After Celebrating Tragedy, the N.F.L. Draft Looks to Change Its Tone

It isn’t the only part of the draft process that has been called out for its indignities. As the N.F.L. last year re-evaluated the workouts, medical testing and physical measurements that players undergo ahead of the draft, Troy Vincent, a league vice president who is Black, reportedly told team owners that the scouting combine had characteristics of a “slave market.”

“We just feel like the overall experience, talking to the players, we can be better in that particular aspect,” Vincent said of his meeting with team owners in March 2022. “So there was, I would say, a good discussion around what that looks like, where we could be, keeping in mind that the combine is the player’s first experience with the National Football League, and in that experience, there has to be dignity.”

The scouting combine is an annual audition for 300 college players who are interviewed by team personnel, given medical exams and perform drills in front of team scouts and coaches. After widespread complaints from agents and players — including some prospects who declined to attend the event — the league now holds workouts on one day, instead of across two.

It streamlined the sharing of medical records so players don’t have to be tested several times. The interview process has also been standardized after complaints about intrusive questions. And the league last year stopped administering the Wonderlic test, a 50-question I.Q. exam long criticized for racial and socioeconomic biases, replacing it with the S2 Cognition test.

Players undergo only one full orthopedic exam, with the results presented to all 32 teams, and there is no longer a built-in window for teams to administer their own behavioral assessment tests.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/25/sports/football/nfl-draft-coverage-criticism.html