No to the throw

 The NFL combine begins today in Indianapolis, and I know this because I looked up at the TV screen the other day and Mel Kuiper Jr. was on it.

Mel Kuiper Jr., if you've been living in a cave for the last 40 years like one of those Japanese soldiers who didn't know the war was over, is the guru-iest of ESPN's NFL Draft gurus. So if Mel's on my screen in February, it means the combine can't be far behind.

And, listen, I love the combine. It's sillier than coked-up kittens: Bunch of extra-large humans in shorts and T-shirts running and jumping and being measured like Holsteins, and taking a test (the Wonderlic) that generally indicates nothing about a prospect's prospects. Also they sit for interviews with various NFL GMs, who ask weird questions that, again, indicate nothing except that NFL GMs are a profoundly weird lot.

All of this is ostensibly a safeguard against NFL teams throwing huge dollars at, say, Ryan Leaf or Jamarcus Russell. Of course, they wind up doing it anyway, so whatever value the combine has -- aside from the hilarious sight of some 340-pound left tackle huffing his way through the 40 yards he'll never run in an actual game -- remains open to question.

This is especially true of quarterbacks. 

Who, more and more, are rejecting the idea that they need to throw at the combine, because, why? It's 2026, not 1926. NFL scouts have access to miles and miles of game-action video, plus a virtually endless array of analytic widgets that enable them to break down a quarterback's throwing mechanics to the molecular level. 

And yet ...

And yet, there is always a subset of scouts, ex-scouts, GMs and jersey-wearing NFL junkies who'll take it as a negative when a high-profile QB says no to the throw at the combine.

Which brings us to Indiana's Heisman Trophy quarterback, Fernando Mendoza.

He's caught some flack this week for (wisely, in the Blob's opinion) choosing not to throw at the combine this week. He's also not caught flack from wiser heads. There's a couple of reasons for the latter.

One, he already knows he's the Raiders' guy. Throwing against air to unfamiliar receivers isn't going to change that.

Two, going back to the 2026-not-1926 thing, how could any scout worth the name not already know what Mendoza can do? With all the video and tech at their disposal, any NFL scout who doesn't already have the full book on Fernando is, let's face it, not very good at his job. In fact you can say he's pretty darn lousy at it.

Oh, Mendoza will still play the game. He'll have his own Pro Day in Bloomington, where he'll be throwing to (as he puts it) "his guys"  -- not for his benefit, but for theirs. Give the scouts a look at them, because they've already gotten an eyeful of him. 

I don't know about you, but I think that ought to be worth at least a couple of bonus points on the Wonderlic. But that's just me.