The annual NFL Combine provides an opportunity for draft prospects to strut their stuff in an event often called the underwear Olympics. Draft stock can rise and fall with a given 40-yard dash time or under or oversized hands, or even simply being an inch shorter than people expected.
The Combine provides a potentially greater opportunity for the 32 NFL teams. Each team has scouts, coaches and personnel executives on hand to assess the physical skills of the players. However, they also get a chance to set up meetings with a variety of prospects. Teams will meet with numerous players over the next two months leading up to the draft, but the Combine is the one time all the top prospects and all the teams are in the same place at the same time.
According to @49ers, the team has already met with Rutgers WR Mohamed Sanu and will meet with LSU WR Rueben Randle Saturday evening. The 49ers are in the market for wide receivers and the draft and free agency provide a whole host of options. While they may not draft somebody in the first round, these meetings give them a chance to assess the players in a one-on-one setting.
Teams have plenty of film of these players and get all the measurement and workout numbers from the Combine, but meeting one-on-one with a player can provide them with a better idea of what the players bring to the table from a mental standpoint. The 49ers built so much around being a cohesive unit that what a prospect has to say could be a difference-maker when comparing comparable skill-sets.