Dan Campbell has comical, reasonable take on NFL Scouting Combine

With each passing year, it feels like an increasing number of coaches and fans alike view the NFL Scouting Combine as nothing more than a “spectacle,” as candid Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell aptly put it.

Of all the head coaches in the NFL, there could not be a better one than Campbell to offer up their opinion on this annual event.

His signature raw take on football and life-related topics in general usually do come with a concrete point too. It’s not some “rah-rah” performance art for the fans to embrace so as to win some kind of popularity contest.

Campbell’s detailed opinion on the NFL Scouting Combine would be no different. The former 10-year tight end — who’s in the midst of reviving the Lions franchise and taking stock in who’s “up next” — hit the nail right on the head.

“I guess there is somewhat of a spectacle. To me it’s more, at this point, just to be able to sit with these guys. They get the medical during the week, but for us to be able to do these interviews is to me the biggest part of all this”
Dan Campbell on NFL Scouting Combine (PFT)

Had he called it a flat-out circus, a phone call from the league office might have been well on the way. But calling it a “spectacle” certainly does the job.

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Dan Campbell has no time for certain portions of the NFL Scouting Combine

As he often does, Campbell swung through with a great point about the face-to-face value the event does offer, especially for a coach of his ilk who seems to put a huge emphasis on character and building team chemistry.

But he wasn’t done there. Campbell humorously said what many of us have been thinking whenever we see “news” about how high someone jumped or how much a player bench-pressed.

“It’s not even the working out portion. To me, you grade them off the tape, you don’t grade off somebody out here in pajamas, running the 40 with no defender around … The meetings are great, the meetings are really pivotal. All the other stuff, whatever.”

The “pajamas” reference, along with the closer of “whatever” made for great finishers in what also offered some great insight as to what exactly he finds most valuable, as well as what he seemingly finds almost laughable.

There’s a reason the Lions were a Seahawks loss away from making the playoffs, and it quite clearly starts with the no-frills head coaching style of Dan Campbell.