by Bo Marchionte

Kevin Colbert addressed a select group of media Wednesday afternoon to cover a wide variety of subjects, that range from Ben Roethlisberger’s current situation to the anticipation of a full pre-season schedule. One topic he touched base on was the eventual possibility of the NFL holding a combine in the coming weeks.

“The (NFL) combine is still up for discussion,” Colbert said. “Actually, on the combine committee we’re trying to move closer to what we will be able to do, when and where. As we stand right now, there will be medical only for select players and again the process with hopefully get finalized in the next week or so.”

With no guarantees of pro days and private workouts being put to pasture as NFL scouting departments begin maneuvering through COVID-19 protocols, the ability to have the medical evaluation conducted in an efficient manner is critically important to all parties involved.

Colbert revealed him and head coach Mike Tomlin would be more selective than in years past to visit different schools since restraints from the pandemic may differ from one school to another.

“The NFL has already put in place that only three representatives from each team can attend a given pro day,” Colbert said. “There maybe some schools that say you even though the league allows three, you can only have one.”

From the conversation there still seems to be a lot of mystery on how exactly the pro day schedule is going to unfold as we build towards the 2021 NFL Draft.

“In a normal year, we’re usually attending 15-20 to pro days,” Colbert said during the Zoom conference call. “I don’t anticipate us being able to do as many this year but (Tomlin) coach and I will be very selective on when and where, we can get out.”

“Hopefully we can still get to the premium one where there’s as many good players as possible on a given team and try to cover that the best we can.”

Outside of the combination of Colbert and Tomlin working in unison at different colleges, he felt comfortable that organization would have it coverage with a full arsenal of scouts and assistant coaches.

Photo Credit Frank Hyatt