Inside NFL teams’ pre-draft prospect interviews at the combine

Editor’s note: This story was originally published in March 2021. It has been updated and reposted for the 2022 NFL combine.

The NFL scouting combine is traditionally a very significant piece to the pre-draft process, allowing NFL team coaches and staffs the chance to see prospects in person — often for the first time. And an integral yet underappreciated aspect of the combine is the 15-minute interview that takes place between teams and prospects.

After the combine shifted to virtual interaction and pro day workouts at each college in 2021 amid COVID-19, it has returned to its normal in-person setup this year in Indianapolis. The combine interviews can significantly impact the evaluation process in subtle ways. With more than a decade of experience as a general manager and football operations executive with NFL teams, I’ve seen it all. Sometimes a coach falls in love with a prospect based on those meetings. Sometimes a prospect alienates a coach with poor answers or bad body language — or both.

But what actually happens in the room? What do those interviews really look like, and what kind of questions and answers do you hear? After sitting in so many of these sessions while I was with the Miami Dolphins and New York Jets, here is what still stands out to me. Let’s pull back the curtain a bit and take you inside the pre-draft team-prospect interview rooms.

To start, what kind of questions are usually asked?

The interviews are typically broken up into a few different segments. First, we’d roll through a quick biographical question-and-answer period. We would often start by trying to learn about a prospect’s background, from what they do outside of football to their family and upbringing. A fair amount of time is spent discussing their football background, including where they have played and who they have played for over the years. It’s pretty standard stuff, but it’s good to get the prospects to take you through it.

From there,…