By STEVE HERMAN
AP Sports Writer

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Workouts in the NFL scouting combine might reinforce the already impressive credentials of some players.

Others could view the sessions as a final chance to boost their stock in the draft.

And for some, the series of assembly-line drills and interviews present a big risk if something goes wrong. A bad case of jitters, a head cold, a slow time in the 40-yard dash, could cost them precious draft spots and a whole lot of money.

The teams know this.

"The only thing we're trying to look at is the competitive nature of the individual," St. Louis Rams coach Mike Martz said Thursday. "There are varying degrees of competitiveness and what's important to guys, and we're really trying to identify how much fire the guy's got in the furnace."

More than 300 top college players are in Indianapolis this week for interviews with the 32 NFL teams, along with physical and psychological tests and running and lifting drills.

Often, many of the players projected high in the draft would, understandably, rather wait for private workouts.

That's just the nature of the system, Martz said.

"I don't know how you could hold that against anybody," he said. "A lot of these young guys do what their agents tell them to do. Sometimes they're ill-advised on some things, but you can't blame them."

Penn State running back Larry Johnson, a Heisman Trophy finalist who led Division I-A with 2,087 yards rushing, was one of the players who would have preferred not being here.

"I decided not to do anything until March 20, but they're working on me to do at least something, so who knows what will happen?" Johnson said. "I know what I'm capable of doing, and I depend on that and what I did in the season to get me through."

Others, like Arizona State defensive lineman Terrell Suggs, a first-team All-American who is among 45 early entry draft candidates, welcome the opportunity.

"I'm just trying to work hard and get these GMs to want me in the draft," Suggs said.

New Detroit Lions coach Steve Mariucci said teams come into the weeklong combine with a general idea of their needs. But it's still a chance for meticulous evaluation.

"The first handful of picks can be fairly predictable," Mariucci said.

But after that, things change.

"You've got to evaluate the entire group of corners or the entire group of receivers or whatever that is," Mariucci said. "So you might know what position you need but not necessarily who that guy's going to be."

The NFL streamlined the combine's often-haphazard team interviews with players this year. In the past, players were grabbed in hallways and hustled into possibly make-or-break Q-and-A sessions.

Now teams can schedule interviews.

"I heard it was pretty rough a couple years back, but I think it's going pretty smooth," said defensive end Jamaal Green of Miami. "It's pretty well organized. I like it."

Tennessee Titans coach Jeff Fisher also likes the new system.

"It looks as if things are going good," Fisher said. "It takes a little longer, but we have equal opportunity to get players, and it doesn't put as much pressure on the players."

Johnson called it a funny process.

"You have to go into it with a smile," he said. "If you don't, they notice that you don't really want to be here.

"Some guys, you can see on their faces they're getting annoyed with being pulled and touched. Me, I get pulled and touched, I kind of laugh.

"It is funny. You go to one room and do the same thing, go to another room and do the same thing with different people."

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