INDIANAPOLIS -- The NFL Scouting Combine is a six-day, fact-finding expedition for every organization. At the same time, plenty of disinformation is floating around.
Coaches, general managers and scouts obviously have relationships with each other and talk about different players and situations. But they aren't always honest.
"We have friends in different positions -- John Schneider, John Dorsey and Reggie McKenzie -- there's conversations going on so you kind of bounce things off," Green Bay Packers general manager Ted Thompson said, "but nobody really tells the truth, so you have to discern what's truth and what's the untruth and what's the truth that he's trying to get me to buy into so I'll believe the untruth.
"It's all a mess. You don't know. So at the end of the day, you've got to think, 'Can this guy help us play or win games, or can he not?'"
Buffalo Bills coach Doug Marrone ran the Syracuse football program the last three years and has unique insight on four of his former players who are attending the combine. Quarterback Ryan Nassib and tackle Justin Pugh might be selected in the early rounds. Naturally, teams have questioned Marrone.
"I think it's information that's an advantage for us," he said. "It's been very difficult for me. I have a lot of friends in this league that have asked me these questions quite a bit during the week.
"I've kind of had the same response: We're in the information-gathering business, not the information-giving (business) when it comes down to players."
I envision Thompson and Minnesota Vikings general manager Rick Spielman telling Detroit Lions general manager Martin Mayhew two years ago: "You know, that Titus Young guy really seems to have his head on straight ... "
Follow Kareem Copeland on Twitter @kareemcopeland.
