For all the hype surrounding Andrew Luck‘s throwing session at Stanford’s pro day on Thursday, NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock said such workouts are not actually that important in terms of determining a prospect’s ability to succeed in the NFL.

One general manager, Mayock said, told him that pro days are “just gravy.”

Mayock said that teams want to “see (a prospect) touch it, feel it, smell it. Just make sure everything cross-checks. … You shake his hand, you look at the kid.”

Mayock recalled one-time top QB prospect JaMarcus Russell, who Mayock said had an exceptional pro-day workout but went on to flame out with the Raiders after being the No. 1 overall pick in the 2007 NFL Draft.

NFL Network’s Paul Burmeister added that sometimes a prospect’s issues can be revealed at a pro day. He reminded Mayock that he saw signs of trouble for Brady Quinn, another one-time top prospect who has not seen much success in the NFL, in the tape of his pro day.

But Mayock reaffirmed that the main objective of scouts and GMs is to make sure they “understand (a prospect) is a football player,” regardless of how they perform in gym shorts.

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