2020 NFL Combine: What 49ers fans need to know

The 2020 NFL Scouting Combine kicks off Feb. 23, and the San Francisco 49ers and their fans will have keen interest on the developments taking place at Lucas Oil Stadium during the event.

While the NFL Draft is the biggest event of the offseason, the San Francisco 49ers are going to want to have some keen interest in arguably the second most-important event ahead of the draft, the NFL Scouting Combine.

The 2020 combine will be of notable importance to the Niners, who have just their lone first-round pick between Rounds 1 and 4 of April’s draft. General manager John Lynch could feasibly trade out of the No. 31 overall spot, accruing more day-two draft capital along the way. But one also need to acknowledge the 49ers own five picks between Rounds 5 and 7.

Lynch has hit on day-three picks before, and 2020 will provide more chances to repeat that success.

Some of those determining factors will show up at the NFL Combine, which kicks off on Sunday, Feb. 23 from Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. And to make things a bit more interesting, the league has introduced a new slew of workouts and 16 new drills to combine events.

Here’s what 49ers fans will want to know about the week-long event, as 337 invitees hope to improve their stock ahead of the NFL Draft in April.

NFL Scouting Combine Schedule

While the event starts on Feb. 23, the first day is primarily just orientations and interviews for tight ends, wide receivers and quarterbacks. The following day, Feb. 24, that first group will go through medical evaluations, while special teams players, running backs and offensive linemen do their orientations and interviews.

On-field workouts begin on Thursday, Feb. 27 and the schedule is as follows:

• Thursday, Feb. 27: Tight ends, quarterbacks, wide receivers
• Friday, Feb. 28: Special teams specialists, running backs, offensive linemen
• Saturday, Feb. 29: Defensive linemen, linebackers
• Sunday, March 1: Defensive backs

This schedule provides an excellent day-by-day breakdown for fans wanting to know the specifics about the combine.

NFL Network will broadcast coverage throughout the combine, while fans can check out live performance updates from NFL.com right here.

While the combine only paints a partial picture about how well an invited prospect will perform at the NFL level, given there are no pads and opposing players trying to disrupt the action, the stripped-down intangibles can be useful.

Especially for a team like the 49ers gunning for some more late-round gems on draft day.

There are a number of potential sleeper players the Niners will likely target during the draft, and the NFL Combine could either sway Lynch and Co. in favor of a would-be selection, or drop that player off the team’s draft board altogether.

Once the 2020 NFL Scouting Combine is complete, 49ers fans will want to start focusing their attention on this year’s NFL Draft, which kicks off on Thursday, April 23 from Las Vegas.