Titans HC Brian Callahan sides with players on polarizing NFL Draft trend

INDIANAPOLIS — Top draft prospects opting out of testing at the NFL Scouting Combine is a growing and polarizing trend that is especially relevant this year. Marvin Harrison Jr. and Malik Nabers, the consensus top two wide receiver prospects in the 2024 draft class, have both announced that they will not be testing or working out […]

Sam Phalen
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INDIANAPOLIS — Top draft prospects opting out of testing at the NFL Scouting Combine is a growing and polarizing trend that is especially relevant this year.

Marvin Harrison Jr. and Malik Nabers, the consensus top two wide receiver prospects in the 2024 draft class, have both announced that they will not be testing or working out at this year's combine. Both players will just meet with teams in Indianapolis.

Harrison has since taken that a step further. Not only will he not be testing at the combine, he won't be testing at all. The Ohio State Buckeyes star is not expected to workout at his Pro Day in Columbus either, opting to maintain football training instead of training for drills like the 40-yard dash. 

Is that bad for the future of the combine and pre-draft process if players don't have to participate in workouts? Tennessee Titans head coach Brian Callahan doesn't think so.

Callahan sides with Harrison

As the head coach of a team that could target a wide receiver with the seventh overall pick in the draft, Callahan told reporters on Tuesday that Tennessee's draft board would not change with Harrison and Nabers not testing (although Rome Odunze will be).

But that should not be taken as a reason for other players to do the same thing. The Scouting Combine still has value and very few prospects are in the position that Harrison is.

"I think you're seeing players become more empowered and understanding that they have leverage. They have the ability, if you're in a position like (Harrison), you don't have to do all this. Everyone knows his talent speaks for itself," said Callahan, firmly siding with the players.

"There's a lot of guys that do have to do this and it does matter. I don't want to lessen the importance of what it means for a lot of other guys. There's probably 4-5 guys a year that can do what (Harrison) is doing," said Callahan. "But if you're in that position, there is something to not training to run a 3-cone and training to run an in-cut and football training. He'll probably be a little bit more prepared off the bat."

Even if Rome Odunze were to show out in his workouts, don't expect the Titans to come off their fall grades on prospects. Some teams might be swayed by an eye-popping 40 time. Some teams may not like that Harrison isn't doing drills at any stage. I don't think Tennessee is one of those teams.

If anything, Callahan endorsing the decision from Harrison and Nabers to skip testing shows just how strongly he feels about his evaluations of them. If "the talent speaks for itself," then teams may be more inclined to draft a prospect who will be "more prepared off the bat."

I think we'll see more players take a similar approach in future years, and that's not a bad thing. It's smart for both parties if there's a "can't miss" prospect that has nothing to gain.

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