The NFL will shuffle almost 320 prospects in and out of the city of Indianapolis this week for the 2026 combine. They will be tested mentally as well as physically, medically examined, and put through an exhaustive interview process. To put it in simple terms, this will be the most important job interview of their lives. So what’s the routine like for players invited to the combine? It’s changed a bit over the years.

Unlike All-Star games such as the Shrine Bowl and Senior Bowl, players don’t arrive at the combine in Indianapolis all at once. Rather, they are staggered throughout the week by position group. Yet once in town, the schedule is basically the same for the six days they are in the city.

Interviews with NFL teams are scheduled for three of the six days players are at the combine. The interviews have historically been held at the Crowne Plaza, and now often in stadium suites or combine facilities. Teams are given 15 minutes to interview as many as 60 players from all the position groups, and many of the questions can be off the wall.

Some players are asked personal questions about their lives or the lives of their families. Others are harshly questioned and even yelled at. Offensive lineman Ezra Cleveland of the Jacksonville Jaguars once told me a team from the NFC East got in his face and screamed, “I watched your tape, and it’s dog crap!”, though they used an alternative word for crap.

“I couldn’t stop laughing,” he said when I asked Cleveland what his reaction was. “After the guy was done screaming at me, his lips kept moving even though he wasn’t talking!”

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Some questions come out of nowhere; Arizona Cardinals All-Pro tight end Trey McBride once told me a team asked him, “What color is chocolate?” He answered, “Brown”, not realizing there was also white chocolate. What that has to do with playing tight end is anyone’s guess.

Combine interviews have taken on less importance in recent years for players who attended the Shrine or Senior Bowls, as both of those events allow teams to exhaustively meet with the prospects on hand. Hence, if you hear or read that a player only had five interviews at the combine, check to see if he attended either the Shrine or Senior Bowl before raising the red flag.

Throughout the week, players also face the media for interviews. And while the questions are not as hostile as those often asked by teams, players had best watch their answers.

Edge rusher Jachai Polite was perceived as a potential first-round pick coming out of Florida until his interview with the media at the Combine. Polite recounted how he found the interview process with teams harsh and unfair. He dropped from a potential first-round choice into the third round and was out of the league after two seasons.

Receiver Adonai Mitchell, traded from the Indianapolis Colts to the New York Jets last season, also watched his draft stock plummet due to media interviews. During media interviews in 2024, Mitchell came across as uncommitted to football. Those answers plus character concerns saw him drop from a first-round prospect into the late part of round two.

Not long ago, weigh-ins were completed the day after players arrived. Players would get on a platform in front of scouts, coaches, and general managers to be weighed and measured. That’s since changed, as weigh-ins now take place right before on-field workouts for each position group.

Why the change?

Players, specifically the smaller players, would purposely chug gallons of water the days before weigh-ins with hopes of adding artificial weight to their frames. They would then naturally pass the excessive water out of their bodies over the next few days and be back to their natural, lighter weight by the time they took the field for workouts.

I remember two specific incidents where players ran off the weigh-in stage and straight into the bathroom to relieve themselves so they would not have an accident in front of the large crowd at weigh-ins after chugging too much water. Weighing players immediately before on-field workouts prevents any attempts at artificial weight gain.

Medical exams, which used to be completed in one day, are now broken up over the course of three days.

In years past, players would be awoken close to five in the morning to take a urine test, followed by medical exams. Teams would often order X-rays and/or MRIs during those initial exams, and players would be sent to a local hospital so the tests could be performed. That often turned into an ordeal that lasted almost 24 hours.

Even after team doctors completed their exams, players faced long waits at medical facilities for X-rays and MRIs. I know of several incidents where players who arose at 5 a.m. for their urine tests did not arrive back in their rooms until 3 a.m. the next day after completing all the required medical tests, a 22-hour day!

Now there’s an initial exam the day after players arrive in Indianapolis, tests such as MRIs the following day, and an orthopedic exam on the third day.

The fifth day at the combine is when players participate in on-field workouts, which include all the athletic testing and position drills after weigh-ins, as described above. In the past, workouts started early at 9 a.m. Yet since the league has sought to capitalize on marketing the combine, workouts have been pushed back to the afternoon, which players and their agents detest.

Agents have complained in recent years that starting workouts at 3 p.m. means players end up sitting around most of the day, doing nothing until it’s time to take the field at Lucas Oil Stadium. I’ve been privy to multiple conversations where agents will tell players to skip workouts, or a portion of them, if they do not feel 100% due to all the inactivity earlier in the day.

The final day consists of participating in the bench press early in the morning, then boarding a flight back to their homes in the afternoon. And for some, this is just part one of their combine experience. Players with injuries or those red-flagged with medical issues when first arriving in Indianapolis are asked to return for the combine medical recheck, which usually takes place the first week of April, so team doctors can re-examine them.