As we enter the 2023 NFL Draft cycle’s schedule of pro days, let’s rehash what pro days are, what their importance is in the NFL draft process, and how NFL teams stand to benefit from attending these showcases.
What Are Pro Days?
The NFL draft cycle, in totality, is a span of time through which NFL teams seek to attain the most complete picture of the current draft class and its draft prospects as possible. It’s a continual period of intensive information gathering, and the pro days’ circuit is the last portion of the process.
Pro days, in some ways, are not too dissimilar from the NFL Combine itself, from a purpose standpoint. Pro days are localized events held at each individual school, in which prospects perform positional drills, conduct athletic testing, and interface with NFL evaluators.
Most, if not all, schools conduct pro days from early March to mid-to-late April. Because there are so many pro days across the nation in that month-long span, teams have to be calculated and selective in who they send.
Often, local scouts are sent to pro days in their designated region to gather information. But in special situations — often involving highly-rated quarterbacks and other prospects, or talent-dense programs like Alabama and Ohio State — higher-level executives will attend.
Some pro days involving smaller schools and out-of-country prospects pool together players from different locations and provide them with a common stage to perform in front of NFL scouts.
What Do Pro Days Mean for NFL Teams?
For prospects, pro days are a vital opportunity to showcase their talents in front of NFL teams, and other professional scouts. For NFL teams specifically, pro days are vital as well — to further the information-gathering process.
Naturally, pro days provide NFL teams with valuable surface-level information on players, including measurements and testing results that can then be inputted into team archetype models. But pro days also allow NFL teams a chance to spend more time with players and coaches — time and contact they wouldn’t necessarily have at the NFL Combine.
The character evaluation process is one of the more underrated pieces of the puzzle for NFL teams. Having the opportunity to speak to coaches directly at pro days can be very important for forming a complete picture of a prospect’s off-the-field makeup.
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Additionally, pro days also allow NFL teams to expand their draft board. Although 319 players were invited to the NFL Combine, the full 2023 NFL Draft talent pool spans into the thousands.
Many of those potential prospects won’t ever take an NFL snap, but pro days are where hidden gems can be pinpointed by teams, who then scramble to claim them as priority free agents. As of 2022, around 30% of the NFL’s talent base consisted of undrafted free agents. Pro days give NFL teams more ammunition to search for those players.