The 2025 NFL Combine week was full of Matthew Stafford rumors, Starbucks confrontations, and a lack of participation on the field.
Top quarterback prospects Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders will not participate in drills at the combine, despite being in Indianapolis for meetings with teams. Before you go ahead and freak out—it’s completely understandable why they won’t participate.
These top two prospects have nothing to gain. They can only hurt their draft stock by participating. With tens of millions of dollars at stake, nobody is blaming Ward or Sanders for opting out of drills. Similarly, when Ward decided to opt out of the second half of the Pop-Tarts Bowl to protect his draft stock, nobody raised much of an eyebrow.
And they’re not the first players to skip. Andrew Luck never participated in combine drills, and neither did Joe Burrow. The list goes on.
But this isn’t great news for the combine. The NFL tries to turn everything into a massive spectacle. The NFL Draft jumps from city to city, and every NFL playoff game provides a huge economic boost to the city lucky enough to host them.
The combine has been in Indianapolis since 1987, but it’s starting to lose some of its star power. The majority of players now realize they don’t need to participate. Instead, they can work out at their university’s pro day, where they can throw to receivers they’re comfortable with, sleep in their own bed, and be familiar with the coaches surrounding them.
Players like Jaxson Dart and Will Howard will participate in combine drills on Saturday afternoon, and that’s really what the event has become—an opportunity for mid-round players to increase their draft stock.
Most of the time, film speaks for itself. Unless a player completely tanks drills at the combine, it doesn’t impact their draft grade much. While there will always be a need for the combine to gather medical information and meet with prospects, the event may never have the same star power as the NFL Draft due to the lack of player participation.
While neither Ward nor Sanders will step foot on the field, they both told the media that they believe they are the best quarterback in the class. It’s up to NFL decision-makers to watch the tape and decide which one of them is telling the truth, because the fans in Indianapolis will not have the opportunity to make that distinction for themselves.
