INDIANAPOLIS -- When the line began to form early Wednesday morning at Clarian Hospital in downtown Indianapolis, Cal offensive tackle Mike Tepper made sure he was at the front of it. The earlier the arrival, he figured, the shorter the wait.
At 7:30 a.m., he would be the first to step into a small room, where a doctor sat behind a table with Tepper's MRI results on the right and his x-rays on the left.
``Have you ever been injured?'' the doctor asked.
It was the first question for the first draft hopeful on the first day of the NFL Scouting Combine. This week, a total of 329 former college football players will endure countless questions and tests.
They will be poked and prodded. They will be quizzed on their intelligence and questioned about their pasts. For five hours Wednesday, Tepper was herded to six stations. Those behind him would likely take even longer to finish.
THOROUGH INVESTIGATION
``Blood, urine, MRI, x-rays,'' Tepper said. ``They take it all. Oxygen levels, your blood count. Everything. They'll sit you down with the doctor, and anything you say that you've injured, you're getting it checked out. Simple as that.''
Sounds, um, real simple. The medical evaluations, which are filed into a mainframe and sent to all 32 NFL teams, are only the first part of the process.
Perhaps even more diligent than most teams, the Dolphins already have their staff ready to go in Indianapolis as they get ready for an enormously important draft. As important as this year's draft might be, these analytical studies aren't all that new.
After Stu Weinstein, the Dolphins' director of security, found out in 1995 that he could interview each prospect as part of his thorough background checks, he has attended every year since. As a result, whenever Miami drafts a player in April, the team will know exactly what it is getting.
The point: This isn't just about athleticism. It's about everything.
Throughout the week, those 329 prospects will go through a series of workouts -- from running to weightlifting to vertical jumps -- that will test their speed, flexibility and overall agility. But teams treat each draft pick as a major investment.
