NFL Combine Preview: The 10 biggest storylines from Travis Hunter’s workouts to possible medical issues

Our yearly trek to Indianapolis is here, and there’s no shortage of storylines at the NFL Combine. While all of them will play out in the week ahead, here are 10 standout storylines that have piqued a lot of interest as the event begins.

If you’d like to dive deeper, I’ve written full position previews for the athletic testing portion of the combine. Everything from who I think will run the fastest to which players have the most to prove to which players might be able to afford an “off day.”

It’s all part of our Diehard Draft Guide, which also features over 200 of my full scouting profiles and will provide easy access to all athletic measurements from this week’s combine. You can get access to it by becoming a Diehard today!

OK, let’s get onto the storylines …

1. ALL EYES ON TRAVIS HUNTER

We’ve had recent reports that potential top picks Abdul Carter (Penn State) and Shadeur Sanders (Colorado) will not participate in the drills at Indianapolis. Carter’s injury affected his prep time and Sanders is opting not to throw.

But as of this writing, there has been no word on Travis Hunter. One of the best natural athletes in the class, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner should test well across the board, but it’s deeper than that. Hunter is being listed as a cornerback this week. National Football Scouting (the organization that runs the event) President Jeff Foster said they offered him the ability to actually stay an extra night and work with the receivers as well, the first time they’ve ever done it. Regardless, you can almost guarantee that, if Hunter works out, he will through the full gamut of drills. DBs already do things like the Gauntlet Drill (where the prospects catch a series of passes in succession running the width of the field at high-speed), but I think he’ll run the full route tree for teams at the end of the DB workout on Friday night. Hunter should put on a show. 

2. IS JALON WALKER A HYBRID DEFENDER … OR A TWEENER?

I would actually make the argument that no player has more riding on his athletic testing than Georgia linebacker Jalon Walker. The hybrid defender split his time between traditional ‘linebacker’ and ‘edge rusher’ for the Bulldogs, and while many view him as a top-level athlete, I have my doubts about it (particularly when his size is taken into account). I hope he proves me wrong and blows the doors off the workout, but if he’s going to go in the top half of round one, he will need it. If he has a modest workout, there will be lots of questions about what his best fit is in the league. 

3. WHICH DEFENSIVE TACKLE WILL STAND OUT FROM A SPECIAL GROUP AT THE NFL COMBINE?

This is a special group of interior defensive linemen this spring. No matter what body type and skillset you are looking for, this class has it for you. Not only that, but there are several clumps of players with similar grades for teams across the league. One aspect of the evaluation that could serve as a tiebreaker in a lot of these conversations will be everything that happens this week at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis. From interviews, medical reports and the workouts, players will have a lot of room to rise and fall for teams (as well as for analysts in the media) based off information gleaned in Indianapolis. 

4. WHO WILL ACE THE TEST AT CORNERBACK?

I already talked about Hunter at the top of this piece, but when you down the list of cornerbacks after him there are more questions than answers, and a lot of players have opportunities to answer those queries this week at the NFL Combine. You can get more info in my cornerback preview piece in the guide, but players like Will Johnson (Michigan), Trey Amos (Ole Miss) and Azareye’h Thomas (Florida State) all have speed concerns. What will the medical tests look like for injured corners Benjamin Morrison (Notre Dame) and Shavon Revel (ECU)? Will the smaller corners like Maxwell Hairston (Kentucky) and Jahdae Barron (Texas) test well enough to overcome their size limitations? If more of these guys can get an ‘A’ on those tests, we should have more than a handful of corners go in the Top 50. If not? We could see some slides. 

5. WHO RUNS THE FASTEST 40?

Xavier Worthy set social media on fire with a record-breaking 4.21 run in the 40-yard dash last year at this event. I don’t think anyone challenges that from this group, but who will run the fastest? I think it is a three-horse race. Georgia speed receiver Arian Smith, a likely Day 3 pick, might be the front-runner for me. After him, Texas receiver Isaiah Bond (who transferred to the Horns last offseason from Alabama), is going to be in the running. Lastly, keep an eye on the supersized receiver-turned-cornerback Darien Porter. A sixth-year senior from Iowa State, Porter didn’t move to cornerback full-time until a couple of seasons ago and did not start any games until this year, when he was still just a rotational player on defense. But he’s a special teams stalwart and he can fly. 

6. CAN A TRUE RB2 EMERGE BEHIND ASHTON JEANTY?

Boise State star Ashton Jeanty is the universal top dog at running back this year.

