The NFL's first Veteran Combine took place this weekend. A new addition to the offseason calendar, the Combine seemed like a great idea for older players to get in front of scouts and front office types—a way to balance the scales between the incoming rookie class and the veteran class that'll inevitably get swept out of the game by younger and cheaper talents.
Unfortunately, as we would learn from the Combine's unfolding events, having a bunch of older NFL players do the same drills that it puts its rookie class through isn't the best way to hype up more experienced players. Running back Michael Bush's 4.91 40-yard-dash time and his subsequent "there goes my career" response was the saddest story of the NFL's Sad Combine.
Making matters worse, New York Post NFL writer Bart Hubbuch reports that players had to pay to enter the Combine.
Veterans were charged $400 and had to pay their own way to their combine today. NFL = the greediest MFers on the planet.
— Bart Hubbuch (@BartHubbuch) March 23, 2015Real people having to pay to enter job fairs isn't anything new, but c'mon NFL. Must you nickel and dime your out-of-work veterans? $400 is more than what the NFL charges for its Regional Combines, which anyone can theoretically sign up for (you can't just show up looking like Albert Haynesworth at Redskins training camp though). At the NFL's Regional Combine, guys who never played an NFL down only have to pony up $150 for a shot to show off in front of real NFL scouts.
The NFL is now the Spirit Airlines of sports.
— Bart Hubbuch (@BartHubbuch) March 23, 2015Someone start a GoFundMe to get Michael Bush his $400 back. You've crowdfunded worse things before, Internet.
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