What matters most to Jets at the NFL Combine?

There’s a lot to takeaway from the NFL Combine, but for Adam Gase and the Jets, the most important parts are the player interviews.

“For us, the interviews are the biggest thing, you get everything else on tape…” Gase said. “Seeing a guy face-to-face, being able to ask him questions, really finding out his football intelligence, kinda finding out who these guys are. It’s real important for the coaches and then personnel guys are able to use the numbers and watching these guys work out live to their advantage.”

The player interviews are an underrated part of the combine. Remember last year what happened with Jachai Polite after his interviews at the combine? He didn’t like what some of the teams had to say about his play style and it hurt his draft stock. Polite ended up being third-round pick of the Jets’ after being deemed a first-round talent. He’s since been cut by multiple NFL teams.

A player may have all of the talent on the football field, but if he’s not a standup guy, interviews give teams a chance to find out.

The interviews also allow Gase and Joe Douglas to see how prospects react when their play is criticized. Take Georgia offensive tackle Andrew Thomas, for example. He met with the Jets this week and said they went over his film.

“It was a couple of plays that we went over — some good, some bad,” Thomas said. “But basically they just ask you to explain the offense. We looked at a lot of six-man pass protection and just explain to them how we ran it and our calls for it. Things like that.”

The one-on-one time with draft prospects is crucial, and interviews can ultimately be the deciding factor on whether or not a player gets picked by a particular team. Gase and the Jets seem to hold them above all else at the combine, so any prospects meeting with them best have some satisfactory answers ready