Every time I make the trek from upstate New York to Indianapolis for the NFL Scouting Combine there are interesting, unexpected twists and turns. This year was no exception. Here is the 2026 version of my annual look at ‘Ed’s excellent Indianapolis adventure’.
Monday, Feb. 24: Travel day
The story of Monday began days before that, probably as early as Friday. Like everyone else, my wife and I were monitoring the progress of the forecasted monster snow storm that was headed for the east coast on Sunday and Monday.
My flight out of Albany was set for 7:43 a.m. Monday morning, and I couldn’t get into the AirBnb I was sharing with Jared Mueller of Dawgs By Nature and Jeremy Reisman of Pride of Detroit until 3 p.m. So, unless I wanted to pay for a hotel on Sunday night (I did not) I was pretty much locked in to hoping the storm did not mess up my flights — yes, flights because I had to make a connection — to Indianapolis.
I got lucky. There were media members from New York City, New Jersey, and Massachusetts who never made it to Indianapolis, or didn’t make it until later in the week, after being buried under two feet of snow or more. The Albany area had maybe three inches of snow Monday morning, and my flights both went smoothly.
That might be the first time since the Giants stopped holding training camp in Albany that living where I do gave me an advantage over all the media members who live much closer to the Giants East Rutherford, N.J. facility than I do.
Because I am a good grandpa I always try to bring something home from Indianapolis for my three grandkids. Last year, I bought shirts or sweatshirts. That was no problem since I had driven the 13 hours, had my car to visit a couple of souvenir stores, and didn’t have to worry about how to pack them for the trip home.
This year was different. With just a carry-on and a laptop bag, space was at a premium. So, my wife suggested keychains. If you don’t have school-aged kids or grandkids you might wonder why keychains? Kids don’t have keys. Kids, though, love to decorate their school book bags with keychains and other stuff. Perfect idea! Easy to find at the airport. Took up zero space.
Wives come in handy!
Why does this always happen on Day 1?
The first few years I covered the Combine I stayed in one of two Holiday Inn hotels that are right next to each other, and basically right next to Lucas Oil Stadium. The last two years I have stayed in a house with other SB Nation media members.
That has been fun, but it has also come with its challenges.
On arrival day last year, I wanted to walk to Kilroy’s Bar & Grill for dinner. Well, I was starting from an unfamiliar location and turned a 25-30-minute walk into an hour adventure, even using the lady in the phone (Tom Coughlin’s description) to “guide” me.
Same thing this year.
When you are in downtown Indianapolis for the Combine, the central point is West South St., with Lucas Oil Stadium on the south side and the Indiana Convention Center — where interviews are held and the media workroom is — on the north side. Everything navigates from there. All of the restaurants, hotels and bars are north of West South St.
Our place this year was just four-tenths of a mile from the Convention Center on the south side. Only directionally-impaired dummy that I am I walked about three-quarters of a mile south before I figured out I was going in the wrong direction trying to find some dinner.
Not that I want to be anti-social, but maybe next year I’ll just stay in the Holiday Inn so I know where I am.
Tuesday, Feb. 25: Cookies!!!!!!!
I must start this off by apologizing to Charlotte Carroll of The Athletic. Charlotte, I know I embarrassed you, but I couldn’t help myself. And this story is too good not to tell. It may be my all-time favorite Combine moment from the years I have done this.
Charlotte, who is from Chicago, had been visiting her mom before heading to Indy. She apparently had a deal with Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post, a notoriously picky eater, that she would bring him cookies baked by her mom. So, Charlotte and the cookies arrived in Indianapolis. Dunleavy, thanks to the weekend storm, did not.
So, Charlotte was carrying around a plastic container of cookies, peddling them to whoever would take one … or several.
After head coach John Harbaugh spoke at the podium, he did a private session with a few New York writers. At the end of that session, I said something like “Charlotte, don’t you have some cookies for Coach?” Harbaugh said “Cookies? I’d love some cookies.”
So, a very embarrassed Charlotte had to get Harbaugh cookies. And endure the teasing of her colleagues about trying to score brownie, or “cookie” points with the coach. My fault, Charlotte. For what it’s worth, a happy Harbaugh was munching away on the cookies when I headed upstairs to write.
