A long day begins in Indianapolis.

Alarm clocks begin going off around the city as the NFL wakes up. Players, coaches, and staff are all faced with a different set of tasks throughout the day. The morning starts earlier for some than others.

5:00 AM - The players going through medical tests get up to prepare for a 6 AM breakfast and a shuttle bus to the hospital.

6:00 AM - The players meeting the media wake up to get breakfast before heading over toward Radio Row located at the Indianapolis Convention Center.

6:30 AM - The players going through on-field drills later in the afternoon get up to start preparing for the day ahead.

Nick Sirianni

Eagles Head Coach

Cafe Patachou opens its doors.

Located just a couple of blocks from Lucas Oil Stadium, Cafe Patachou in Downtown Indianapolis is a go-to destination for many league personnel throughout the course of the week at the Combine.

"Howie (Roseman) was just telling me how much he loves it there. For three years living in Indy, I had no idea that it was even a Combine spot," Sirianni said.

But that doesn't mean Sirianni had never paid it a visit.

"That was actually our after-church spot for the three years I lived there. Our kids love the cinnamon toast they have, and that alone can be your entire breakfast. They have great omelets, too. I probably won't be going there too often because of the diet restrictions I have on myself at the moment, but if I were to get breakfast, that's where I'd be heading," Sirianni said.

On any given morning, you are bound to run into coaches, scouts, decision-makers, medical staff, and more as they prepare for the day ahead. And, yes, the cinnamon toast is phenomenal.

TE Daniel Bellinger

(San Diego State)

WR Kyle Philips

(UCLA)

Defensive backs check in with team doctors.

Every day from Tuesday through Friday, groups of players check in with representatives from all 32 teams' medical staffs. The defensive backs, who don't take the field for drills for another two days, have arrived to begin this process, a gauntlet of standardized medical tests, procedures, and questionnaires.

All of the players are asked to sit in a waiting room and are called back in alphabetical order to undergo several tests, a general checkup, and more throughout the course of the day, depending on their injury history. For some players, this will take the entire morning up until lunch, and for others it lasts much longer.

"Fortunately, I didn't have any MRIs or X-rays," San Diego State tight end Daniel Bellinger said. "I was only at the hospital for a couple of hours. It wasn't too bad for me. I know some guys were there all day."

Bellinger was one of the lucky ones, but that is not the case for every player who walks through those doors.

"I was actually there for eight hours," UCLA wide receiver Kyle Philips said. "It was a long day, getting MRIs, getting X-rays ... making sure everything's healthy. Definitely a long day, but it is what it is. It's what you gotta do. They just want to make sure my body is healthy."

Philips, who reportedly was one of the stars at the East-West Shrine Bowl in Las Vegas, wasn't phased by the day. Well, at least most of it.

"I'm not big fan needles, so when they're drawing blood, putting the IVs in ... that's what I hate doing. I can't look at the needles, I look away every time."

With that part of the process over with, Philips can now prove to teams that he can provide their offense and return units with a shot in the arm upon arriving in the NFL.

Information from these exams won't be unearthed for a couple of weeks as all 32 teams return home and comb through all of their findings before reporting back to the personnel staff.

DT Jordan Davis

(Georgia)

Defensive tackle Jordan Davis kicks off the press conferences.

"I could be anywhere in this world right now, but I'm in front of y'all today."

Georgia defensive tackle Jordan Davis was one of the first defenders to meet with reporters in Indianapolis and he shared his appreciation for that fact towards the end of his press conference. One of the top defensive players in the country last fall, Davis was one of many defensive linemen and linebackers who woke up around 6:30 this morning to get breakfast and take a drug test before heading over to the Convention Center for their 15-minute formal interview sessions.

Prospects are brought out in waves in a large convention hall that has over 10 podiums and several small stages for the news outlets in attendance. Once all of the media obligations are finished, players who need to undergo further medical exams will do so over at Lucas Oil Stadium. Those that don't have the ability to take part in some interviews with teams.

Alan Wolking

Director of College Scouting

NFL personnel head to Lucas Oil Stadium for the start of player interviews.

