Gillette’s ‘Pressure Points’ Provides Sweet Relief For NFL Obsessives

There are few things more nerve-wracking for a NFL prospect than the NFL Combine, the nearly week-long job interview for college football players vying for a spot on a NFL roster. Held in Indianapolis, Indiana every year since 1987, college players go through a series of high-pressure physical tests to help scouts determine when they should be selected in May’s NFL Draft.

Once an afterthought amongst NFL fans, the Combine has been turned into a full-blown event by the NFL Network, which airs over 60 hours of live coverage. It provides a rare bit of relief from football withdrawal for NFL obsessives during the off-season. But when with the Combine not until February 20th, every day hurts. What do you do then?

Gillette is here to help with a video series called, “Pressure Points: The Evolution of a NFL Draft Pick,” that gives an inside look at players before the Combine. Focused around three prospects — potential first pick Jadeveon Clowney, top-ranked tight end Eric Ebron, and former Georgia star quarterback Aaron Murray, who is recovering from an ACL injury — “Pressure Points” shows how each player trains for what P&G describes as “the most challenging job interview of their lives.”

The series was produced in conjunction with NFL Films and NFL.com, quite possibly the best football production company and distribution platforms on earth. Check out the trailer below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2yeZY23EvM

Although the first episode was little more than an introduction to the players and the intensive training regimens that they will be put through, interviews with the players and the training staff provide a strong groundwork for the rest of the series. The trainers showed what the players what they’ll be enduring, explained the processes behind how and why they train, and stressed the importance of maintaining a strict diet during this process — well, except for Sunday, which Aaron Murray described as “eat what we want” day.

With most of the sports media world focused on some important event in Russia, most NFL fans are desperate for content. The Super Bowl — which was far less exciting than most fans were hoping — ended over two weeks ago, and football has been stuck in a lull. For fans salivating at the mouth for something to read or watch, Gillette’s video series could not have arrived at a better time. Where else can an NFL fan find exclusive video content of one of the best defensive prospects in the last ten years preparing for the Combine? How many NFL media outlets are producing content around the Combine that doesn’t include questions about a player’s sexuality or a controversial quarterback called Johnny Football.

Right now, Gillette is thinking like a newsroom, not a brand, hitting exactly the right mark.

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