NFL Scouting Combine

The NFL Scouting Combine is a week-long showcase occurring every February at Lucas Oil Stadium (and formerly at the RCA Dome until 2008) in Indianapolis, where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of National Football League coaches, general managers, and scouts. With increasing interest in the NFL draft, the scouting combine has grown in scope and significance, allowing personnel directors to evaluate upcoming prospects in a standardized setting. Its origins stem from the National, BLESTO, and Quadra Scouting organizations in 1977.

Athletes attend by invitation only. An athlete's performance during the combine can affect their draft status and salary, and ultimately their career. The draft has popularized the term "workout warrior", whereby an athlete's "draft stock" is increased based on superior measurable qualities such as size, speed, and strength, despite having an average or sub-par college career.

Tex Schramm, the president and general manager of the Dallas Cowboys from 1960 to 1989, proposed to the NFL competition committee a centralization of the evaluation process for NFL teams. Prior to 1982, teams had to schedule individual visits with players to run them through drills and tests. The national invitational camp (NIC) was first held in Tampa, Florida, in 1982. It was originated by National Football Scouting, Inc. as a means for member organizations to look at NFL draft prospects. For non-member teams, two other camps were created and used from 1982 through 1984. The NIC was held in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1984. It was renamed the NFL Scouting Combine following the merger of the three camps in 1985 to cut the cost of running the extra camps. It was held in Arizona in 1985 and once again in New Orleans in 1986 before permanently moving to Indianapolis in 1987.

Tests and evaluations include:

Sports writers question whether these tests have any relationship with NFL performance. Empirical research published in 2011 found that the 40-yard dash, vertical jump, 20-yard shuttle, and 3 cone drill tests have limited validity in predicting future NFL performance, suggesting that a prospect's past performance in college is a better indicator of future NFL performance than these physical ability tests.

The 20-yard shuttle, also simply called the short shuttle, is a timed agility drill run primarily to evaluate athletes’ quickness and change-of-direction ability. Although not as highly regarded as the 40-yard dash, it is still an important measure used by NFL personnel to compare players. Canadian football also uses the shuttle test.

The name is derived from the total yards that athletes travel during the drill, also known as the "short shuttle" or the "5–10–5" drill." The athlete starts at the center of three cones set 5 yards apart. On the command of “Go“ they drive off their dominant leg in the opposite direction, touch the line 5 yards away, reverse direction and shuttle to the opposite line then 10 yards away, then reverse the final 5 yards back to the center.

Three attempts are allowed, with the best time selected for the record.