Meetings between prospects and teams are split into two groups; formal and informal, and they begin anywhere from 8 to 9 in the morning at Lucas Oil Stadium. For the Eagles, they begin at 9:00 and Alan Wolking is on his way to take part in those, traversing the indoor walkway through the Indianapolis Convention Center.

"I woke up, got a workout in, and watched some tape before grabbing a quick breakfast on my way over here," Wolking said. "There's a good group of us in there for these formal meetings. We'll have a couple of players in this morning. It might be weird to say, but these formal interviews are my favorite part of the week.

"For a lot of these guys you're hearing all second-hand information about what they're like away from the field, but to actually get a sense of it yourself is really great, and it's an important part of this process."

Nick Sirianni

Eagles Head Coach

An icebreaker to kick-start a critical component of Combine week.

For formal interviews, each team in the NFL is given a suite at Lucas Oil Stadium, the Eagles are in Lower Suite 24 A, and players are scheduled to stop by in 20-minute intervals. Every team handles these sessions differently, but most of these meetings include a consistent cast of characters.

On the personnel side, Executive Vice President/General Manager Howie Roseman, Vice President of Player Personnel Andy Weidl, several personnel executives, and the area scout for the player being interviewed are all present. On the coaching side, Nick Sirianni, the coordinators, and the position coach in charge of the player's position are all in the room.

What is the goal of these interview sessions? To try and get a better handle on the player as a person to find out if they can fit on your team and, just as important, in your locker room.

"This is all just a piece of the puzzle," Sirianni said. "Talking to the player and finding out who the person is and how they think about football, how tough they are, how competitive they are ... ultimately we want to know if they have what it takes to be an Eagle. The scouts have been working on that all year, but as coaches these are the first interactions we get with players, so I love that."

Sirianni introduced a new facet to the Eagles' formal interviews this year, bringing a mini-basketball hoop over to Lucas Oil Stadium and having players shoot five free throws when they walk through the door, which helps to lighten the mood for what can be an intense situation.

Phil Bhaya

Southeast Area Scout

The offensive linemen tip the scales before their workout.

It's testing day for the offensive linemen. After breakfast and a quick session with each of their personal trainers, the players head over to the stadium for weigh-ins, a process that is different than in years past.

"Before, weigh-ins were held in a stadium-like setup where they had 500 seats and it was more like a mini-concert stage," Phil Bhaya said. "You would watch the players come out and get measured. It was a very formal presentation."

The difference? Fewer personnel are allowed to witness.

"It's still the same process to make sure it's a standardized measurement so that everyone gets the same information, but it's more private for the player. There's only like three or four people per team allowed in the room. It's much less in the spotlight."

The standardization is important, however, and something that teams take very seriously. How one person measures a player's hand or arm length may be slightly off from someone else's measurement. That's why, year after year, National Football Scouting employs the same NFL scouts to do the same measurements on all of the players when they come through, to maintain consistency from class to class.

Dennard Wilson

Defensive Backs Coach

Phil Bhaya

Southeast Area Scout

The offensive linemen compete in the bench press event.

Offensive linemen gather at the Indianapolis Convention Center across the street from the stadium to go through the bench press drill. The goal? Lift 225 pounds as many times as possible.

What do coaches get out of it? Dennard Wilson's defensive backs don't bench for another couple of days, but he shared what he values most from that exercise.

"Most of us were football players, man," Wilson said. "Back in the day, I took a lot of pride in the bench press, so I come over to see them compete."

The bench press is the only drill over the course of the workout where the noise and energy level is extremely high. Players get loud in support of their peers, urging them to push out just one more rep before hanging the bar up.

Competitiveness and energy-level aren't the only things that can be gleaned from this drill, as scouts have their eyes set on something else as well.

"Obviously, there's no bench press on a football field," Bhaya said. "That's a very specific movement. But what it does show is, 'Hey, this guy knows that this test is coming. Can he train to accomplish a goal?' You got a guy getting only one or two reps, that might be a little concerning, or if you got a guy who's going to really push it out and compete and show their strength. It looks great for those guys."

Dennard Wilson

Defensive Backs Coach

Players in the formal interviews put their football IQ on display for each of the 32 teams.