But who is right behind him in the pecking order? That’s a matter of opinion. Do you want the big, physical bruiser in Omarion Hampton (North Carolina)? How about the diminutive big-play threat in Trey Henderson (Ohio State)? You could get a blend of the two in explosive slasher Kaleb Johnson (Iowa). Will any of these three do enough to move the needle in their direction to create more of a consensus opinion? Could one of the explosive underclassmen like Texas’ Jaydon Blue or Tennessee’s Dylan Sampson make a big move up with the testing profile I expect from them? I’m also still partial to the OTHER Ohio State running back in Quinshon Judkins, who ran roughshod over the SEC for two years before joining Henderson in Columbus. This is a very talented running back group and, like defensive tackle, some ties could be broken here at the NFL Combine in Indy for a variety of reasons.

7. BEHOLD THE FREAKY TIGHT END

This also happens to be a really strong tight end class, and tight end is sneakily a position where the athletic profile is a really good indicator of future NFL success. Many of the top players at the position had outstanding weeks at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis. We got word on Monday that Miami star tight end Elijah Arroyo (knee) will not work out, which is unfortunate because he would have exploded here. But that opens the door for someone else to shine. Will it be Bowling Green’s Harold Fannin JR, who had 117 catches this year? What will Penn State’s Tyler Warren run? Can Michigan’s Colston Loveland test better than people think? Where does LSU’s Mason Taylor place? How about Texas’ Gunnar Helm? Clemson’s Jake Briningstool is a good athlete as well. This class is littered with intriguing talents at the position. Someone can clearly set themselves apart from the rest of the pack here.

8. TALE OF THE TAPE

One big aspect of the NFL Combine is getting ‘official’ heights, weights, and body measurements on each prospect. I use quotes around the word “official”, because teams will still use numbers acquired during the All-Star game circuit, at Pro Days and on 40 Visits in their database, but it does give one large baseline number for 300-plus prospects in attendance. Quarterback hand size, offensive tackle and cornerback arm length, edge rusher wingspan, running back weight, and various other numbers will all be thrown around in the coming days. A few personal thoughts on these: some matter more than others (we’ll cross those bridges as they come) and, more importantly, these physical ‘limitations’ aren’t a problem unless they’re a problem. I’ve seen offensive tackles with less than 34’’ arms succeed in the NFL. I’ve seen quarterbacks with small hands throw the ball in the cold. These thresholds do exist for a reason, the numbers are stacked against these prospects, but it is not an immediate cause for dropping them off your board. Some of the players put under the microscope this week with these questions include LSU offensive tackle Will Campbell, Michigan defensive tackle Mason Graham, Texas defensive back Jahdae Barron, Marshall edge rusher Mike Green, and many others. 

9. FINGERS CROSSED ON THE MEDICAL CHECKS

One of the worst parts of coming to Indianapolis every year is when we get the news about a player who had something major pop up on the medical exams from teams, and these things can have a huge effect on a player’s draft stock.

No matter your injury status, every player sits in line for hours at local hospitals to go through a full battery of tests, where they will get examined by medical reps from all 32 teams. We’ve seen dormant heart issues pop up for players here. We’ve seen degenerative knee conditions come to light. Each team will come to their own conclusions on what to do with the information gleaned from these reports, but it’s still extremely important.

It’s also a big week for the players currently rehabbing from surgery, so players like Morrison and Revel at cornerback (mentioned above), left tackle Josh Simmons (Ohio State), safety Kevin Winston (Penn State) and many others will have their respective injuries examined to give some kind of projection on when they can return to the field. These tests were perhaps the primary reason for the Combine’s inception, and it’s a major reason why the event still resides in Indianapolis each year. 

10. WHO STANDS OUT IN POSITION DRILLS?

This is my 14th Scouting Combine, and for a majority of those I have spent most of the week in the lower bowl during drills taking in the action on the field as a part of the Philadelphia Eagles organization.

In my years covering the draft, specifically while watching this event alongside coaches and scouts, one of the biggest ways I’ve evolved is with how I’ve approached the on-field workouts. Sure, the athletic testing matters, but I’m not there in the stadium to watch them run the 40. I’m there to watch them run the 40 (and other athletic tests) and then carry that athleticism over to the positional workout. I want to see who looks cleanest running through the bags with the defensive line. I want to find the corners that are the smoothest in and out of their cuts in the ‘Box’ drill. Which receivers don’t put any footballs on the ground in the ‘Gauntlet’ drill while also maintaining their top speed?

The example from last year that I would point to would be Bills WR Keon Coleman, who ran a slow 40 time but had an exceptional position workout (including where he was timed as the fastest through the gauntlet). To me, that matters just as much as the athletic testing portion, and it’s something you’ll hear me talk a lot about in the days and weeks after I leave here. 

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