The ‘Fake it till you make it’ mantra doesn’t cut it in the NFL. No matter how incompetent a head coach might seem, the reality is that both he and his players have reached this level by enduring grueling tests, relentless scrutiny, and countless trials that most never will.
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Did you know that 98.4% of NCAA players don’t even get drafted, and of those who do (16 out of 1000), many last only a few years in the league. So, to find the perfect candidate—a task only a few get right—every team must conduct an exhaustive evaluation process before even considering a prospect. It’s a process far more demanding than most realize, and a former first-overall pick like Cam Newton knows it all too well.
The former Carolina Panthers QB, who declared for the draft after a Heisman-winning campaign in 2010, says that scouts even know what cereal a player likes — if he’s that someone they’re considering drafting. Cam brought this up while reacting to cornerback Kaiir Elam’s Combine interview with the Buffalo Bills, the team that drafted him 23rd overall.
During Elam’s visit to Orchard Park, the former Gators star boasted about his note-taking process after games, which he claimed no other prospect did. Newton found it cheesy, to say the least. He acknowledged that the notes were “cool and all,” but according to him, the people present in the meeting — especially head coach Sean McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane — didn’t care about that at all.
Newton clarified that a team, of course, cares about how the prospect plays, how his college performed the previous year, and, most importantly, whether the player has the mettle to handle the pressure that comes with being part of a league as big as the NFL.
However, only the latter part can’t be determined until the NFL Scouting Combine, when the prospects sit down for an interview. And, the other things, Newton says, are already known to the team — as it’s the scout’s job to know those details. So, simple gimmicks, like bragging about note-taking, don’t make a lot of difference at the Combine.
Also, imagine how grueling it is to gather all that information and how many people scouts need to meet to get to know hundreds of CFB players a little better.
“If you’re a first-round draft pick, you’d know you’re a first-round draft pick… Like them notes are cool and all, but getting drafted ain’t the thing, bro, staying in the locker room (for years) is… You went to the University of Florida. How did you do this year? We gon’ look at your tape. We gon’ look at your fam, we gon’ ask the people around you, we gon’ ask your players. Our scouts already know what type of cereal you eat,” said Newton on 4th & 1.
At the end of the day, it all comes down to, “Can he play?” says Newton. And that question might seem to have an easy answer, but it has layers.
Can the prospect play under pressure — when things aren’t going his way, when he’s dealing with family problems, or when he doesn’t have loved ones nearby? The Combine is thus a great place to uncover aspects of a player that can’t be learned anywhere else or from anyone else.
And there, Newton says the interviewers want to see if the prospect confirms what they already know — whether they have the right attitude while answering.
“He’s a good guy, but can he play? That’s what people don’t realize, and that’s why they need the Combine, Peggy (Newton’s co-host)… Peggy, that’s your name? (Newton imitates an interviewer) Why they call you Peggy? Where’re you from, man? They already know all this stuff by the way. Aye, we heard this thing about you getting slapped by Cam,” the former QB said jokingly.
“They know it all. They just wanna see if you gon’ tell the truth,” he added.
Newton even brought up how top prospects in this draft, like Travis Hunter, might have faced questions designed to gauge their composure in how they responded. “Travis Hunter, you don’t think he answered questions about his girlfriend? You don’t think somebody asked him, ‘Hey, will your girlfriend be a distraction?”
Travis has been in the spotlight lately due to his girlfriend, Leanna Lene, making some questionable statements. Fans online are still memeing the two-way player—who is poised to go top-three in this year’s draft—into oblivion, for things his girlfriend has said or done in the past. So, Newton might very well be right.
It just goes to show the kind of scrutiny prospects face during the Combine. Every detail, no matter how personal or trivial, can become part of a team’s evaluation process.
