurt these young men and their draft stock; you know nothing of which you speak! Enough of this BS already.

  27. The boycott makes absolutely no sense. Once their drafted and playing, they are going to be playing with Covid restrictions anyways.
    Why ruin your chance of improving your draft stock ? Some GM’s may think they will be problems for their teams.

  28. Good for them! When will the hypocrisy stop? Maskless Super Bowl, but combine needs to be in a bubble. Typical liberal BS. If, you’re still scared, then stay in your basement. Life goes on.

  29. USFL is hiring, I’m sure. Also just means the player has to show even more at pro day and have the doctors check them out there.

  31. Let them stay home. It will let teams know which players are team players, and which are the oppositionally defiant divas in the making.

  32. People have had enough of useless restrictions that were never based on science, and they see the hypocrisy of the elites not following those same restrictions. It seems that people all over the world have had enough and are just saying “no thanks.” Good for these guys.

  33. Just a second – weren’t you harping and harping to everyone that people who pushed back against Covid protocols were idiots? Please explain yourself. We are waiting…

  34. Amazing how many people are interested in seeing the pandemic continue. No one wants to get back to normal lives?

  36. The combine is a joke anyways. You have tape. You can go to pro days. The combine only hurts the tops players. If they aren’t top prospects, then they should do the combine to improve their stock.

  37. 155 players who don’t realize that not following the rules of the hiring process makes you less employable.

  38. it’s funny how once the playoffs started there were no restrictions and no players were held out of any games but now they want to go 3 steps back? nope.

  39. I’m glad they are standing up for what most of us feel as crazy restrictions..but, some otherwise unknown WR or RB is going to run a 4.3 and getting noticed on draft day (Raiders) over a WR coming off an injury..I agree with their cause but, every action has a consequence.

  40. Good! If you’re good enough you’ll be chosen accordingly regardless of the bogus combine nonsense. If you’re on the bubble you go to the combine to prove yourself. Picks 1-75 have nothing to prove.

  41. This is a brilliant move. The NFL is looking to expand the number of games played in the regular season to 18 and the playoff expansion is next. To do this the roster size has to increase and the first step has been established with being able to come back from IR.

    To expand the roster size the talent pool has to match. If you take the first 150 players that everyone knows will be drafted off the top, those that evaluate the talent can concentrate on who will actually add value late in the draft.

    Next step is to expand the draft back to 10(?) rounds?

  43. Wait…..I’m confused. Isn’t this the guy that speaks out against the likes of Carson Wentz, Kirk Cousins, Aaron Rogers…..etc? Just sayinzzz!

  44. Listened to a show the other day and I think they were correct. People are waking up to the “woke” movement and saying, screw that. Were tired of being told what we can and cant do and say. We’ve all had the mask crap and the must do this crap.
    Its all about control. Those in power want to see what they can and cant get away with. Were tired of it. Glad these kids are boy cotting. Dont know exactly what the NFL is trying to protect themselves or the players?

  45. Sounds like the lawyers and agents have taken over, let’s see, millionaires against billionaires, this should turn out really good, and fun to watch.

  46. “it’s great to see the players and agents coming together to push back against a process that thrives on pushing the buttons of young men who are wired to compete”

    Oh the injustice! Professional organizations that want to put a little pressure on their million dollar investments to see how they respond. “Thrives on”, right Florio. Insightful commentary.

  47. trollingforjustice says:
    February 20, 2022 at 8:23 pm
    After a maskless Super Bowl how can the NFL pose restrictions on athletes not even employed by them.

    —————

    The same way a business can impose a dress code maybe? This isn’t even critical thinking. It’s logic. So many lack it.

  48. The combine is more about media revenue than actual scouting. The NFL turned it into a reality TV/soap opera about 10 years ago showing more about sad family histories than actual players to get ratings. Most scouting is done at the colleges or in the team’s facility. Let the kids strike, it won’t make any difference in the long run except for the ad money the draft generates.

  50. let them boycott. i hope those that go end up getting drafted higher than all of those boycotting.

  51. You people are judgmental it’s their careers, their body and their choice. Criticism coming from the same folks who won’t wear masks or get vaccinated because it violates your personal freedom. But you want to deny their personal freedom to make a choice. Hypocrites all.

  53. ‘People are over it. These young men are not at risk. They have better odds of dying traveling to the combine, than of dying of Covid.”

    This has always been the case. The issue with covid is not healthy people dying it’s healthy people giving it to people that are at risk of dying.

  54. ‘…People are over it. These young men are not at risk. They have better odds of dying traveling to the combine, than of dying of Covid.”

    This has always been the case. The issue with covid is not healthy people dying it’s healthy people giving it to people that are at risk of dying.

  56. I kinda think the combine needs to go away anyway. Teams have much more access to live games and game film than ever before. How some guy runs in his underwear doesn’t tell you how he plays the game.

  57. Every time we hear that “X number of people will boycott due to restrictions,” the true number ends up being less than 1% of that. So I’ll go with 5 total players opting out, which is 3%.

  59. Skipping the combine doesn’t hurt guys projected to go early to mid 1st round. 2nd round and beyond it could make a huge difference. I think the whole draft process is a waste anyway. It should be 3 rounds with a lottery for the bottom 5 teams to help prevent tanking. No team may draft in the top 5 more than 2 consecutive years and all contracts fully guaranteed so no more fake contracts and voidable years.

  61. NFL teams should do the same, for the same reasons. Any player who boycotts the combine, NFL teams should boycott that players pro-day and not allow any in-person team visits. and the NFL should make sure that not one of those players who are boycotting gets invited to the draft. The NFL and the teams would just be respecting that players wishes after all.

  64. Good to see young people see through the whole covid scam. It’s all about politics and control and money. They are forcing a vaccine that was pushed out in 1/7th the time that it normally takes for a vaccine to be allowed for the public. You cannot get straight answers from any of the government agencies about side effects or actual deaths from the vaccine or what it will do to you 7 years down the road. As for the money angle, how would you like to have a product that the federal government mandates that most people have to have, and not only in this country but in many other countries. How would you like to be a politician who votes to force the mandates on people and know ahead of time and be able to buy huge amounts of stock in Phizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson….can you say Caaaching!!! Good to see people rising up here and in other countries to end this.

  65. Good for them, hold your ground. Enough of this covid nonsense. If you could go maskless at the SB in LA./CA one of the biggest liberal city and State. There should be no restrictions in IN.

  67. NFLPA is hurting these kids with bad advice. The combine is a once in a lifetime opportunity for these kids to prove they are worth being paid millions of dollars. Every year players have shot up the draft board and become millionaires thanks to great combine workouts. The top 20 prospects have nothing to worry about, but all the players drafted after day 1 should worry. Some player that’s a borderline round two prospect that sits out could drop to the third or even fourth round if the players that show up have good workouts. That will cost the player that sat out hundreds of thousands in earnings, especially if his career doesn’t pan out. These kids need to understand that their futures are important, not a trivial win against the owners for the NFLPA.

  68. trentbateman says:
    If they don’t want to adhere to rules then they shouldn’t be offered a job.

    ————————–

    We’ll see how that works. Are 32 teams going to agree not to draft any of these kids? It all cuts both ways (as it should). You’re almost suggesting that combine participation = job offer while refusing to participate = no offer. History proves that is not the case. NFL teams don’t care if a player doesn’t participate. I think it’s become more of a chance for some marginal players to “make a splash” that might not have drawn some of the pro-day looks that a blue chip would.

  69. WHY would you Boycott you JOB INTERVIEW. That’s what the NFL Combine is,… a job interview. What on god’s green earth are you thinking ??? Especially those fringe prospects.

  70. From reading the comments it’s clear that most people don’t know what the combine is about.

  71. These kids aren’t part of the union. They’re making this decision with the “help” of their respective agents.

  72. Tony Awesome says:
    WHY would you Boycott you JOB INTERVIEW. That’s what the NFL Combine is,… a job interview. What on god’s green earth are you thinking ??? Especially those fringe prospects.
    ——————-
    It’s called acting in good faith. Now, I don’t necessarily disagree with you… kids who are very much on the edge might be “hurt” by this in some fashion. But considering the number of undrafted players found selling used cars by GMs every year, I’m not sure how much real damage they might be doing.

    There’s a recent trend in job interviews in which employers are requiring (or requesting as the case may be) 5+ ROUNDS of interviews for just standard ‘professional’ and entry level jobs. That is not in good faith. And neither is what the NFL is asking combine attendees to do.
    The NFL is already walking everything back by the sounds of it, so I’d imagine just the threat from these kids might have had some effect.

    Overall the NFL seems to be reaching the point of starting to eat itself. And I know the demise of the NFL is much reported, but never really realized. The NFL cares naught about important things like domestic violence perpetrators, accusations of cheating, clear tanking, collusion, front offices upskirting girls, etc… but they’ll try grinding some college kids into COVID submission after just hosting an event at which I didn’t notice a lot of social distancing and mask wearing going on. Not to mention MAGICALLY zero (I think?) positive COVID tests in the playoffs.

  73. bcknights says:
    February 21, 2022 at 10:22 am
    Good for them, hold your ground. Enough of this covid nonsense. If you could go maskless at the SB in LA./CA one of the biggest liberal city and State. There should be no restrictions in IN.

    ______________________________

    This is what’s wrong with society. People are still trying to frame a worldwide pandemic in their own political terms. Its a public health matter and you can be “done with it” as much as you like, which is why we all can’t be done with it already…

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