Jonathan Stewart's NFL Combine Horror Stories
With the NFL combine officially kicking off this week in Indianapolis, former two-time Oregon Ducks All-Pac-10 honoree and Pro Bowl Carolina Panthers running back Jonathan Stewart is treating us to some bleak tales of his own miserable experiences in the 2008 vintage fo the event.
In a new conversation with Zachary Neel on Bleav's Sco-ing Long podcast, Stewart regaled his co-host about his combine workouts.
"You know, it felt like I was going into these rooms in Indianapolis and being put on trial," Stewart said. "I won't ever say teams or names on this [podcast], but one of the most interesting things that I've been asked was, 'Hey, do you do drugs?' I was like, 'No.' It's like, 'What do you do? Do you do crack?' 'Oh, no.' I mean, he was like, 'Well, what about dope? Do you do dope?' I was like, 'Nah, coach, I don't do none of that.' But like, it was almost kind of like they trying to set you up."
"And then there's that one coach. He's saying things like, 'Hey, so how do you like playing fullback?' I'm like, 'Oh, I'm not a four, I'm not a fullback coach. He's like, Well, you might be.' I'm like, 'Well, I'm a running back.' He's like, 'Well, if you're, if you're in, if your toe doesn't give up, you might be running like a fullback.' I'm like, 'No, I'm okay coach. I ran my 40.' He was like, 'Oh, okay. But you're a fullback, though. We think that you're a good fullback, you'll be a great fullback,'" Stewart noted.
"You can tell like they're just trying to like prick and pull at you on certain questions. And I think one of the things that I took from that is at the time I was pretty, I was a very mild mannered, you know, spoke when I was spoken to, didn't really have a lot to say. I'm way different now than I was then," Stewart added. "And so I think it was just their way to see what they can get out of me. They know these players in and out. And so they're going to try to figure out who you are because they don't have that much time with you."
