In a few hours the NFL’s annual scouting combine will open the doors at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana.

At 2 p.m. this afternoon, the drills will begin for the defensive lineman and linebackers. Friday will see the defensive backs and tight ends hit the field at 2 p.m.

The offense takes over on Saturday with the running backs, quarterbacks, and receivers on display. Sunday’s final day will feature the offensive linemen.

Drills on the weekend will get underway at 11 a.m. For those unable to make it to Indianapolis, the combine will be shown live on the NFL Network and on NFL+.

The annual spectacle gives the teams equal access to all of the invited prospects as they prepare for April’s draft.

Some careers have been made at the combine. Others have died there.

And over the years some controversies have sprung up just to make things interesting.

The Wonderlic test scores have many enthralled. And the most useless stat in the world – the size of a quarterback prospect’s hands – become hotly anticipated news items.

In short, the next four days are going to be a wild, chaotic ride.

As Terrell Owens was fond of saying: “Get your popcorn.”

In The Time Before The Combine

There wasn’t always a combine, or even a single camp, where NFL executives could go in search of more information of a potential draft pick.

Despite a wealth of knowledge gleaned from a player’s on field, in-game performance, they always wanted more. At one time that meant traveling the country to run the prospect through his paces.

Eventually, the Jets started bringing prospects to their facility for a workout.

Other teams soon followed. But the costs of all these individual workouts were adding up.

Three camps across the country soon formed where players were invited to workout under the watchful eyes of whatever NFL team wanted to attend.

That’s when the Dallas Cowboys and Tex Schramm – who else — stepped in and altered the way the NFL did business forever.

Tex Schramm – The Innovator

If you want to thank anyone for what the combine is today, say a word of thanks to the memory of Texas Earnest Schramm Jr.

While you’re at it, you can also thank him for advocating for instant replay. Add to that list the extra-wide sideline borders, and the thin strips on top of goalposts to indicate wind direction.

He also pushed for the referee having a microphone, and the quarterback having a helmet speaker. He championed the use of computerized scouting of players along with Gil Brandt.

Schramm wrangled through rule changes regarding regular season overtime as well as moving the goalposts off of the goal line and to the back of the endzone.

He also hired Dee Brock to create the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. A true innovator’s innovator.

So when he went to the NFL and recommended that instead of having three camps all over the place, they needed to combine them to one location instead, the NFL listened.

It Begins In Tampa Bay

The inaugural National Invitational Camp was held in Tampa Bay in 1982. The event would move around for a few years, landing in Phoenix and in New Orleans.

But in 1987 the combine came to Indianapolis.

It hasn’t left since.

When Schramm passed away in 2003, shortly before he was finally inducted into the Cowboys Ring of Honor that he himself had created, his contributions were well remembered.

In an Associated Press story the day after his death, then NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue had this to say about the only man to officially serve as a GM of the Cowboys:

“The NFL family has lost one of its giants. Tex Schramm was one of the visionary leaders in sports history — a thinker, doer, innovator and winner with few equals. He played a major role in building the NFL into America’s passion by developing a glamour franchise with national appeal and by his leadership on so many league issues.”

Former Miami Dolphins head coach Don Shula had similar thoughts:

“Tex will go down as one of the most influential figures in the history of the NFL. I truly believe he had as much, or more to do with the success of professional football as anyone who has ever been connected with the league.”

The combine might just be his greatest achievement after his three decades of building the Cowboys into America’s team.

There’s no telling what the pre-draft scouting process would have looked like without Schramm’s influences. We’re just glad we’ll never have to find out.

For now, let’s get the 2024 Combine started and as my Louisiana friends of French ancestry say: Laissez les bons temps rouler.