The Eagles have been in formal meetings now for two hours. After a couple of minutes of shooting free throws, it's time to get down to business.

In the week prior to the NFL Scouting Combine, the Eagles assemble the film cutups for the formal interviews.

"The goal is to get them to talk football, to gauge their football IQ, what they know, let them talk so you kind of get a feel for their personality," Dennard Wilson said.

Phil Bhaya

Southeast Area Scout

Jemal Singleton

Running backs/assistant head coach

The competition isn’t just on the field in Indianapolis.

After beginning almost three hours ago, the window for "informal interviews" is coming to a close for the morning, as a member of the league announces that there are just 15 minutes remaining.

Informal interviews happen in a different part of the stadium from the formal ones, and these are much less structured. Players are brought into a giant room, and it's up to each team's scouts and coaches to just grab players to talk to. Previously, these were held in a giant room commonly referred to as "The Train Station" (it was the location of the nation's first union station where multiple rail lines offered service) a block away at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. However, the Scouting Combine instituted a new format change. The players are split into groups of four and rotated amongst teams a bit more evenly to bring a bit more order to the chaos.

"When I first started, this was eight years ago," Phil Bhaya remembers. "it was a total free-for-all. 'No, I was waiting for this guy! No, I was next in line!' The way the Combine is managed I think it's been good. They've broken it out and made it a little more structured. You have more of an orderly turn and wait to talk to your guy, but there's still a bit of competitiveness to it. We're all competitors here between our teams, between our scouting staffs, coaching staffs, so it does come into play, but I think that's part of the beauty of what goes on here in Indianapolis."

The added structure means that, like formal interviews, these sessions only last about 15-to-20 minutes with each player, but in that short amount of time you can get plenty done.

"Every coach has a little different script that they have," Running Backs/Assistant Head Coach Jemal Singleton said. "You still want to get a sense of what their football intelligence is. You want to get a feel for their personality. It's typically the first interaction you've ever had with them, so just generic questions to get them talking can move the conversation along. It's like speed dating and the guy is rolling through, switching tables, and all that. You get a little bit of information there, but just another piece to help fill out the full picture as you're going through it. So, some guys you may have formal. Other guys are informal, but you're getting information from both of those venues."

Nick Sirianni

Eagles Head Coach

Dennard Wilson

Defensive Backs Coach

The NFL Scouting Combine offers an opportunity for professional development.

With meetings ending around noon and workouts not beginning again until 4 PM, there's time for everyone to get lunch. For some, that means catching up with friends or, if possible, getting some work discussions in.

"You're talking a lot to coaches you haven't seen," Nick Sirianni said. "Sometimes it's strictly business. I remember meeting with (Jaguars Passing Game Coordinator) Jim Bob Cooter a couple of years ago just to talk quarterbacks -- the drills we like to do, how they read plays, things like that."

"It's great to get together with a coach that you're close with or that you've worked with. It's so valuable to be able to pick their brain for some professional development while you're there. You can't do it every day, but that's definitely the time to do it. Sometimes it's just as simple as grabbing a cup of coffee and catching up, and sometimes it can be even more serious than that."

"I'm a big believer in, 'Each one, teach one'," defensive backs coach Dennard Wilson said. "I've been in this long enough where if I'm around younger guys or guys just getting started and even if they're my friends and we start talking football, I'm going to give them the knowledge that I have to help them further their career. There are guys that have been instrumental in my development as a coach and even as a person throughout this league. When I'm down here, I'm trying to get better as a coach as well as finding great players and trying to figure out that aspect."

These work-centric chats don't just happen on the coaching side because they happen on the personnel side as well.

Alan Wolking

Director of College Scouting

The precious few hours of quiet allow for additional film study and research.

A lunch break doesn't have to be a group venture. Some scouts take the opportunity to grab a quick bite before getting ahead on the next day's work during some downtime.

"This is a great time to get ahead on some tape," Wolking said. "We have plenty of meetings tomorrow with players, and for all of the guys at schools that I didn't get a chance to go into in the fall, I'll try to watch their film the day before we interview them, so I have some base going into the meeting."

