NFL Combine highlights the failures of the Billy Napier Era at Florida

It’s NFL Combine Week, and Florida is going to be well represented in Indianapolis with nine players invited to showcase their talents. Florida is tied for the 8th most players at the Combine, and it’s the second year in a row Florida has been in the top ten for players invited.

In one breath, it’s a reminder of the talent Florida had on its roster over the past few years. It’s also a reminder of what a failure the Billy Napier Era was despite all of that talent.

Florida sends nine players to Indianapolis for NFL Combine

It’s actually a minor miracle that Florida is sending nine players to the NFL Combine following a 4-8 campaign. Seven of the top ten teams in terms of players to the Combine made the playoffs in 2025, and Florida is the only team within the top ten to miss out on a bowl game.

It speaks to what we had said all along during the Billy Napier Era, that Florida had talent on its roster, but consistently looked like a poorly coached JV squad that hadn’t practiced all week. There are some caveats to Florida’s Combine list relative to their season, such as Caleb Banks missing the bulk of 2025, but those caveats alone don’t explain why Florida was 4-8 this year.

Because if we rewind to the 2024 season, when Florida was 4-5 at one point before winning four straight games, two of which were against diapidated FSU and Tulane squads, the Gators had 18 players who have gone to the Combine between the past two seasons.

In other words, Napier basically had a starting lineup of guys who all made Combine appearances and still couldn’t win.

It also speaks truth that Napier didn’t leave behind a bare cupboard for Jon Sumrall, who may not have landed a ton of “elite” talent out of the transfer portal but should have more than enough to work with in 2026 to be far better than 4-8.

The 2026 NFL Combine will start on-field workouts this Thursday and will continue through Sunday.