The NFL regional combines are no more

The NFL regional combines are no more...at least for the 2018 offseason.

Every year, the NFL Combine is what gets the most publicity. Within the past five years, though, players who couldn’t get an invite to the main Combine in Indianapolis were able to participate in smaller regional combines for paying a small fee. There was even a Super-Regional Combine at one point, which took all the best players from the regional combines. That was done away with a couple years ago, and now the regional combines have been given the boot too, per Alex Marvez of the Sporting News.

Marvez reports that the NFL declined to comment on the reason for the cancellation. 98 players who took part in regional combines from 2012 to 2016 were able to be on an NFL roster at some point. At the end of the 2016 season, there were 28 players on NFL rosters; the league has not announced updated numbers as of the end of the 2017 season, and at this point, I’d be surprised if they do.

Funny enough, this year saw the breakout of a former regional combine player — wide receiver Adam Thielen of the Minnesota Vikings, who is hoping to head to his first Super Bowl if his team can beat the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship this Sunday.

We’ll post our annual offseason calendar for the NFL soon -- but first, we wanted to take the time to dig a little deeper into why the regional combines will be off the schedule.