Welcome to sport’s most modern job interview

The NFL Combine begins this week and, as Ben Burrows writes, this first step on the journey from the college game to the pros remains as important as ever

LSU quarterback Joe Burrow is set to be selected first in April’s Draft (USA TODAY Sports)

A great deal has happened in the 20 years since the most infamous photo of Tom Brady’s career. Stood shirtless in grey shorts with slumping shoulders a then 22-year-old Brady could scarcely have looked further away from the future Hall of Fame, six-time Super Bowl champion quarterback he would go on to become.

Both Brady and the event he was attending all the way back in 2000 – the NFL Scouting Combine – have changed a lot since then. One is the greatest we’ve ever seen play the game. The other is the first glimpse we get of seeing who might follow in his footsteps.

Over the next five days in Indianapolis the next generation of would-be Bradys will be scrutinised in infinitesimal detail as the NFL’s great and good assemble to cast their eyes over this year’s class of college prospects and try and pick out the next big thing.