NFL combine - Super Bowl of scouting or an intrusive reality TV moneyspinner?

Would you want your son to spend hours inside of an MRI and then be evaluated by 32 separate team doctors?

MEASURING UP: Coaches measuring wide receivers at an NFL Combine. A few coaches and general managers skipped this year’s combine, including Les Snead and Sean McVay from the Los Angeles Rams, and are relying on reports from their scouts and assistants. Pic: Joe Robbins/Getty Images

The NFL combine is winding down and it’s clear the annual scouting event that’s evolved into a made-for-TV spectacle continues to be a required stop on the road to a pro football career amid concerns it can be a demeaning process with diminishing value.

The combine, which launched in 1982 mainly to bring prospects to one location so teams could gather medical information, now unofficially kicks off the upcoming NFL season and puts football back on centre stage just weeks after the Super Bowl.