Is the scouting combine an effective way to evaluate NFL prospects?

I actually think that the sabermetrics issue should have been worded using 'reliable' but I don't care. I'll change to effective and approve.

Fair enough.  I like JZipp's wording. He's on a roll today.

I think we should stay consistent with the "sabermetrics" issue in Baseball:

Is the scouting combine an effective way to evaluate NFL prospects?

I don't think we'd find a lot of evidence of people saying that Game stats are more important. I like the way it's currently worded

Which is more important in choosing an NFL prospect?

-Game stats

-NFL combine results

Yeah, the new wording looks good to me.

great sample evidence. I tweaked the wording - replaced "effective" with "reliable" and included some more detail, per Kyle's suggestion.

B, it's an ongoing debate. Every year, it gets hyped up and (usually) every year there's a bust in the draft from a player who "tested" really well at the combine.

Don Banks, SI.com:

The just-completed NFL scouting combine is by no means the end all, be all in terms of the draft-evaluation process. But don't let anyone kid you, in a league where most scouts and personnel decision-makers instinctively look to defend and justify their draft grades (i.e., cover their butts), all the measurables gathered in Indianapolis help construct the framework of their arguments.

Columbus Dispatch:

Tennessee Titans coach Jeff Fisher said he considers the combine the most important aspect of the pre-draft evaluation because of the medical examinations. Kevin Colbert, director of football operations for the Pittsburgh Steelers, said the interviews have become paramount. ... Colbert said the workouts are valuable for confirming the athleticism that scouts saw on tape, but he most looks forward to the interviews, particularly uncovering details of a prospect's background.

ESPN.com:

We will hear plenty about 40-yard dash times and Wonderlic scores this week, but the medical evaluations provide teams with answers they can't get anywhere else. The combine allows NFL team doctors to run players through in-depth physical examinations, including X-rays and MRIs. The exams allow teams to better gauge the severity of injuries and whether those injuries might affect a player's long-term abilities.

Yale Daily News:

Putting an NFL player through the combine is like having politicians check a box to state their policy positions: It provides vital information but an incomplete picture of the candidate as a whole. ... Players whose stocks are rising and falling have not played a real game, senior bowls notwithstanding, since the end of the college football season. They are being judged merely by a set of physical tests. And true skill is not quantifiable.

Ross Tucker, SI.com:

I have always felt that one of the greatest flaws in the scouting system is the amount of stock teams place on the numbers generated at the combine and pro day events. Those numbers are basically a crutch that poor film evaluators lean on when the time comes to make and defend their decisions regarding a particular player.

Vinnie Iyer, Sporting News:

The Combine speed drills may be great training if they ever bring back the Superstars competition ... he NFL is a very fast game, but it isn’t played in a straight line and its results can’t be measured by a stopwatch. The only result that matters in football is winning, and the best way to distinguish winning backs and receivers from the rest remains how they do in games.

I agree with Kyle. Let's be more specific. What prompted this issue? Who's talking about it?

Should be more specific. "Effective for evaluating players" or "An effective tool to evaluate NFL prospects"

I like it.