Welcome to sport’s most modern job interview

The NFL Combine begins this week and, as Ben Burrows writes, this first step on the journey from the college game to the pros remains as important as ever

LSU quarterback Joe Burrow is set to be selected first in April’s Draft (USA TODAY Sports)

A great deal has happened in the 20 years since the most infamous photo of Tom Brady’s career. Stood shirtless in grey shorts with slumping shoulders a then 22-year-old Brady could scarcely have looked further away from the future Hall of Fame, six-time Super Bowl champion quarterback he would go on to become.

Both Brady and the event he was attending all the way back in 2000 – the NFL Scouting Combine – have changed a lot since then. One is the greatest we’ve ever seen play the game. The other is the first glimpse we get of seeing who might follow in his footsteps.

Over the next five days in Indianapolis the next generation of would-be Bradys will be scrutinised in infinitesimal detail as the NFL’s great and good assemble to cast their eyes over this year’s class of college prospects and try and pick out the next big thing.

In Brady’s college days this was very much an analogue affair with tape-measured jumps and hand-timed 40-yard dashes. Today it’s laser timings and tablets, all digital, all the time.

The leaps and bounds in technological advancements mean every catch, drop, sprint and stumble can be recorded and critiqued. NFL patented Next-Gen statistics mean a wide receiver’s top speed and drop rate can be immediately measured in real time. All-22 game tape sees data analysis companies like Pro Football Focus able to grade an offensive lineman’s performance on every single snap of the ball.

It won’t only be on the field they'll be expected to impress, either. In private interviews with teams prospects will be quizzed on anything and everything, from parents and girlfriends and drink and drugs to where is their preferred position and what is their favourite animal. Teams are ready to make multi-million dollar investments in these young men. They want to know exactly where their money is going.

This is American football in the most modern of ages. Everything, from hand size to broad jump to Wonderlic score, matters.

Everyone is looking for the next Tom Brady (AP)

While veteran scouts will tell you that what you put on film is king, how a prospect performs in this week’s underwear Olympics, as it’s known, – so nicknamed because of the number of lycra-clad uber-athletes in attendance – will echo on Draft day. A running back may have all the tools on game tape in the autumn but if he runs a 10th of a second too slow in the 40-yard dash in the spring – the Combine’s blue-riband event – his stock could fall.

As ever all eyes in Indy will be on the quarterbacks. In the modern NFL you either have one to build your franchise around or you beg, borrow or steal whatever you can until you do. That’s why veteran passer Philip Rivers – at 38-years-old – is still set to become a $30m per year player in a few weeks’ time and it’s why the NFL Draft and the big business behemoth of talent evaluation and player recruitment it has become is a multi-million dollar enterprise and getting more invaluable by the year.

The Combine is the first real stage in this year’s process and will see a number of this class’ top QBs on display. LSU’s Joe Burrow is the consensus best in show – although he won’t throw this week – with the Cincinnati Bengals a near lock to select him with the first overall pick come April. Justin Herbert of Oregon is a polarizing prospect but could change a few minds with a positive showing while Utah State’s Jordan Love has drawn comparisons with Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes albeit with plenty of bad to go with the brilliant.

It isn’t all about the quarterbacks, of course. Ohio State defensive end Chase Young is the best player in the nation and will surely impress in team interviews over the next few days. Auburn’s Derrick Brown doesn’t have same name value but may well prove to be just as good in the pros. Alabama’s Jerry Jeudy leads an all-star collection of wide receivers while Georgia standout D’Andre Swift headlines a deep group of running backs for those in need of an offensive difference-maker.

It’s do or die or will at least feel like it for all those invited to Indy this week. It’s not an exaggeration to say that careers will be made and marred over the next few days.

A great deal has changed since Brady posed for that photo all those years ago but one thing remains the same. This first step on the journey from the college game to the pros still matters as much as ever.