The only thing about this thread that is logical or somewhat intelligent is removing Christensen from the booth.
The WNBA can have its draft right after the women's championship game because their season ends in September or October, six months before their draft. The WNBA is played during the summer because of the limited competition of other sports (baseball) in hopes of attracting a fan. There isn't a six-month gap between the championship game in college football and the NFL. The analogy isn't really applicable.
Getting rid of the combine is a dumb idea, even if you did you would not stop the drills because colleges would still have pro days. Pro days are a good thing to develop relationships with NFL scouts so they come to your school ever year, to help your players get drafted. Isn't that one of the end goals of college football? Furthermore, NFL teams want quantifiable ways to measure players. These tangible items are important and can help players. For instance, Bryan Kehl wasn't that high on the draft boards (outside of Utah County) until he went into the combine and scored in the top five overall. Examining his game film and measurables, NFL scouts have recognized Kehl can make an impact at the next level; that is why he is now the fifth best prospect at OLB. Before the combine he was in the teens. In any profession you take the tangibles and intangibles like interviews and GPA. These drills are the GPA of the NFL.
Draft stock doesn't go up and down based on little things. Johnathan Stewart hasn't gone down 20 positions from his last college game until now just on a whim but because he is not recovering quickly from his recent surgery and his past history of injuries is concerning to teams.
The draft is two months after the super bowl because the NFL has administrative procedures it needs to take care of. Once the season ends, teams need to perform evaluation processes. They need to examine their past season, managerial decisions and personnel direction. All of this takes time. Then there is the restricted free agency period. Teams need to prepare salaries and possibilities and at what point they will not match the salaries that other teams will offer their players. Next it moves into the free agency period, where teams try to go after players who they think will help their franchise. During these processes, the owners are meeting to examine rules, the state of the league, and the all important profit margin. Players also meet with the union to discuss their issues.
All of this has to happen so teams go into the draft knowing their draft strategy. Bottom line, the draft in one of the last things to happen in the NFL off-season. Combines and pro-days might be overrated, but they help teams measure players, which can be difficult watching game film and wondering if the player is good because his competition is bad, or because he is a good player. I would wager if it were not for the combine, there would be an even greater bias towards BCS schools and players because the presumption is those schools have more talent and without quantifiable measurements, how are scouts supposed to know.
