NFL Combine 2020 schedule, dates, workout times, records, invites & everything else to know

The schedule for the NFL Combine in 2020 has been adjusted to satisfy the league's perpetual thirst for prime-time TV viewers and ratings.

The on-field workout portion of the NFL Draft scouting event traditionally had taken place through the mornings and early afternoons of Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday during Combine week. In 2020, those workouts will begin at 4 p.m. ET and end at 11 p.m. ET on the same days, with the exception being Sunday (2-7 p.m. ET). Now viewers can watch young men run around in tights while eating dinner rather than lunch.

As for the location of the 2020 NFL Combine, the scouting event will return to Indianapolis for the 34th consecutive year. It's the only place the NFL Combine has ever been held.

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The aforementioned on-field drills still get the spotlight, but keep in mind the most important activities at the NFL Combine will take place away from the cameras. According to former NFL general manager and current Sporting News contributor Jeff Diamond, behind the scenes at the Combine will be "lots of conversations — legal and illegal under NFL rules — between general managers with their contract/salary cap guys often in tow; conversations with agents for soon-to-be free agents and for players already signed but targeted for pay cuts or release. There also are trade talks among teams looking to move/acquire players or improve draft spots.

"While the most important aspects of the Combine for players are physicals and interviews, the priorities for GMs are the agent chats in hotel rooms, bars, restaurants, coffee shops and skyways of Indianapolis ... with greater privacy needed for the illegal discussions on other teams' players who will soon hit the free-agency market."

With that as the background, below is all you need to know about the 2020 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, including the TV schedule, the agenda for the players, the list of Combine invites and the drills they will be asked to perform on the field at Lucas Oil Stadium.

NFL Combine 2020 schedule, dates

The biggest change to the NFL Combine schedule for 2020 comes in the start times for on-field workouts Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Now the action will extend into and through primetime.

NFL Network, the exclusive TV channel for all on-field drills at the Combine, will present seven straight hours of workout coverage on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. On Sunday, the network will show all five hours of the last group's (DB) drills. Host Rich Eisen and analyst/draft expert Daniel Jeremiah will anchor NFL Network's Combine coverage with additional commentary from Charles Davis and others.

Below is the complete TV schedule for on-field workouts and drills at the 2020 NFL Combine.

• Thursday, Feb. 27

• Friday, Feb. 28

• Saturday, Feb. 29

• Sunday, March 1

The on-field workouts shown on TV, of course, are just the tip of the iceberg that is an NFL prospect's Combine experience. For many players, the drills are the least relevant portion of the week.

A given prospect's workout at the Combine comes after he has gone through orientation, interviews, measurements, a medical exam, more interviews, media obligations, more medical exams, a position coach interview, psychological testing, an NFLPA meeting, more interviews, the bench press and more psychological testing. This is technically a job interview, after all.

Below is the complete player schedule for all four groups at the 2020 NFL Combine, courtesy of NFLCombine.net.

NFL Combine 2020 TV channel, live stream

• TV channel: NFL Network
• Live stream: NFL App | NFL Network App | NFL Network Live

Coverage of the 2020 NFL Combine — specifically the on-field workouts Thursday (4-11 p.m. ET), Friday (4-11 p.m. ET), Saturday (4-11 p.m. ET) and Sunday (2-7 p.m. ET) — will air exclusively on NFL Network. No other TV channel will show live NFL Combine coverage.

Those who don't get NFL Network on TV, though, can live stream the 2020 NFL Combine for free on mobile devices and tablets via the NFL App or the NFL Network app.

The connected devices that allow access to the NFL App and, therefore, the 2020 NFL Combine are as follows:

• Amazon Fire TV
• Apple TV
• PS4
• Xbox One
• Roku
• Android TV

NFL Combine 2020 invites

A total of 337 prospects were invited to the 2020 NFL Combine. The list of invites was determined by the Combine's Player Selection Committee, which is made up of scouting service directors and members of various NFL player personnel departments.

How the invites are settled upon, per the Combine's website: "All eligible players are reviewed and voted on by the committee members. Each athlete receiving the necessary number of votes, by position, is then extended an invitation. While it is not a perfect science, the goal of the committee is to invite every player that will be drafted in the ensuing NFL Draft."

Below are the 337 players who were invited to the 2020 NFL Combine, in alphabetical order and organized by position group.

Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

Tight ends

Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

Linebackers

Defensive backs

Specialists

NFL Combine drills

For now, the bench press remains in place as one of the customary workouts at the NFL Combine, meaning all players will go through the same seven general drills — 40-yard dash, bench press, vertical jump, broad jump, three-cone drill, 20-yard shuttle, 60-yard shuttle — in 2020.

New this year, though, will be changes to a handful of position-specific drills with entertainment value in mind. (Again, the league is aiming for better TV ratings.) From Sports Illustrated's Kalyn Kahler:

"Roughly eight or nine position-specific drills have been cut from the workouts and replaced with the same number of new drills. The committee decided to add timing to some existing drills like the gauntlet, and the defensive backs’ W drill, in order to make the workouts more entertaining for fans tuning in to the NFL Network’s broadcast. ...

"Some of the new drills include a smoke route for quarterbacks and wide receivers. A smoke route is a short route, a one-step hitch that is popular in run pass option plays which are now a staple of NFL offenses. The smoke route is usually used on the backside of a run play as a bail out for the quarterback when the run look isn’t there. This drill will also be timed, from the quarterback’s hands to the receiver’s hands."

Per Kahler's report, there will also be new drills for tight ends and linemen, including a figure eight pass-rush drill for D-linemen.

The timed “Figure 8” drill will be a new addition for DL at the NFL Scouting Combine.

Prospects are to stay as close to the hoop as possible. There’s an object on the ground for them to grab while staying on the move, which shows their bend/flexibility.

Here’s an example: pic.twitter.com/ZxR7Lphejz

— Jordan Reid (@JReidNFL) February 20, 2020

NFL Combine records

Below are the best numbers for the core NFL Combine events — 40-yard dash, bench press, vertical jump, broad jump, three-cone drill, 20-yard shuttle and 60-yard shuttle — since 2006, or what the league calls "recent" history.

The NFL does not keep Combine records, so these marks are unofficial.

MORE: Complete NFL Combine records

Bench press

• Record holder: Stephen Paea, DT, 2011
• Repetitions (225 pounds): 49

Top five since 2006:

Vertical jump

• Record holder: Chris Conley, WR, 2015 / Donald Washington, CB, 2009
• Height: 45.0"

Top five since 2006:

Broad jump

• Record holder: Byron Jones, DB, 2015
• Length: 12'3"

Top five since 2006:

Three-cone drill

• Record holder: J.T. Thomas, CB, 2018
• Time: 6.28 seconds

Top five since 2006:

20-yard shuttle

• Record holder: Jason Allen, CB, 2006 / Brandin Cooks, WR, 2014
• Time: 3.81 seconds

Top five since 2006:

60-yard shuttle

• Record holder: Shelton Gibson, WR, 2017
• Time: 10.71 seconds

Top five since 2006: