INDIANAPOLIS – The primary goal of the NFL Scouting Combine, which begins this week, is to glean information about players expected to be drafted in April.

But no one hits the “delete” key on those files when the draft ends. The information gathered in the scouting process, which includes the combine, is used as long as the player is a player.

For instance, one reason the Cardinals felt comfortable in trading for quarterback Kevin Kolb last summer is that he made a positive impression on them during an interview at the 2007 combine.

Coaches have spent the past few weeks evaluating free agents, and part of that is looking back at reports written in the months before they were drafted.

“Let’s say you’re a position coach, coaching the tight ends,” Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt said. “You’re doing an intensive evaluation of all those guys. You interview them, you talk to them, you have a very good feel for them.

“That’s why it’s so important that you do these reports and they’re in the system, so you can come back and look at them as a reference when those guys come into free agency. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone back to look at a report on a guy, just to double check.”

The combine, which begins today and runs through Tuesday, is a critical component in player evaluation, but it’s only one part.

For some players, such as the top two quarterbacks in this draft, Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III, this week won’t be a huge deal.

Both are intelligent and will be impressive in interviews. Neither is expected to throw at the combine, preferring to wait until private workouts next month.

“Most of the agents are still able to convince the top level quarterbacks, why should you throw the football to receivers you don’t know, who might breaking it off at 8 (yards) instead of 10,” said Mike Mayock, an NFL analyst. “Sleep in your own bed. Be comfortable. Throw to your wide receivers in a scripted workout.”

For other players, a positive performance here is vital, both on the field and in interviews.

That’s probably the case for Arizona State linebacker Vontaze Burfict. He not only will be scrutinized for his behavior off the field, but also for the lack of productivity on it.

Red flags and question marks fill the columns beside his name, and Burfict should expect to face difficult questions.

A handful of analysts, including Mayock, recently have dropped Burfict in their evaluations. NFL scouts, however, likely beat them to it. They saw last fall what Mayock saw when he watched tape of Burfict recently.

“I said, ‘Forget the penalties and all that stuff that surrounds him: What kind of football player is he?’ ” Mayock said. “And I came away unimpressed.

“For a big, strong guy, he’s nowhere near as good at the point of attack as I thought he would be. So that’s even before you factor in all the other elements.”

Burfict has not been available in recent weeks for an interview. Neither has former Arizona State quarterback Brock Osweiler, who also left school before his eligibility expired.

Osweiler has been training at Athletes Performance in Phoenix to prepare for the combine.

The Cardinals probably won’t be in the market for a quarterback, at least not early in the draft. Kolb (28), John Skelton (24) and Rich Bartel (29) all will be under 30 when the season starts.

Even if the Cardinals pull off the improbable and replace Kolb with Peyton Manning, they would still have two young backups.

The Cardinals’ most pressing need is along the offensive line, where they might have to replace their two tackles, Levi Brown and Brandon Keith. They also would like to increase competition at right guard.

The Cardinals haven’t drafted an offensive lineman above the fifth round since 2007 and haven’t drafted one at all since 2009.

Mayock thinks this draft is deep in centers and guards. There are also good tackles, just fewer of them, he said.

“I think for the first three rounds, you can get a lot of quality at center or either guard,” he said.

Indianapolis again will be the epicenter of NFL news this week as the annual scouting combine begins.

The city is just recovering from hosting its first Super Bowl, but I’m guessing the hangover was minimal because folks there know how to handle their big events.

I’ll be there from Wednesday through Sunday. I’m especially looking forward to this combine because there are more local stories than usual.

The Cardinals and their needs will be a primary focus. They have the 13th overall pick. But there are more local college products in attendance than usual, including quarterback Brock Osweiler, linebacker Vontaze Burfict and receiver Gerell Robinson from ASU.

The University of Arizona has two notable attendees in quarterback Nick Foles and receiver Juron Criner.

I’ll try to bring you all the information I can on those players and as many others as I can.

It’s been incredible to watch the increased media attention given the combine over the years. I first covered one in the early 1990s, when only a handful of reporters attended. We lurked in a hotel lobby all day, hoping to grab the players and coaches we needed.

Now, there are hundreds of reporters and the event is almost dignified. Coaches and general managers meet with reporters at assigned times from Thursday through Sunday. Players are made available according to position, but their schedules often are changed because of medical exams and other nuisances.

