Feb. 20, 2008

Just over three weeks after the Giants’ stunning upset of the Patriots in one of the best Super Bowls in league history, everybody who’s anybody in the National Football League will be in Indianapolis beginning today for the 2008 NFL Scouting Combine — an annual industry event that appears to be bursting at the seams like never before.

As always, the primary focus will be on the 330-plus draft-eligible players who will converge on the RCA Dome for physical testing, exams and interviews with team personnel and the national media in the next seven days. In addition, a full slate of NFL heavy hitters from the head-coaching and front-office ranks will be available for interviews Thursday through Sunday.

The Giants’ success has only served to heighten the interest in the Scouting Combine, a key component in the decision-making process for all 32 NFL teams in their annual planning for the draft. Much has been made of the fact that all eight of the Giants’ 2007 drafted rookies were on the team’s Super Bowl roster. Not only did many of those rookies have a major impact in the Giants’ Super Bowl victory, it's also worth noting that all eight of them were in attendance at last year’s Combine, when new Giants GM Jerry Reese first began to formulate specific opinions on what turned out to be the team’s 2007 draft crop.

With this year’s free-agent signing period set to officially begin three days after the Combine concludes — and big-picture topics such as the potential opt-out of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement by league owners and the “Spygate” allegations continuing to be hot topics of conversation — there’s no end to the noteworthy comings and goings that will be taking place 24/7 in Indy through next Tuesday.

PFW editors Dan Arkush, Mike Wilkening, Matt Sohn and Dan Parr will be providing nonstop Combine coverage for ProFootballWeekly.com, with daily columns, features, notebooks and free-spirited blogs Thursday through Sunday. And PFW personnel analyst Nolan Nawrocki will provide a daily scouting report on his “prospect of the day,” Thursday through Monday. In addition, PFW's reporters on the scene will be contributing to PFW’s print edition that is scheduled to go to press Monday morning, Feb. 25, which also features an in-depth preview of this year’s free-agency period. An extensive Combine notebook and exclusive features on California WR-RS DeSean Jackson and Boise State OT Ryan Clady will be part of what promises to be a very interesting and informative mix in the print edition.