Scouting Combine Hype Is White Noise To Eagles, Other NFL Teams

Most of the players gathered at the NFL combine are great athletes and their performances are a small part of the process.

Feb 27, 2026; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq (TE23) during the NFL Scouting Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Be wary of the modern Scouting Combine.

When the NFL world converged on Indianapolis this year, the perception was that the 2026 NFL Draft wasn’t all that deep at the top of the class, and when the same people leave the Hoosier State, you’ll be hearing about 45 or 50 potential first-rounders.

That's hardly a newfound phenomenon because today’s top-tier athletes have been given the answer key for their exam, told to prepare at one of the high-level training centers around the country by their agents specifically for the drills they go through at the combine.

“Pay attention to the poor performances, not the good ones,” a long-time NFL personnel executive told Eagles On SI. “If you’re a great athlete, why wouldn’t you perform well at the combine after training for the drills?

“A poor performance isn’t a disqualifier either because anyone can have a bad day or be going through something, but you try to feel out if the kid wasn’t preparing or doing what he should have been doing.”

Kenyon Sadiq had one of the best days ever by a TE at the Combine:

40-Yard Dash: 4.39 (best ever by a TE)
Vertical Jump: 43.5’’ (second-best ever by a TE)
Broad Jump: 11’1’’ (third-best ever by a TE)@Accenture | @oregonfootball pic.twitter.com/fxvABmsGrd

— NFL (@NFL) February 28, 2026

Of course, then you can have the outlier like Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq, who ran a 4.39 40-yard dash at 241 pounds, the best mark in the history of the event at the position. 

Add in the 43.5-inch vertical leap, the second-best ever at TE, and an 11’1” broad jump (the third-best), and you might be talking about the best athlete to play the position in NFL history. Might be -- more on that later.

Kenyon Sadiq at the 2026 Combine…

▫️Faster than Odell Beckham Jr.
▫️Quicker than DeSean Jackson
▫️Jumps higher than Julio Jones
▫️More explosive than Andre Johnson@oregonfootball | @KenyonSadiq | @AroundTheNFL pic.twitter.com/cOthqHFj08

— NFL Researcher (@NFL_Researcher) February 28, 2026

For comps, Sadiq ran faster than Odell Beckham Jr., is quicker than former Eagles’ star DeSean Jackson, jumps higher than future Hall of Famer Julio Jones, and is more explosive than Hall of Famer Andre Johnson. 

Of course, that still doesn’t mean Sadiq can play football until you see the film from Oregon.

Conventional wisdom says the Eagles won’t take a TE at No. 23 overall, and they likely won’t have an opportunity after Sadiq’s combine.

If presented with the choice, however, the smart money would still stay away from Sadiq.

Why?

Psst ... Eli Stowers earned a higher RAS score than Kenyon Sadiq.

Courtesy of the great @MathBomb pic.twitter.com/ShFLRvEFc0

— Jared Smola (@SmolaDS) February 28, 2026

Despite that crazy athleticism, Sadiq was still behind Vanderbilt’s Eli Stowers when it came to Relative Athletic Score. 

It's a crazy time when it comes to athleticism. Proceed accordingly.