Report: NFL considering changes to traditional scouting combine events

The 40-yard dash could soon become a thing of the past.

The NFL and National Football Scouting Inc., the group that runs the league's annual scouting combine, will review the event and could recommend overhauling some of its marquee athletic contests, Tom Pelissero of USA TODAY Sports reports.

A committee of scouts, coaches, doctors and others involved in identifying and assessing football talent will consider ways to improve the combine for both teams and fans watching on television.

"We're continuing to explore everything in an effort to improve," NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said. "So, if there are ways to tweak, improve, modify anything we do, we'll explore that (and that includes) the combine. The mantra is, how can we get better?"

Physical tests like the 40-yard dash will be evaluated, and so will the psychological and medical tests draft prospects undergo.

One idea under consideration is fitting players with devices that record physiological data while they work out on the field.

Not only will the accumulation of more data make the combine more useful to teams, it could improve the event for television viewers - a clear area of focus for the NFL as it seeks to transform football from a fall and winter sport to a year-round spectacle.