Nick Sirianni

Eagles Head Coach

The NFL makes its way into Lucas Oil Stadium for the start of the position workouts.

Coaches don't have to worry about getting to the stadium early. "I know I've got a seat saved for me," Sirianni said.

It's far from a typical gameday, crowd-wise, but while it's more of a relaxed journey to get there, it's all business once coaches reach their destination.

"I have a section where I've sat with the same coaches for the last several years," Sirianni said. "I'll typically sit with (Colts Head Coach) Frank Reich, Jim Bob Cooter, and (Lions Special Teams Coordinator) Dave Fipp, who has been a part of our group lately since he and Frank worked together here in Philadelphia. I think if you ask a lot of coaches, with it being an annual tradition, we all kind of have our favorite spots to watch drills from, and you're locked in. Seven hours is a long time, but there are some dead periods between drills. This is obviously an important part of the entire puzzle, and each night is long, but it's a lot of fun to just be able to take all of the drills in."

This year marks Sirianni's first Combine as head coach of the Eagles after the 2021 Combine was canceled due to the pandemic. In his new role, Sirianni spends more time in the suite watching the drills with Howie Roseman.

Catherine Raîche

VP of Football Operations

The first group of offensive linemen gather for the start of the 40-yard dash.

Long-time Pittsburgh Steelers scout Mark Gorscak, a staple of Combine week as the official starter on the 40-yard dash, calls over the first group of offensive linemen and gives instruction on how to run the drill. As the sprints begin, the chatter in the suite picks up as the Eagles' staff watches the action unfold.

"Obviously, you're seeing things on the field that you're talking about as they happen," Catherine Raîche said. "But sometimes it brings up something more. Maybe you have a coach next to you, and you see something that makes you say, 'Hey, this reminds me of something we're doing in this concept,' or 'What do you think about this skill set big picture?' Those conversations are just organic and they happen throughout the course of the night while watching drills."

Jeremiah Washburn

Senior Defensive Assistant

The Vertical Jump gets underway on the field at Lucas Oil Stadium.

While the first group of offensive linemen are running the 40-yard dash, the second group of offensive linemen make their way to the Vertical Jump station.

"I love the jumps," Senior Defensive Assistant Jeremiah Washburn said. "That was actually my first job at the Combine, the first time my kids saw me on TV I was running this drill for the entire group. In broad and vertical jumps, you can really see how these players come through their hips."

That explosiveness showed up with several offensive linemen in this drill, with UCLA's Sean Rhyan topping out at 33.5", followed closely by Wake Forest's Zach Tom (33" flat).

Nick Sirianni

Eagles Head Coach

Dennard Wilson

Defensive Backs Coach

Phil Bhaya

Southeast Area Scout

The treat du jour that awaits Indianapolis tourists. “It’s like being baptized.”

A little after 5 PM is when St. Elmo's Steakhouse, a staple in the city, starts to fill up for dinner. Drills may be going on at the stadium, but that won't keep agents, media, and coaches for positions that are not working out from enjoying the local fare.

"If you've ever lived in Indy, when we had people visiting, we always tried to go to St. Elmo's," Nick Sirianni said. "It's a touristy spot, obviously, but they have great food. The atmosphere is so cool there."

At St. Elmo's, which first opened in 1902, the signature item on the menu is the shrimp cocktail, which features a scorching-hot horseradish cocktail sauce, something that basically everyone has an opinion on. Most can remember the first time they had the ice-cold shrimp doused in sinus-clearing sauce, and many people are eager to spread that joy to others who have not yet shared the experience.

"The funny thing about the shrimp cocktail is whenever you have anyone in the organization that's never been over to Elmo's. You never tell them about it," Dennard Wilson said. "You get a shrimp cocktail and tell them to dip it in there and get a lot of cocktail sauce on it and see their facial expression. It's like being baptized."

Wilson first fell for that bit as a young coach working with current Atlanta Falcons Linebackers Coach Frank Bush, but he isn't the only one who fell for it, as Phil Bhaya remembers his first bout with the shrimp cocktail as well.

"Yes, someone tricked me into it saying, 'Hey, you got to try the shrimp cocktail. It's the best. I'll buy it for you. Make sure you get a big glob on your shrimp.' I did it and I was crying. Tears came out of my eyes."

