The 2012 NFL Scouting Combine begins next Thursday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis and NFL Network will be the exclusive home for “The Path to Primetime.”
For the eighth consecutive year, NFL Network will again provide exclusive coverage and feature 50 hours of programming. Their coverage starts Thursday with the press conferences from players and front-office personnel, as well as the on-field workouts which begin Saturday.
“This year should be a very compelling NFL Draft,” said Dennis Johnson, director of communications for NFL Media. “The Combine is a major event in the evaluation process and we are excited that Mike (Mayock) will again be leading our team to cover it.”
While NFL Network will air various programs throughout the Combine, NFL.com will offer fans up-to-the-minute results from the on-field workouts.
“For the first time, NFL.com’s new Combine Tracker will post immediate 40-yard dash times of the players,” Johnson said. “The Combine Tracker and new Score Strip will also have results from the bench press, broad jump and vertical jump this season. In addition to NFL Network’s coverage, NFL.com’s Emmy-nominated NFL.com Live will have complementary coverage of the Combine.”
NFL Network will have 22 on-air talents in Indianapolis, including Hall of Famers Marshall Faulk, Deion Sanders and Michael Irvin on the field providing demonstrations for each of the drills players will participate in during the Combine.
In addition to Faulk, Sanders and Irvin, NFL Network will have analysts Mike Mayock and Charles Davis, former All-Pros Warren Sapp and Kurt Warner, former front-office personnel and head coaches Michael Lombardi, Charley Casserly, Steve Mariucci and Brian Billick, as well as reporters Jason La Canfora, Steve Wyche and Jeff Darlington on site.
During the NFL Network’s pre-Combine conference call, Mayock talked about the 2012 class of prospects heading into the league’s biggest pre-Draft event.
“I’m looking forward to the Combine and positions of strength, the defensive tackles are deep this year,” Mayock said. “Conversely, I’m not big on the defensive ends. There are question marks after the first four wide receivers. There are an awful lot of big wide receivers that are going to have to run well at the Combine to help their status. It’s very similar at the corner situation this year. There are three corners that everybody thinks are first-round corners and after that, it’s kind of pick-your-flavor.”
For more information on the NFL’s coverage of the 2012 Scouting Combine, visit http://www.nfl.com/combine.