Yes, work also got done
The day was not ALL about cookies.
There were podium and private New York media only sessions with Harbaugh and Joe Schoen where useful information was gleaned.
The best “work” moment of those private sessions for me came from an interaction with Schoen. He was questioned twice about star defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence, and was miffed, asking us why we were asking about Lawrence.
So, when I was able to get in a question I explained to him why, from our perspective, we wanted information on Lawrence. That was when Schoen admitted that he thought the elbow Lawrence dislocated late in the 2024 season bothered him during 2025.
Where is everybody?
Well, actually I know the answer to that. But, storytelling, people!
There is annually a massive line outside the Indiana Convention Center’s Sagamore Ballroom, which serves as the Combine media workroom, on Tuesday mornings to obtain the credential needed to move around the Convention Center during the week.
Not on this Tuesday, though. I sauntered right up to the table to get my credential, having to wait for just one other person instead of about 40.
Where was everybody? Stuck at home because of the weekend mega-storm that made it impossible for many media members from New York, New Jersey and other eastern states to get flights to Indianapolis.
Poor Dunleavy. He turned out to be the poster child for failing in a monumental effort to get to Indianapolis:
And, he missed out on the cookies!
Wednesday, Feb. 25: It’s a meat-a-palooza!
That is what Mueller calls eating dinner at the Brazilian steakhouse Fogo De Chao.
The Fogo dinner has become a tradition for SB Nation writers at the Combine, as well as some other friends of friends who tag along.
I have been to three of these Fogo dinners now, and this one was fairly tame. Maybe that is because draft analyst Jon Ledyard, who can eat more food than any in-shape man I have ever met, was seated at the next table and I did not have to watch him gorge himself.
Something I discovered during this dinner is that I was surrounded by a bunch of people (Aaron Schatz of ESPN, Khari Thompson of Windy City Gridiron, Doug Farrar of SB Nation and Athlon Sports) who know football in a way I can barely comprehend.
After Fogo, some of the gang was heading to an arcade. Not my speed, so I went for a walk before heading back to the house for some late-night work. I ended up at one of my favorite spots in the city — the Soldiers and Sailors Monument:
Ed Valentine
This was also an eventful day in the interview room. Chatted with potential future Giant linebacker Sonny Styles at 8 a.m. Snagged a few minutes 1-on-1 with Chris Simms. Chatted with NFL Media draft analyst Chad Reuter. Spent a few minutes talking with the great Greg Cosell. Whether he was telling me the truth or just trying to be nice, Cosell said he remembered the interview he did with me about the quarterback class at last year’s Combine.
Walking is a way of life in downtown Indianapolis. Everything is close enough to walk to. Only, the Indiana Convention Center is massive and by the time you have walked everywhere you have walked A LOT. I put 7.3 miles on my black, old man, Nike Air Monarchs on Wednesday. From Monday thru Thursday, I logged 22 miles of walking.
More on the Simms interview
Simms is well-known to be a Giants fan, which makes sense since his father is Phil Simms. A few years ago, I stood in a lengthy line of media members waiting my turn to get five to seven minutes of Simms’ time for a brief one-on-one interview.
When my chance came, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Simms both knew of Big Blue View and knew who I was — or at least made me believe he did.
Anyway, that chat was such fun that I now try to reprise it every time I attend the Combine. I missed Simms a year ago, but was happy to catch up this time. Maybe he is BS’ing me, but Simms always greets me like an old friend. If you missed our chat, get reading!
Simms, by the way, is hogging all the “credit” for starting the Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love to the Giants rumors.
Thursday, Feb. 26: A discovery, and an old friend of BBV
Remember when I said that on Monday I went walking in the wrong direction while heading out to get some dinner? Well, sometimes you discover cool things by accident. That is what happened here.
Maybe a half-mile down the street from the house we were in, going away from the stadium and all the things I was supposed to be in Indianapolis for, I found an old delicatessen that didn’t look like much. I was, though, curious. Those kinds of out of the way places that don’t look like anything can sometimes turn out to be SOMETHING.
