Let's Bleed Together: Choppin' It Up at the NFL Combine

Kids these days don’t talk to each other anymore. They “chop it up.”

Take Toledo safety Emmanuel McNeil-Warren, who is a kid to me, though I would not dare call him “kid” to his face. McNeil-Warren, some Toledo teammates and Eagles cornerback Quinyon Mitchell (a Toledo alum) are on Instagram and in group chats and Snapchat with each other all the time.

“We just chop it up,” McNeil-Warren told reporters on Thursday. “It don’t have to be football related. Just chopping it up, having fun times, seeing how we’re doing in life.”

Lots of other prospects talked about “choppin’ it up” with friends or former teammates during last week’s Combine interview sessions. If you aren’t as hip to the parlance of Gen Z as I am, you might think these young men spent their free time making Cobb salads, or perhaps disposing of their victims. I’ve seen McNeil-Warren’s game tape, however: his victims are usually well disposed of by the whistle.

The NFL Scouting Combine is an annual opportunity for media members to chop it up with colleagues, sources and insiders. We do not, however, “chop it up” with the prospects. We ask them mostly stupid questions, including the dreaded Didja talk to [Team X]? questions designed to chum the internet waters with clickbait. The prospects provide mostly guarded, rehearsed responses.

It takes patience, perseverance and experience to get anything substantial out of several days of rapid-fire press conferences. I only possess one of those virtues, which is why you are stuck reading the Forty Awards: part Oscars, part Dundies, part proof to the IRS (and to you, my valued subsribers) that the three days I spent eating whiskey pepper steak subs and drinking Sun King beer were a business expense.

And with that, let’s chop it up!

Most Badass Motherf**king Response: Emmanuel McNeil-Warren

Here’s the big, fast, ornery Toledo safety’s response to a generic question about his physical playing style:

I can let all my anger out on the field. I feel like you bleed just how I bleed, because we’re both human. So we’re going to bleed together. And I just leave everything out on the field like it’s my last.

Grrrrrrrr…

Here’s a quick look at McNeil-Warren in action:

You get the idea.

Saddest Story Ever Told: Drew Allar, QB, Penn State

Allar’s stock appears to be rocketing right now. NFL scouts, desperate to find a QB2 in this draft class, may be talking themselves into the big, strong-armed, ultra-deliberate Allar, who broke his left ankle in early October. Either that, or draftniks searching for a sleeper finally remembered that Allar existed.

Seriously, look at the size of this press scrum:

This is what the NFL media is reduced to when the draft class is weak, folks.

Anyway, lots of prospects shared heartbreaking tales of lost loved ones and early-life adversity. But forget about them. Allar, born and raised in Cleveland, told a story of generational family misery which I fear he has not yet properly processed:

I was a pretty big Browns fan growing up. I went to every single home Browns game from the time I was seven through my senior year of high school. My great-grandfather had season tickets, so they’ve been passed down since the 60’s. So I’ve been fortunate enough to be to a lot of Browns games.

Fortunate? FORTUNATE? Allar has a case of generational trauma compounded by Stockholm Syndrome.

It gets worse. The Cleveland media was out in force (which is traumatic in its own right) to speak to Allar, and they asked him whose NFL jersey he first wore as a child. “I would probably say either Joe Thomas or Charlie Frye.”

Imagine proudly wearing a Charlie Frye jersey to second grade. They used to produce after-school specials about such children, to teach us privileged kids about empathy.

The Browns simply cannot draft Allar and stick him in a quarterback room with Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders. Even the Factory of Sadness isn’t equipped to handle that much sheer despondency.

Though, come to think of it, Allar may be one of the few people on earth emotionally equipped to handle it.

Best Bling: Emmett Johnson, Running Back, Nebraska

Johnson arrived at the podium wearing a glittering “E$” pendant. His nickname, as could be surmised from the pendant (again, I am savvy to the lingo of the youths), is “E-Money.” He did not get that nickname by being “money” at the goal line or anything, however:

I grew up being good with math and numbers. I’ve been a math guy my whole life. I would be in class, and there would be different equations, and I would always be the first one to solve it.

So this girl in class would always call me Money Man. Everybody would call me “Money Man, Money Man, you’re so smart.” She gave me that nickname and started in elementary school and then kind of just rose with that.

Sheesh. I was good with math and numbers, but no one ever called me Money Man. Maybe it’s because I never had a gunshow like Johnson, who I am sure had biceps like these in third grade:

Johnson earned All B1G Academic honors four times. He’s still finishing his course load so he can graduate. His major? “Advertising and public relations,” he said, growing extra animated. “As you can see, I’m trying to be good with the advertising market.”

Johnson has second-round tape but ran a disappointing 4.56-second forty on Saturday. To his credit, Johnson was the only running back to participate in the three-cone drill, which has become the Combine equivalent of volunteering to eat a live bee. Maybe Johnson can use his mathematical and/or advertising gifts to convince NFL teams to overlook that (relatively) pokey forty.

Best Supporting Actor in Your Own Press Conference: Jack Endries, Tight End, Texas

Endries played with both Arch Manning at Texas last season and Fernando Mendoza at Cal in 2024. That made him an excellent source for quotes about players who are far more famous, interesting and clickable than Endries himself. Sure enough, the press pool didn’t even butter Endries up with some “tell us about your strengths” foreplay before pelting him with questions about his former teammates. This sequence begins 11 seconds into Endries’ press conference:

QUESTION: What are the Raiders going to get in Fernando?

ENDRIES: Playmaker, leader, just a really good guy. People are gonna look forward to meeting him. People are gonna have a good time with him. He’s a good dude. No red flags about him.

QUESTION: Do you see any similarities between Mendoza and Manning, whether it’s their game or their leadership style?

ENDRIES: Yeah, it’s definitely cool because I know they’re both going to be first-round picks. Just an elite group of quarterbacks I can play with. They’re both different. Arch does a little more with his legs. I guess Fernando, you know, he’s dialed in this whole season. Yeah, those guys are elite. You can definitely see it in their leadership and confidence out there.

QUESTION: You and Mendoza are both are kind of similar: unheralded, not highly recruited out of high school. Did you feel a certain kinship with him because of that?

ENDRIES: He was my roommate. You could see the dedication of both of us: to stay late after practice, catch a couple extra balls, throw a couple extra, stay late in the facility.

QUESTION: You played with both Fernando and Arch in the early stages of their starting career. Do you see Arch being able to make that next step like Fernando made this past year?

ENDRIES: Arch is elite. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was the number one pick next year.

QUESTION: When you were rooming with Mendoza, who was the clean one, who was the messy one?

ENDRIES: We were both clean. We threw out our trash.

QUESTION: Who was the early bird and who was the night owl?

ENDRIES: I definitely woke up a little earlier than him. I’d probably say me, but I guess he stayed later at the facility watching film, so I’ve got to give that to him.

I’ll admit it: I asked the last two questions. Endries was starting to get the faraway stare of someone dreaming of vaporizing everyone in sight with his optic blasts, so I didn’t pester him with any more Roomin’ With Fernando questions..