The NFL's hundreds of scouts have gathered in Indy this week, and it's one of the more hectic of the year for them. There's a lot going on behind the scenes, and 49ers scout Ethan Waugh gives a pretty darned good behind-the-scenes look at the Combine process, from scouting and evaluating down to hanging team banners and checking heights and weights.

Speaking of the 49ers, I just got off the phone with former 49ers head coach George Seifert, and I asked him about his memories of the early Combines and how the process changed over the years. Here's what he said:

"As I remember, when I was a coach with San Francisco, getting together with Seattle and the Raiders and going to the first one I recall ... basically, a group of clubs would get together and share the costs. That's how I remember it starting (to host the event). And then from there the league kind of spread their wings over the whole deal.

"But from what I remember, as an assistant coach, you'd go out on the road for a couple of weeks, go to different colleges, sometimes longer than that, and you'd just scout players, watch them work out. We'd try to help that process, but eventually the clubs got together to get everyone together in the same place to make it (easier).

"Well, they have it on television now. I have a couple of buddies still working in the league, and they have their computers and start evaluating players on that, and it has become a sport within a sport." 

Nowadays, Seifert is an accomplished hunter and fisherman who is "retired" from the NFL. He said he misses the competition but that he wouldn't trade his football days or his hunting days for anything. As for whether he'd be interested in returning to the league in some form, Seifert said, "I'll try to stay away from this topic."