Looking For The Next Fantasy Football Star? The NFL Scouting Combine Won't Help

The 2026 NFL combine (Feb. 26-March 1) is the league’s first major event of the offseason. It’s been announced that 319 prospects will participate in the event, which will once again be held at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, the home of the combine since 1987.

Here are the dates for each of the positions in terms of their workouts:

2026 NFL combine dates

Feb. 26: Defensive lineman, linebackers
Feb. 27: Defensive backs, tight ends
Feb. 28: Quarterbacks, wide receivers, running backs
March 1: Offensive linemen

From a fantasy football perspective, Feb. 27 and 28 are the two most important dates, as they feature the top offensive skill positions. Regardless, I would argue that players who perform well or poorly at the combine aren’t a good gauge of how that prospect might work out at the NFL level.

Could it bring out a few names to watch? Absolutely. Hype is always a result of the combine event. Does it make that player a lock to enter the league and make an immediate fantasy football impact?

No.

The proof is in the numbers. Let’s take a look at last year’s combine results and whether those performances signaled a player who might do well (or not) in his rookie year from a statistical and fantasy perspective.

40-yard dash

This drill is the most notable at the combine. Matthew Golden was the star last year, running a 4.29 40-yard dash. Dont’e Thornton was the second-fastest wideout and ranked fourth overall, followed by a running back in Bhayshul Tuten (4.32) at fifth overall. Wideouts Joshua Lane (4.34) and Chimere Dike (4.34) tied for seventh.

Obviously, none of these players made a major fantasy football impact as rookies. What’s more, only RJ Harvey, who was 27th with a 40 time of 4.40, made any real statistical noise among the players inside the top 30 based on their 40 times.

Coincidentally (or not), most of the players who went on to become the top fantasy performers among the rookies (Ashton Jeanty, Tetairoa McMillan, Emeka Egbuka, Tyler Warren) didn’t even participate in the 40-yard dash.

Vertical jump

Four of the top 10 players in this drill were on the offensive side of the football, and none made a significant fantasy impact. In fact, only Tuten (40.5) was on fantasy rosters. The other three were Jaylin Noel (41.5), Sam Brown Jr. (41.5) and Lane (40.0).

Much like the 40-yard dash, many of the eventual top fantasy performers didn’t participate in the vertical jump. A few of the exceptions were Cam Skattebo (39.5), TreVeyon Henderson (38.5), Quinshon Judkins (38.5) and Omarion Hampton (38.0). None of those players finished higher than 16th (Skattebo) in the drill.

Bench press

Nine of the top 10 finishers played on defense. The lone offensive player in the top 10 was tight end CJ Dippre, who tied for first (32). Overall, one player who went on to make a fantasy impact finished in the top 30 in the drill, tight end Harold Fannin Jr., who had 22 reps.

The bench press is mostly a nothingburger when it comes to scouting players from a fantasy football perspective.

Broad jump

The broad jump is for the more athletic prospects, so you’ll see a lot of wide receivers and defensive backs do well. For our purposes, Noel was the best wideout. He had a 134-inch broad jump and tied for second. Tez Johnson (131) was eighth, but no player at the position who finished even in the top 30 in this drill made a consistent statistical impact in his rookie campaign.

We did see several running backs do well in the broad jump who went on to make a fantasy impact, however, including Quinshon Judkins (sixth, 132), Hampton (T-10th) and Tuten (T-10th). Still, there is no real connection to finding a potential fantasy asset based on what he did in this drill at the Combine.

Three-cone drill

Last year’s three-cone drill standouts included a ton of wide receivers (12 of the top 30 players), but guess who many of them made a significant fantasy impact? You guessed it: none. The one player who finished in the top 20 in the three-cone drill who did come up huge for managers was Fannin, who ranked 16th. Once again, there is no real correlation to having a great showing and future fantasy value.

Shuttle

The shuttle drill was almost completely devoid of players who would go on to make a fantasy impact in Tear 1. In fact, the player who ranked in the top 30 and went on to score the most points was Woody Marks, who finished as the RB29 as a rookie. Dike, who posted a WR50 finish, the second-best in fantasy points.

Fantasy football impact

I have never been a big “combine guy,” because you can’t really know a player’s true fantasy value until he’s drafted by an actual NFL team. Heck, a lot of the best prospects won’t even compete in all or most of the drills. And if we learned anything from last year’s combine, it’s often much ado about nothing in the fantasy world.

The eventual best fantasy running back, Jeanty, didn’t do any of the drills at the 2025 combine. Neither did the best wideout, McMillan, or the best tight end, Warren. The same is true of the best fantasy quarterback, Jaxson Dart. He did throw and improved his stock in that respect, but he avoided the traditional combined drills.

Some of the players who made the best showings at the combine included the likes of Brady Cook, Judkins, Tuten, Trevor Etienne, Golden, Luther Burden III, Dike, Isaac TeSlaa, Fannin and Terrance Ferguson.

Only two (Judkins, Fannin) made a major fantasy impact.

On the flip side, players like Tyler Shough (who had an awful throwing session), Cam Skattebo and Devin Neal had unimpressive combines but went on to make a fantasy impact, at some level, in their rookie season.

At the end of the day, the combine is just the NFL’s attempt at staying relevant and in the news cycle in the weeks after the Super Bowl. It’s an important event for all the prospects, coaches, scouts and general managers, but I get more useful information from the coaching interviews than from what happens on the field.

So, for those fantasy fans looking to the combine to find the next great rookie, I wouldn’t expect much. We won’t have any idea who those players might become until after free agency and the completion of the NFL draft.