Mike Florio Rips Idea of ‘Competition’ at NFL Combine Workouts: ‘It’s Not Real’

Mike Florio explains that the combine isn’t about competition, but about medical exams.

The 2025 NFL Scouting Combine logo on the field at Lucas Oil Stadium. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The NFL scouting combine has kicked off from Indianapolis this week, with the best prospects in college football getting in front of coaches and front offices across the league to run through drills and interviews ahead of the draft.

For fans watching at home, much will be made of the drills that prospects run—year after year, we see players put up impressive numbers in the 40-yard dash, or make an incredible throw or two that reshapes the potential they have in our collective minds.

But according to one NFL insider, the combine drills aren’t worth much, if anything. As NBC Sports’ Mike Florio told Dallas radio station 105.3 The Fan on Thursday, the combine isn’t about the drills, but everything else.

“I don’t care about the workouts. I think the workouts are just made for TV,” Florio said. “I don’t think they mean a damn thing. They just do them because they have everybody here, and somebody got the bright idea that we could do this and put it on TV.”

As Florio explained, the real reason for the combine is for medical purposes. Rather than have players go through the same examinations with every team they visit, the combine gives them a centralized location.

“Bring everyone together for one X-ray, one MRI, one CAT scan, one whatever,” said Florio. “It’s efficient. It’s cheaper.”

While fans might enjoy watching the workouts, Florio insists they don’t amount to much.

“They’re not real. It’s not football. Any time somebody says to one of these players ‘Are you going to compete?’ It’s not a competition. It’s a business proposition. And you have to make a business decision.”

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