It is the most-often talked about activity at the NFL Scouting Combine, but many people forget running on a flat floor in a straight line without pads and a helmet does not tell scouts how fast they run around players on real grass in bad weather while wearing 15 pounds of protection. Why do people care so much about that time?

 

I read about an example of a player's offical time being much faster than his normal rate. Guard Adham Talaat's official time is 4.85, but his current college coach said he consistently runs "4.9-5." A few NFL teams including the Chargers are looking at him, so apparently it is not too slow for an offensive lineman. Talaat said in an email that he dropped from 312 IIRC to 275 to increase speed. That leads to another question: Why aren't all big players slow?

 

Now I know you can't make assumptions based on one Division 3 player most people had never heard of, but if it can happen to him certainly it can happen to somebody else. The fact that any NFL teams went to Galludet University to see Talaat means speed may not be a major issue for offensive linemen and their weight is overrated as well. So is the 40-yard dash less important than most people think?

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