(NJ.com photo)
Has the NFL Scouting Combine helped or hindered player evaluation in its three decades of existence? That depends on whom you ask.
Consult one of the dozens of player personnel folks attempting to justify their existence in sprawling pro football organizations with virtually unlimited funds and you'll likely get an affirmative response. Of course, most of them know nothing of life before there was a combine. They can't imagine doing their jobs without it.
Ernie Accorsi is not one of those men. The former Giants, Browns and Colts general manager, more recently a consultant with the Bears, Panthers and now the Lions, is old enough to remember what it was like before there was a combine.