The NFL Scouting Combine has been one of the key events leading up to the NFL Draft for over four decades. It’s a place for the top college players who declared for the draft to strut their stuff on the field in various drills. These range from classics like the bench press and 40-yard dash to less glamorous but just as important ones like the shuttle and the three-cone drill.
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Unfortunately, the Combine—the on-field drills portion, at least—is slowly but surely losing its lustre. Nowadays, most top prospects forego the drills at the Combine in favor of a workout during their own Pro Day, where all the variables are controlled by them and their school. While guys like Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter won’t compete, a large portion of elite prospects, like Emeka Egbuka and Luther Burden III, will participate, looking to boost their draft stocks.
It’s not just for top prospects, however. Hundreds of players are invited to the NFL Scouting Combine every year. This year, 329 lucky young men got the call. However, even with such a large number, there are still snubs every year. This time, Shedeur’s brother Shilo was one of them. Back in 2009, one of those left off the list was a little-known punter out of West Virginia named Pat McAfee. You might know him now.
“I think it helped me though, build a lot of spite and motivation that I wasn’t invited to the Combine. So I felt like even the NFL doesn’t think I’m supposed to be in their league. And I kinda used that as the motivation of it all,” McAfee said on his show.
Jim Harbaugh, who was making a guest appearance on The Pat McAfee show on-location at the Combine in Indianapolis, said that he loves it when players that were snubbed by the Combine prove everybody wrong at their Pro Day. McAfee described his emotions during and after his Pro Day and what a rollercoaster it was.
“I had a great Pro Day, man. I had a great Pro Day. I felt real good coming out of the Pro Day. Walking out of there I’m like, maybe I did something there. And then it was a little dry for a couple of days, and I’m like, ooh, maybe I didn’t? (Laughs) “
In the end, McAfee did do something there. He was one of only three punters drafted in 2009. Kevin Huber and Thomas Morstead both went in the 5th round, and McAfee was snapped up by the Indianapolis Colts in the 7th and final round with the 222nd overall pick.
Pat McAfee went on to play eight seasons, all for the Colts. He would have played 128 straight games if not for a one-game suspension in 2010. He earned the suspension after drunkenly swimming in a Broad Ripple canal got him arrested for public intoxication. Certainly a sign of things to come once he hung up his punting boots.
The Pittsburgh native was a solid player for the Colts, especially in his last few seasons. He was top five in net yards per punt in each of his last three years from 2014-2016. In 2014, he earned his only 1st-Team All-Pro recognition (and his first Pro Bowl nod) by finishing 2nd in net yards per punt, 5th in touchback percentage, and 4th in percentage of punts inside the 20.
He earned a 2nd Pro Bowl in 2016 but retired following the season. He cited his 3rd knee operation in four years as well as a broken relationship with Indy GM Ryan Grigson as the reasons. McAfee then joined Barstool Sports before moving on to ESPN, where he is today.
Pat McAfee is a testament to what players can do when they take people’s doubts and use them as fuel. Other players who didn’t warrant an NFL Scouting Combine invite but turned into elite NFL players include Hall of Famer Antonio Gates, Super Bowl 53 MVP Julian Edelman, and five-time 1st-Team All-Pro Tyreek Hill.
