Annual NFL Draft Combine begins

INDIANAPOLIS, IND (WIVB) - It's the NFL's annual "meat market" but it's not just all about meat.

Buffalo Bills scouts say the annual Draft Combine is their first chance to sit down and talk face to face with potential draft picks.

The combine started today, with players from the first few position groups arriving in town, checking into their hotels, and getting ready to be poked and prodded over the next few days.

Offensive linemen, Tight Ends, and Specialists are among the first group here.

We caught up with University of Virginia OT Eugene Monroe at the airport, one of the top offensive tackles in this year's draft.

Players not only have to be weighed and measured, but they have to be quick-witted this week also.

One of the most important aspects of the combine are the face to face meetings between players and scouts from each team, and the 60-or so prospects they want to interview.

We talked with the Bills Coordinator of College Scouting, Doug Majeski,about that process today.

He and Bills scouts and coaches set up shop in a meeting room at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Downtown Indianapolis each night, and work late into the night talking to the prospects they're interested in.

Majeski says the two most important aspects of the combine for the Bills are those interviews, and the medical tests conducted on each player.

The longtime Bills scout also told us the combine workouts, which start tomorrow, are just one piece of the puzzle.

Like most teams, the Bills put much more value on the players' performance during the course of his college career, his entire body of work.

The combine has evolved into the unofficial start of a new NFL season, coming as it does a couple of weeks after the Super Bowl, one week before free agency, and two months before the draft.

And for teams like the Bills, it's got to be exciting to take a look forward, instead of dwelling on the rancor and disappointment of the 2008 campaign.

We'll be reporting from the NFL combine live through this Sunday, watch for our reports on News 4.

And we'll have other thoughts and observations here on the website, and we'll be making observations on the News 4 Sports Blog as well.