As Joe has typed many times, Joe has no use for the combine sideshow/indoor track meet NFL Network televises. Just on face value, it may be more boring than a godawful golf match.

At least with golf, if you are hungover enough, you can enjoy the green grass and blue sky before dozing off.

Combine times, pumping weights and jumping mean nothing to Joe if you can’t block, can’t tackle, can’t catch and can’t throw. Quarterbacks throwing with zero pass rush against no defensive backs  — wearing shorts tossing indoors does not shed any light on a prospect.

Warren Sapp summed the combine up perfectly. “You don’t pump weights on the 50-yard line.”

(To be fair, Joe has heard more than once that 40 times seem to predict a quality offensive lineman better than a skill position player, oddly enough.)

What the combine is great for is information and intel and access at the combine’s beehive, the Indiana Convention Center in downtown Indianapolis. Scouts, coaches and suits loosen up and share intel freely after a few beers at Hooters or maybe following some cocktails and perhaps a medium-rare ribeye at St. Elmo.

(Way underrated menu item: Shaved ribeye sandwich at Harry and Izzy’s, which is next door to and owned by the famed St. Elmo steakhouse. Even better than the pastrami sandwich at Shapiro’s Delicatessen, an Indianapolis institution since 1905.)

And of course, coaches will talk to you away from a microphone in a relaxed atmosphere after they go through the media carwash.

For Joe, *that* is the meat and the heart and the nerve center of the combine.

Here are just a few rumors Joe can publish that might intrigue readers:

Quay Walker To Hit Free Agency

Joe spoke with a Packers media type. Joe asked about the talented linebacker Quay Walker, the 2022 first-round draft pick. He’s led the Packers in tackles the past four years. Joe thinks he is a good player and had a hard time believing the Packers would let the guy walk.

The Packers are very much willing to let him walk.

From what Joe was told, the Packers expected a lot more from Walker. The issue for the Packers is they expected Walker to be an A-level player but Green Bay believes it is getting B-level and sometimes C-level play. Walker wants the Packers to show him A-level money and the Packers have their heels dug in that Walker deserves nothing more than B-level money.

Is that a red flag to Joe for the Bucs? Perhaps, but Joe will ask you this: Would you rather have Quay Walker playing B-level ball for the Bucs or SirVocea Dennis playing F-level ball?

Tremaine Edmunds And Bears Headed For Divorce

The Bears last week told linebacker Tremaine Edmunds he can seek a trade if he wishes. So on face value, it appears that the Bears are done with him.

The head-butting appears worse than it actually is. The Bears are jammed up on the cap. The Bears like how the soon-to-be free agent Edmunds has played and would like him back. But Edmunds, who has never had fewer than 100 tackles in a season, wants the Bears to show him the money. The Bears don’t have the loose change.

So unless a team trades for Edmunds, it appears he will be available when the free agency dinner bell rings March 11, the start of the league year. (Yes, Joe is aware legal tampering begins two days prior.)

Zac Robinson Intel

Joe spoke with an Atlanta media type who has mixed feelings for Zac Robinson, the new Bucs offensive coordinator who previously was Atlanta’s offensive coordinator. This same source lauded Robinson for his first year with the Dixie Chicks when they finished sixth overall in NFL offense.

The next year, defenses, which had all offseason to pick apart Robinson’s tendencies, adjusted and Robinson did not. Atlanta’s offense dropped off.

Then Robinson, Joe’s source said, began leaning on Bijan Robinson, which turned Atlanta into a predictable offense. So Joe was told there is a good Robinson and a bad Robinson. Which one will the Bucs get?

Blazing 🏃🏿‍♂️💨

But how important is that?

I looked at 17 yrs worth of WR data to get that answer. ⬇️ https://t.co/AMcuCMqrqv pic.twitter.com/p8gNv6JpGZ

— Lindsay Rhodes (@lindsay_rhodes) March 1, 2026