The pain is real, but it's worth every tear.

Catherine Raîche

VP of Football Operations

Jeremiah Washburn

Senior Defensive Assistant

Offensive Line Coach Jeff Stoutland coaches up the prospects ahead of the pass-rush drill.

Now about 20 minutes into their position-specific workout, the offensive linemen begin taking orders from Offensive Line Coach Jeff Stoutland out on the field for a couple of drills. Up in the suite, the staff is glued to the action.

"I love to watch the players perform," Catherine Raîche, an admittedly "big note-taker" said. "Especially the on-field drills. That's the thing I watch the most closely."

"The Combine does a great job with this," Jeremiah Washburn said. "You get a great look at how these players move in these drills."

The first group of offensive linemen finish their workout nearly a half-hour later, while the second group of linemen won't finish until nearly 8 PM.

Jemal Singleton

Running backs/assistant head coach

It’s time for the running backs to run the 40-yard dash.

The running backs are the last group of players to begin testing on Friday evening, with BYU's Tyler Allgeier leading things off with his first run in the 40. The fastest runners on Friday evening? Rutgers' Isiah Pacheco and South Dakota State's Pierre Strong (both with an official 4.37 time).

While most of the Eagles' personnel take in the action from the suite, Assistant Head Coach/Running Backs Coach Jemal Singleton is down on the field working with the players. Chosen as one of a handful of coaches to take part in the festivities, Singleton helps coach the players up from drill to drill, particularly in the position workout.

"It's always great to get down here and interact with the guys a little bit more," Singleton said. "Obviously we get them in interviews, but here we get to see them in a more competitive element and getting to see the guys interact together. ... I think it just really helps the evaluation process."

Jemal Singleton

Running backs/assistant head coach

With the 40-yard dash in the books, the running backs line up for their position workout.

Once the 40-yard dash ends, the running backs approach midfield as a unit to begin going through the position-specific portion of the workout. Here, the players will go through several bag drills to show off their running skills as well as some pass catching drills to prove their receiving ability.

"We're teaching them some drills," said Jemal Singleton, who is still working with the players down on the field. "You get to see how they engage with coaching, how they get taught, if they follow directions. Some of those things."

Singleton doesn't have a favorite drill from the handful of exercises they'll put the prospects through, but there's one element of athleticism he's looking at closely in each of them.

"In all of the drills, we have a jump-cut portion of it; it's kind of a lateral mobility thing that, to me, is huge. It shows up on game film all the time. That's one of the things I wants to see from guys -- lateral mobility, is he explosive, can he get sideways and then vertical back again? It's a huge thing to avoid tackles, make guys miss, and keep your shoulders square, and get vertical," Singleton said. "Just being able to see if a guy can do that is helpful. We do that in the first drill (off-tackle read) and the second drill (blast read). There's elements of that in both."

Nick Sirianni

Eagles Head Coach

Catherine Raîche

VP of Football Operations

Jemal Singleton

Running backs/assistant head coach

Players and coaches clear the field of Lucas Oil Stadium.

With all of the routes run for the night, the running backs call it a day. They have enough time to cool down from the workout, get changed, and make it back to the hotel for an 11 PM dinner. For the position coaches, their jobs for the week are basically done.

"In years past, I'd literally already have my backpack and sprint to the airport to catch the flight," Jemal Singleton told me. "Now, with it ending this late, nobody can leave, so you have the chance to get a little R&R and catch up with some guys."

For Singleton, the R&R may have to wait ...

"Really, I got to go pack is what I need to do after this week and then prepare to fly out tomorrow."

Singleton isn't the only one heading back to the hotel for the night.

"The moment drills end, I'm going back to my room to go to sleep," Nick Sirianni shared. "You won't find me at 'Steak and Shake' or anywhere else. I'm going to go back to the hotel and go to sleep."

"Yeah, I value sleep a lot and my day starts early," Catherine Raîche added. "That said, there are a lot of great opportunities to meet with people afterwards. I think those are great opportunities to build your network and learn and connect with other people in the industry."