Observations from Day 4 of the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine

Athletic tackle: Alabama tackle Kadyn Proctor is one of the best pound-for-pound athletes in the draft but keeping his weight at a manageable level has been a conversation with teams this week at the Combine. He’s 6-foot-7, 366 pounds and was used as both a tackle and fullback at Alabama, that’s how athletic he is. Proctor said Saturday his ideal NFL weight will be around 350 to 355 pounds.

Tight ends impress: One of the drills I really enjoy watching at the Combine is the pass catching gauntlet drill. It puts a lot of pressure on the athlete to catch multiple balls while running a straight line, and speed through the drill is something teams really track. I thought this year’s tight end group overall was impressive in the drill, better than I’ve seen from some receiver groups in past Combines. When factoring in the average speed overall from the group, which was a Combine record, teams are going to be able to find contributing tight ends all through this class.

Learning to play center: Auburn center Connor Lew started his high school career as a tackle but was asked to switch to center.

“Halfway through my freshman season, they moved me to center,” Lew said Saturday. “We were going into our bye week for high school, we already had a trip planned down to the beach. And my head coach was like ‘hey, can you snap a football?’ I was like well I’ve never tried, but it’s a good timing, we’re on bye, I’ll go down to the beach.

“So, I actually learned how to snap a football at the beach on the sand, so maybe there’s something to that. My little brother was the quarterback, and my uncle was in front of me, which kind of simulated a game, you know, I’d snap first, make sure I got that and then start progressing the snap, stepping and then trying to block my uncle. It made it a lot more difficult on the sand, but I mean, that’s one of my favorite stories to tell because that’s where it all started.”

More speed: This was the fastest safety class in the history of the Combine. Instincts are always the key trait for all great safeties, but speed certainly helps too. The combination of both makes for a difference maker in the back of a defense. Lorenzo Styles Jr. (4.27), Robert Spears-Jennings (4.32), Treydan Stukes (4.33) and Dillon Thieneman (4.35) all ran sub-4.4 seconds in the 40-yard dash. The safety group averaged 4.55 seconds.