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What the NFL Combine Gets Right (and What It Doesn’t Measure)

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The NFL Combine is one of the most standardized athlete-evaluation systems in professional sport.

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It measures qualities such as:

• Linear speed
• Explosive power
• Strength endurance
• Agility and change of direction

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These assessments answer an important question:

• What is this athlete capable of producing under standardized conditions?

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That information is valuable.

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But it is only one layer of performance.

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What Peak Testing Shows

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Combine testing provides useful evidence of athletic capability.

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A 40-yard dash, vertical jump, broad jump, or bench press result can establish important physical characteristics.

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What those tests do not directly show is:

• How does performance behave as demands repeat or change?

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Two athletes may produce similar peak results yet respond very differently when performance must be reproduced across multiple exposures, changing constraints, incomplete recovery, or competition demands.

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Capacity and Development Are Different Questions

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A peak result tells us what an athlete can produce.

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Developmental evaluation asks additional questions:

• Can that performance remain stable?
• Does it carry across changing demands?
• Can higher output be developed?
• Can previously established performance be re-attained?

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EVZ™ organizes those questions through:

• Retention → Transfer → Output → Re-attainment

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The goal is not to replace Combine testing.

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It is to add context around how established capability behaves and develops.

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What an Expanded Assessment Could Examine

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A complementary performance assessment might use:

• Repeated sprint exposures
• Progressive jump or power testing
• Changing-load velocity assessment
• Structured repeated-effort protocols
• Matched exposures before and after a reset

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The objective would not simply be to create more fatigue.

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It would be to identify where performance remains stable, where it changes, and whether an established profile can be reproduced.

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Where EVZ Wave™ Fits

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The EVZ Wave™ Performance Diagnostic evaluates performance across a progressive sequence:

• Wave 1 → Reset → Wave 2

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By comparing matched exposures, coaches can examine how performance responds as demand increases and whether previously established output can be re-attained.

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Evidence can come from:

• Observation | Power | Velocity

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RPI™ may provide an additional retention/repeatability signal where appropriate, but the broader value comes from interpreting the entire developmental profile.

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Why This Matters for Football

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Football performance occurs under changing demands.

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Players repeatedly sprint, accelerate, decelerate, absorb contact, make decisions, and execute technical tasks across an entire game and season.

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That means two athletes with similar testing profiles may still demonstrate different levels of:

• Performance stability
• Adaptability
• Repeatability
• Re-attainment
• Competitive reliability

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Those qualities are difficult to understand from isolated peak testing alone.

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The EVZ Perspective

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The NFL Combine does something extremely valuable:

• It establishes capability under standardized conditions.

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EVZ asks what happens next:

• How does that capability behave as demands change, and what should be developed next?

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Peak testing and developmental assessment are complementary.

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One establishes what the athlete can produce.

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The other helps explain how that performance behaves over time.

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Measure capability. Understand development. Make better decisions.

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References:

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Girard, O., Mendez-Villanueva, A., & Bishop, D. (2011). Repeated-sprint ability—Part I: Factors contributing to fatigue. Sports Medicine, 41(8), 673–694.
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Pinder, R. A., Davids, K., Renshaw, I., & Araújo, D. (2011). Representative learning design and functionality of research and practice in sport. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 33(1), 146–155.
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Thurlow, F., Weakley, J., Townshend, A. D., Timmins, R. G., Morrison, M., & McLaren, S. J. (2023). The acute demands of repeated-sprint training on physiological, neuromuscular, perceptual and performance outcomes in team sport athletes: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Sports

Medicine, 53(8), 1609–1640.
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Young, W. B. (2006). Transfer of strength and power training to sports performance. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 1(2), 74–83.

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