The NFL Draft prospects facing a make-or-break week at the scouting combine

The “Underwear Olympics” are set to begin just as the Winter Olympics are ending.

Football scouts like to refer to the NFL Scouting Combine as the “Underwear Olympics” because the focus shifts away from their homework all season judging what college prospects can and cannot do wearing pads on the field.

All those trips to practices and games, plus the hours spent watching tape, take a backseat next week to 40-yard dash times, cone drills and leaping tests. Some of those measurements are taken as players run around shirtless and in briefs.

Throw in a carousel of 20-minute formal interviews between players and teams, medical exams and a 15-minute media session for each player and you have NFL combine week.