The NFL Combine ends today. Next will be College teams Pro-days and after that the NFL Draft. A lot has happened at this years NFL Combine. A lot of college footballs biggest names were at this years combine including Deshaun Watson, Leonard Fournette, Myles Garret, Christian McCaffrey, Dalvin Cook, Jabrill Peppers, and the list goes on and on. Some big news was that Washington's John Ross broke Chris Johnson's 40 yard dash time, running a 4.22. But what happens now after this is all over? Where will these players be draft and to whom? Who will rise to the top and who will fall off the wagon? Nobody knows yet. That is for the future to tell us.
What I can say is that success will for the most part will not be easy in the NFL for these "NFL ready" guys. In order for these players to have success in the league they'' need one two things. One, they need to be a freak of nature like Todd Gurley was in his first year. Or two, they need to be put on the right team. A "right" team not only that is looking to fill for a certain position, but a team that has everything else around them that is sturdy enough to carry them to the next level. What I'm basically trying to say is these rookies need their teammates to be able to consistently perform well at their jobs. A perfect example of this would be the Dallas Cowboys situation. Ezekiel Elliot and Dak Prescott were both phenomenal in college, Zeke was more heard of at the time but they both were great in college. Once they got on the cowboys and had a full team around them they were able to really excel in the regular season. The only reason why I didn't think they were going to move on in the post season was not because of their players ability to not perform but because of the inexperience in the postseason. Otherwise their team had the whole package for their rookies to rely on and that is saying a lot considering that both rookies had huge roles to fill for their team (Dak at quarterback and Zeke at running back).
For these college "NFL ready" players about to be drafted in order to be successful they are going to need other players to play well also. For the Zeke and Dak example they had everything at their hands for both of them to succeed. The Cowboys had a great Offensive line which not only would give Dak enough time to throw the ball, but also created gaps and diversions for Zeke to run. They had a tight-end (Jason Witten) that was reliable and consistent in the receiving game to catch the ball when thrown to to move the chains forward .H also blocked rushers on the outside to help Zeke run and to help Dak throw to other recievers. Dallas had reliable receivers to work with that could catch the ball so that they could keep the chains moving or just move the ball down field(Cole Beasley, Terrance Williams, Dez Bryant- even though he was out for a couple of weeks and at some points wasn't thrown to a lot) they all helped these rookies out by either catching and moving the ball down field or by making critical blocks to make running room for Zeke and creating time to throw for Dak.
Just like the Dallas rookies these big shots going into the draft need the players on their team to play well around them too. Running backs need a decent offensive line so that they can actually get past the line of scrimmage, a quarterback to keep the ball moving forward so defenses don't just load the box, wide receivers to catch the ball and move the chains forward so they can stay on the field. Then the running backs have to keep working hard themselves just to keep the ball moving so that everyone else can do keep doing their part. It's a giant cycle that revolves around everyone to do their part and to do it well.
In the end nobody knows where these players will go, if they are lucky they'll either prove they are the beast people sad they were in college or they'll be drafted to a team that can compliment that player with other players that are able to do their jobs right.