PHOTO BY KARL ROSER/PITTSBURGH STEELERS

The NFL Scouting Combine, also known as the “Underwear Olympics” in scouting circles, isn’t definitive one way or the other but remains a critical component of the pre-draft evaluation process.

No actual football is played.

But players run, jump, throw, catch, lift weights and perform drills that all suggest the potential to play football well if a particular standard of proficiency is achieved given their specific height, weight and position.

So the four days of on-field testing that conclude Sunday in Indianapolis are a big deal in advance of the NFL Draft in April in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

So is all the medical poking and prodding and the individual interviews teams conduct with prospects off camera.

It’s an avalanche of projection and prediction and NFL fans, it seems, can’t get enough.

Especially if they understand the nuance and color of the language applied by analysts, team personnel and the players themselves.

In honor of this year’s Combine, here’s a sampling:

—“There are some drafts where it’s speed and skill,” NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah assessed. “This, however, is meat and potatoes.” In other words, there are quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers available. But there are more offensive and defensive linemen that excite.

—“Hands get you home,” was a piece of coaching advice overheard during NFL Network coverage of a pass rush drill during a practice at the Senior Bowl. Size, strength and speed matter, but they’re not the whole enchilada for a pass rusher.

—“I think we affectionally call those blocks by wide receivers now the ‘Cooper Kupps,’” NFL Network host Rhett Lewis noted during Senior Bowl coverage. Kupp is a 6-foot-2, 207-pound former third-round pick out of Eastern Washington who has risen to the very top of the wide receiver profession with the Rams, in part because he blocks. The really good ones do that, too.

—“Do they wait and brace or close and crush?” Jeremiah wondered out loud when assessing how edge rushers handle tight ends and pulling guards at the line of scrimmage during Senior Bowl week. You don’t have to be Bill Belichick to appreciate “close and crush” as the better option.

—“A D-lineman gets one sack a game, he’ll be a Top-5 pick. You give up one sack a game for 12 games (as an offensive tackle), you’re gonna work at Amazon,” — LSU offensive tackle Will Anderson. Hey, nobody ever said the NFL is fair.

—“Zabel has breaks on his car,” Jeremiah assessed regarding North Dakota State offensive lineman Grey Zabel’s ability to give ground initially and then anchor down and stop a pass rusher in his tracks.

Zabel, one of the more intriguing offensive line prospects available this year, can do so from the  center, guard or tackle positions.

That’s the type of versatility that makes an offensive lineman especially desirable, and Zabel gets it.

“You play offensive line at the end of the day,” he’s observed. “You didn’t sign up to play one spot.”

Versatility, in Zabel’s estimation, isn’t something that needs to be over-thought.

“At the end of the day you have to block somebody,” he’s observed. “You gotta stay in between him and the quarterback is a huge thing I hang my hat on.” If the hat fits …

— Confidence matters, and Texas A&M edge rusher Shemar Stewart wants the world to know he has more than his share. “If I was a GM I would take me with the highest pick you got,” he told the NFL Network. “You don’t wanna miss this.”

Mississippi defensive tackle Walter Nolen is every bit as confident as Stewart, if not more so.

“I’m the next Aaron Donald, man,” Nolen told The Draft Network.

We’ll see about that.

—Toughness, likewise, matters. USC running back Woody Marks is just 5-foot, 10 inches and 195 pounds, but he’s tough. “Tougher than boot leather,” is how former Mississippi State head coach Mike Leach once described Marks. That’s tough enough.

—Preparedness is still another trait NFL talent evaluators covet.

Illinois safety Keondre Jackson has that box checked.

“I was born ready,” he’s insisted. “If you stay ready you don’t have to get ready.”

Can’t argue that, and it saves time.

— Oregon wide receiver Tez Johnson lacks ideal size at 5-foot, 9 inches and 156 pounds but he has speed to burn.
“He can make a DB look like a tugboat chasing a speed boat on crossers,” Jeremiah has maintained.

My money’s on the speed boat in such situations.

—Decision-making is also essential in a prospect, a concept Kentucky cornerback Maxwell Hairston has clearly grasped.

“I can get cool with anybody,” Hairston told the NFL Network about his demeanor at the Senior Bowl, one that apparently shifts at the flip of a switch.

“I’m Mad Max on the field. It’s either you or me and I choose me.”

Always bet on yourself.

—“Plug-and-play,” references those rare prospects who are so accomplished and so polished they can be plugged into an NFL lineup immediately and play as if they belong right away. LSU tight end Mason Taylor is apparently one such player available for selection in this year’s draft.

“No assembly required at the next level,” Jeremiah insisted.

— And last but not least, there’s something to be gleaned even when things don’t go as anticipated.

Louisville cornerback Quincy Riley read the route, broke on the ball and stepped in front of a wide receiver during a practice at the Senior Bowl but missed an interception because he apparently forgot to catch the ball. Still, all was not lost.

“His eyes work,” Jeremiah pointed out.

Happy Combine Week.

Mike Prisuta is the sports anchor/reporter for Randy Baumann and the DVE Morning Show. He’s also the host of the Steelers Radio Network Pregame Show and the color analyst for Robert Morris University men’s hockey broadcasts.