Why is there even a combine anymore?

This isn’t going to be a post where I even pretend to know the answer to why this is happening. This year, dozens of players of both top and lower tiered prospects alike have been opting out of combine drills, even when it only stands to benefit them. Projected Top-10 quarterbacks Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders both opted to solely speak to interested teams, instead of doing any drills or even throwing. Even guys like Jalen Milroe who have declining interest from franchises and are crazy athletic, are still choosing to not run, bench or do anything else when it only stands to improve their draft stock. While many players will still perform at their respective teams’ Pro Days, the question stands: why host the combine if no one cares about it anymore? Even teams are starting to take less care about the numbers from it and value game film much more than in the past. And the guys who it could possibly benefit, from smaller schools with less exposure who want to put their athleticism on show in attempts to get drafted, mostly aren’t even invited to it! While it’s a concerning pattern about the decrease of players performing in Indianapolis every year, the question marks surrounding the future of the NFL Combine are more glaring than ever before.