The NFL Scouting Combine served as a showcase for top NFL Draft prospects to solidify their stock and some unknowns to make their own stock soar. But amid those highs, there were some lows.
By far the biggest and most concerning of those lows was a moment where Miami QB Carson Beck was loudly booed during his throwing session at the Combine. The booing reportedly came from local Indiana Hoosiers fans, who seem to be sore winners after their football team knocked off Beck's Hurricanes in January's national title game.
For Rich Eisen, that was a bridge too far. On Monday's edition of his show, Eisen admonished the fans for booing Beck. He then warned that behavior like that will lead some to argue against having fans at future Combines at all.
“I love fans being in there. There’s kids who do their own hand timers. It’s great. This is not an anti-fan thing at all,” Eisen said. “But for Carson Beck to get booed during his Combine performance was absurd. And wrong. It’s just wrong. It’s also going to lead to some people saying, ‘Why do we have fans in here at all?'”
A troubling scene
Eisen further revealed that the broadcast for the NFL Scouting Combine is generally so quiet that one person talking can be heard all the way on the field. Booing would fill up the entire stadium. He said this may have resulted in the event organizers simply not showing Beck on the big screen anymore.
“It kept happening over and over and over again to the point that, I don’t know if this was done purposefully or not, they stopped showing Beck on the big screen, when it was his turn to go through the drill,” Eisen said. “This, at the end of the day, is a kid who’s finally getting his shot. That’s what the Combine is for.”
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Eisen's not wrong. It's not like the NFL is making bank from fans being at the NFL Scouting Combine anyway. Fans being able to see the prospects work out live and in-person is a privilege, not a right.
If that privilege is abused, it will inevitably get revoked.