How do the Los Angeles Rams use the NFL Scouting Combine to evaluate cornerbacks?
The 2025 NFL Scouting Combine has officially arrived. The entire NFL world descends on Indianapolis to meet with draft prospects for interviews, medical checks, and athletic testing. However, the Los Angeles Rams don't send a particularly heavy presence to the Combine. Neither GM Les Snead nor head coach Sean McVay will be in attendance this […]
The 2025 NFL Scouting Combine has officially arrived. The entire NFL world descends on Indianapolis to meet with draft prospects for interviews, medical checks, and athletic testing.
However, the Los Angeles Rams don't send a particularly heavy presence to the Combine. Neither GM Les Snead nor head coach Sean McVay will be in attendance this year, once again.
Many teams use the Combine to test measurables for each prospect that lines up with how they view the position. For many teams, a certain arm length or a certain threshold on the broad jump will determine if they take a player or not.
How do the Rams use the Combine to evaluate each position?
The Los Angeles Rams need to overhaul their cornerback room heading into next season, missing both starters and depth players to compete for a Super Bowl push. They should be making multiple investments into this position in the 2025 NFL Draft and free agency.
What do they typically look for at the position with the Combine?
| Name | 40-yard dash | Vertical Jump | Broad Jump | 3-Cone | Short Shuttle |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Janoris Jenkins | 4.46s | 33″ | 121″ | 6.95s | 4.13s |
Trumaine Johnson | 4.61s | 35″ | 122″ | 7.2s | 4.15s |
David Long | 4.45s | 39.5″ | 120″ | 6.45s | 3.97s |
Robert Rochell | 4.41s | 43″ | 133″ | 6.84s | 4.08s |
Cobie Durant | 4.38s | 36″ | 117″ | 7.02s | 4.4s |
It is dumbfounding that the Rams have drafted just three cornerbacks relatively early since pairing Jenkins and Johnson together in 2012.
While this isn't a large sample size to paint a picture with, there's also not much to really takeaway from how the team approaches the position in regards to the Combine.
Generally, the Rams draft corners who run faster than a 4.46 40-yard dash, which is roughly 65th percentile for cornerbacks. Beyond that? There's little to go off of.
Just two of their cornerback picks have had vertical jumps over 36", which is about 50th percentile for cornerbacks. They don't seem to pay much attention to the broad jump either, as all but one hovered around the 122" mark, once again around 50th percentile.
Only one cornerback broke under the 4-second mark for the short-shuttle in David Long. The Rams have a similar tendency for the 3-Cone drill, where three players were sub-7, but their most recent drafted player (Cobie Durant) was not.
Looking at all of these results, it seems fair to say that the Rams don't really pay attention to the Combine. They use it more to check if a cornerback is a bare minimum NFL athlete and base the rest on film and character checks.
They haven't hit on a cornerback pick since they selected Jenkins and Johnson, which might suggest they should change their approach if they want to fix that unit in this upcoming season.