That was the case with Shapiro’s Delicatessen.
Each day, media members who want it can get a breakfast of bagels, pastries, and muffins in the Convention Center’s media workroom. My flight was early enough on Friday that I wasn’t going there before leaving, so I needed to find some baked goods or pastries to wolf down before going to the airport.
Enter Shapiro’s. I meandered down there Thursday afternoon to see if they sold baked goods. I wasn’t optimistic when I had to go past two “exit only” doors before I could get into the place. I finally entered, though, and it was like stepping into a different world.
Shapiro’s is like time-warping your way into something from the 1940s that seems like two eateries — a pastry shop and a diner — in one. Because, well, if you read the history of the place that is exactly what it is. An awesome selection of pastries and muffins, including Greek specialty items, on one side. A dining hall-style restaurant and deli on the other.
I bought my pastries and went back two hours later for dinner, where I discovered that when you at Shapiro’s you EAT AT SHAPIRO’S. Massive portions bigger than most humans should be able to eat, plentiful sides, tantalizing pie slices forcing you to buy them because they are at the front of the line when you still have an appetite. That’s called product placement, and it worked on me.
I will go back the next time I’m at the Combine.
Lunch with an old friend
Yes, a lot of this post seems to be about food.
Thursday, I skipped out on the media workroom free boxed lunch containing some sort of mysterious sandwich I had never seen before and had lunch with former Big Blue View contributor Joe DeLeone.
I always enjoy seeing contributors come through BBV and then go on to build successful media careers of their own. I hope I have helped them in some small way. DeLeone is now a well-regarded draft analyst for A to Z Sports, co-hosts the Ruffino & Joe Show college football podcast, and has a few other irons in the fire. He is on his way to a successful career.
Good job, Joe! It was nice to catch up.
Friday, Feb. 27: Home, sweet home!
Travel day. No trek to the Indiana Convention Center for media scrums with draft prospects. Off to the Indianapolis Airport for me.
I have two questions.
Why does dirty laundry take up more space than clean clothes?
Even packed and rolled up as tightly as possible in a mesh bag, the dirty stuff was harder to jam into my carry-on than it was when it was clean. Of course, maybe this is because before I left for Indy my wife took one look at how I packed for the trip, took everything out and re-packed it. Magically, it fit better.
Again, wives can come in handy!
Why is travel day always the best weather day in Indianapolis?
This never fails. Every time I come to the Combine, the best weather and warmest day comes on the day I leave. The temperature was in the teens when I got here on Monday afternoon. As I left on Friday morning, it was a beautiful, sunny day with high temperatures expected to be in the low 60s.
C’mon, man!
Now that I am home, here is a debate that I am having with myself. Was it actually worth it to fly rather than drive the 790 miles?
It is a 13-hour drive from Albany to Indianapolis. While I have done it alone twice, I am not getting any younger. Here is the thing, though. From the time I left the house Monday morning until I got to Indianapolis was more than eight hours. Returning home, it was 10 hours. All of that for two hours of time in the air each way.
I keep thinking I would rather just drive than deal with all the airport hassle and sitting in a crammed airplane that makes my knees and my back hurt. Plus, driving saves a few bucks.
One more thing
Indianapolis is not a pretty city. It is a gritty, grimy former industrial city where trains still chug through on a regular basis. It is a city that is now built around hosting sporting events, with hotels, the Convention Center, and the stadium all inter-connected.
Walk around, and amongst the skyscrapers, sports arenas, and historic restaurants you see a fair share of run down structures, worn-out roads, and crumbling concrete. Homeless people, too.
The city is trying to rebuild its roads and its crumbling architecture. Every year I have been there, new buildings are going up and construction is occurring on the roads, bridge supports, and more. I applaud the effort.
This year, though, was ridiculous. Entire city blocks, including South Capitol Ave. right next to the Convention Center, were impassable to automobiles, and other spots that are — barely — passable for pedestrians in the dark. The sidewalks in many places are inaccessible, forcing the many walkers moving about the city to find another way or walk in the road.
In the end the inconvenience will probably be worth it. I certainly hope so.
Well, that’s it for this year’s adventure. Until next time … if there is a next time.
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