Tentatively, Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt and GM Rod Graves are scheduled to meet with media on Thursday.

This is the schedule for players:

Thursday – Offensive linemen, kickers, punters, long snappers, tight ends.

Friday – Quarterbacks, running backs, receivers.

Saturday – Defensive linemen, linebackers

Sunday – Defensive backs.

Those watching on television will know about the workouts than the reporters inside the building. With the exception of a limited Sunday session, we are not allowed to watch the actual workouts. That’s not such a bad deal, because the days are full of interviews with players, coaches and GMs. It would be tough to do both, and given the choice, I’ll take the interviews. We get the results of the combine drills later, anyway.

I’ll be blogging, tweeting and writing (yes, actually writing!) through the week. Follow me here and on twitter @kentsomers. If I make mistakes, I’m blaming them on the new Iphone 4s given to me by The Arizona Republic. It should eventually me do my job better. I like it better than I did a week ago. For now, though, it’s occasionally a *&^%^*%$ piece of #$%@!# piece of &$#@!. And that’s all I have to say about that.

In addition, the team is hosting three live video chats with team officials at the combine. All will be at Tom’s Tavern in downtown Phoenix (2 N. Central). The chats on Friday and Saturday will start at 5:30 p.m.. Saturday’s chat will be 10 a.m. All three will last 45 minutes.

Those participating from the combine include: Whisenhunt, Graves, team president Michael Bidwill, personnel director Steve Keim, scouts Malik Boyd, Dru Grigson and Chris Culmer. Quentin Harris, assistant director of pro personnel, will be at Tom’s Tavern on Thursday and Friday. Fomer Cardinals receiver Frank Sanders will be there on Thursday, and former safety Kwamie Lassiter on Friday.

All chats are free and open on first-come basis. it’s the first time the team has done something like this from the combine, at least that I know of.

Why Tom’s Tavern, you ask? I’m guessing it’s because the Bidwills own it.

Cardinals GM Rod Graves didn’t break new ground on Thursday with assurances defensive end Calais Campbell will be with the team in 2012. But he might have at least calmed the nerves of fans who were fearful.

Graves didn’t come out and use the words “franchise tag” when talking with KTAR Thursday about Campbell. (According to Darren Urban of azcardinals.com. I didn’t hear it.) But he didn’t have to. The only the way the Cardinals can guarantee hanging on to Campbell without reaching a long-term deal is to use the franchise or transition tag on Campbell.

Under the new CBA, the franchise tag is considerably cheaper than in previous years. Campbell’s figure will be around $10 million, around $4 million or so less than it would have been in previous seasons.

That’s a nice chunk of money but consider: LB Karlos Dansby’s franchise tag in four years ago was $8 million. Three years ago, it was $9.7 million. The Cardinals paid him nearly $18 million in guaranteed money for two seasons.

Dansby should take some blame, too, for not getting a long-term deal done. The Cardinals thought they were close to an agreement on more than one occasion. At one point, they thought they had reached agreement in principle only to have Dansby change agents.

Even though the franchise tag doesn’t carry as heavy a cap impact as in previous years, this is a road the Cardinals don’t want to travel again. At least they shouldn’t want to. They tried for more than two years to reach a deal with Dansby, finally giving up in 2010 when they didn’t use the franchise tag a third consecutive time.

It makes sense to get a long-term deal done with Campbell, and the size of that contract will be hefty. While the salary cap stays roughly the same this year, it will increase substantially in future seasons as new television money kicks in. Campbell is only 25, but this could be the only huge contract of his career. His agent, Ben Dogra, will make it count.

The amount the Cardinals pay Campbell now in a long-term deal will seem like a lot. Heck, it will be a lot. But in two or three years, if Campbell continues to play as he did in 2011, it won’t be unreasonable. The cap is going to increase dramatically. Someone is going to have to be paid. It might as well be a 25-year-old defensive end who’s done everything anyone could ask in his first four seasons.

Campbell had eight sacks, 11 passes defensed and blocked three field goals a year ago. And he hasn’t reached his full potential. He has never complained about playing under his rookie deal, which paid him roughly $3. 5 million over four years.

That’s why it’s important to make good draft picks: those guys are bargains.