There are always weird stories that emerge from the draft process featuring prospects facing bizarre circumstances and odd questions from NFL teams. Somehow, a new one pops up almost every year.
And the strangest one we’ve heard so far this season comes from an unnamed NFL team courtesy of small-school prospect Jordan Morgan, of the Kutztown Bears, who says he was asked to take part in a staring contest at the combine.
According to the guard, via PennLive.com, he thought he “did all right” even though he didn’t test very well because of injuries. Then things got a little strange during the interview sessions.
“The strangest thing I had asked of me at the combine was how long I could have my eyes open in a staring contest,” Morgan said. “I thought it was weird, but it’s one of those things you don’t question on the spot.
“I didn’t blink at all. He told me I could stare at anything. I just focused on a water bottle. I don’t know how long it was, but it was pretty long. My eyes were fogging up. I couldn’t see after. He was just like, ‘I got what I need. You can stop now.’”
What’s the lesson to be learned here? How willing to listen a prospect is? What level of concentration he has? How dedicated he is? How he will listen to orders?
It has to be some sort of psychological thing, and there appear to be studies suggesting that being good at staring contests is a sign of dominance.
But Morgan was just staring at a water bottle -- perhaps this was a focus thing.
“If we’re attentively reading or listening our blink rate cuts to half,” a Talk Nerdy To Me video at Huffington Post claims. “A team of researchers at the University of Waterloo found that even while reading if our minds wander, we blink significantly more often than when we’re focused.”
Either way, like most bizarre NFL combine questions, good luck deciphering exactly what it means.
