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The regular season has come and gone, all the bowl games have been played, and the All Star games are in the books. There is more than enough film of every draft eligible prospect in the country for each and every NFL front office to mull over before compiling their value boards. The saying goes, "The tape doesn't lie." So why is it that this mythical four day marathon known as the NFL Combine tends to be the deciding factor on where players go and where players don't go? After all, workout warriors like Mike Mamula have been drafted far too high based solely off of their performances in the Combine's regimented strength and agility drills. On the other end of the spectrum, NFL legends like Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith watched their draft stock decline after faring marginally in the same drills. Do stop watches and bench presses really serve as that much of a barometer for a player's on-field ability? Certainly not, but they will monumentally effect this April's NFL Draft regardless. So lets take a look at which players did the most to help or hurt their draft status at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, starting with...
Quarterbacks
The top prospects at the position, LSU's JaMarcus Russell and Notre Dame's Brady Quinn did not participate in any of the drills, which opened the door for the competitors in an already cluttered battle for the title of #3 quarterback. Some of the candidates include Stanford's Trent Edwards, Michigan State's Drew Stanton, Houston's Kevin Kolb, and the reigning Heisman trophy winner Troy Smith from Ohio State.
- A player of definite intrigue at the QB position is Stanford's Trent Edwards. A 3-year starter at Stanford, Trent Edwards has prototypical size(6'4", 225) and impressed on-lookers with his physique at the Combine weigh-ins. He has the physical tools of a top-tier quarterback, but the concern is that they didn't always show up on the playing field. A lot of this was due to the fact that Stanford was the worst team in the Pac-10 conference as of late(a 1-11 record in 2006), and Edwards sometimes felt the need to make plays on his own to compensate for the inferior talent around him. Despite spending most of the week in bed with a bad case of the flu, Edwards didn't want to sacrifice the chance to move up the draft boards and decided to participate in every drill. That shows some toughness and competitiveness that will no doubt fare favorably in coaches eyes. He may not have solidified the title of #3 quarterback behind Russell and Quinn just yet, but he will get a long look from teams like Carolina and Baltimore in the 2nd round.
- Someone who came in this week amongst low expectations and performed very well was Florida's Chris Leak. He might be a little familiar with having doubters, after all he fought off the tiring fans who wanted to see him benched for uber-recruit Tim Tebow to go on to lead the Gators to a National Championship victory against the juggernaut Ohio State Buckeyes. Leak has been labeled as having the "mind of a coach but the body of a 3rd stringer," but despite measuring in at an expectedly short 5'11", he turned some heads with his athletic ability in the drills. He pitched in as one of the QB's throwing to the WR's throughout their positional drills, made some very accurate throws, and was very receptive to coaching all week. The diagnosis is probably still in the 5th round range, but some team might just take a flyer on him earlier than that.
- The last time people saw reigning Heisman trophy winner Troy Smith was during Ohio State's loss to Florida, which just happened to be the worst game of Troy's career. Ever since then he's been facing questions about his height, accuracy, and big-game ability. He opted not to run the 40-yard dash, but participated in all of the throwing drills. Arm strength has never been a question for Smith, and he confirmed that by flashing a handful of NFL-caliber bombs in the position drills. He appeared to be working out of a slightly higher, tweaked delivery and release, perhaps to combat the questions about his six-foot frame. His accuracy was not stellar, but by the end of the day Troy Smith proved to be essentially what everyone thought he was; a talented athlete with a big arm, a great resume, and some fundamental things he's going to have work on before becoming a franchise quarterback.
Washington's Isaiah Stanback 
- Prior to the combine, a common name on scout's tongues was that of Washington's Isaiah Stanback. The 6'3", 205 pound scrambler was one of the Pac-10's most exciting players to watch the past two years and had been labeled by some as a potential "2007 version" of former Penn State QB/current 49ers RB Michael Robinson. Stanback missed the second half of the 2006 season but was said to be rehabbing and conditioning specifically to work out at the combine at quarterback, running back, and wide receiver. Unfortunately, he was not healthy enough and couldn't participate in anything other than throwing drills--where he was lackluster. He'll have a shot to rebound at Washington's Pro Day, but until then he is looking like an undrafted player.
- One sleeper to jot down a quick note about is Central Missouri State's Toby Korrodi. The 6'4, 232 Korrodi showed some sneaky athleticism in the drills and dropped some jaws by hurling a pass at 63 miles per hour in the ball velocity drill. As a point of reference, the average output in the ball velocity drill this year was somewhere around 55 MPH. That may be somewhat blown out of proportion, but its important to remember that last year another small-school QB, Alabama State's Tarvaris Jackson, was a very late riser due to the similar raw ability and amazing arm strength he showed on to the combine. He went on to be a 2nd round pick to the Minnesota Vikings.
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