The NFL scouting events that helped unearth future Pro Bowl selections in Minnesota wide receiver Adam Thielen and Los Angeles Rams specialists Johnny Hekker and Greg Zuerlein are being shelved.

The regional combines held annually for the past six years won’t be taking place in 2018, Sporting News has learned.

The specific reasons for the cancellation weren’t immediately known, but the cancellation was announced on a league website. An NFL spokesman has declined numerous Sporting News requests for comment dating to last month, when word began circulating in the agent community about the regional combines' demise.

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The program began in 2012 as an avenue for NFL teams to better scout small-school players and others who weren’t invited to the bigger NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. There were 28 players from regional combines on NFL rosters at the conclusion of the 2016 season.

Overall, the program had produced 98 players between 2012 and 2016. The NFL hasn’t announced updated numbers following the 2017 campaign. Thielen, Hekker and Zeurlein are the biggest success stories.

Thielen, who played at Minnesota State, was signed in 2013 as a college free agent by the Minnesota Vikings after catching the club’s attention at one of multiple regional combines held across the U.S. Thielen evolved from being used primarily as a special-teams ace to becoming the team’s top wide receiver, catching 91 passes for 1,276 yards and four touchdowns this season.

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Hekker (Oregon State) and Zuerlein (Missouri Western) signed with the Rams in 2012 and are considered near the top of NFL’s class of punters and kickers respectively. There will be about 330 participants at the NFL Scouting Combine that will again take place in late February.

With the regional combines canceled, teams interested in small-school talent that isn’t headed to Indianapolis must now find other ways to pursue pre-draft workouts.

Alex Marvez can be heard from 8 to 11 p.m. ET Friday on SiriusXM NFL Radio.