The most recent NFL event not impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic was the 2020 combine. A year later, with the 2021 combine canceled, the league has released a list of players who would have merited invitations to Indianapolis.
From such high-profile quarterbacks as Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence – all but a lock to be drafted No. 1 overall by the Jacksonville Jaguars – and Ohio State’s Justin Fields, to guys who sat out last season such as Oregon tackle Penei Sewell, there were 323 players from 100 schools included.
While they won’t get the chance to be observed and examined by scouts and other team personnel in Indianapolis, the fact they are on this list means there will be interest in them at the end of April, when the NFL draft starts in Cleveland.
Instead of running 40-yard dashes, lifting weights and doing other activities – many on national television – at the combine, the players will be evaluated at pro days throughout the nation. Some even have or will attend smaller-scale combines not sanctioned by the NFL.
Fields would have had 13 Buckeyes teammates at the league’s combine, the most for any school, followed by Alabama, Georgia and Notre Dame with 11 each and Florida with nine.