“It’s not how fast a player is going forward, it’s how fast they can stop, change direction, and create space.”  Keyshawn Johnson

 

And how fast he can change direction without stopping. That is the purpose of  the three-cone drill.

 

How fast a player moves forward matters if he is in a foot race to the end zone, but not on all routes.

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What is the purpose of running more than 10 yards at the combine knowing they will never do that in a game?

 

That wasn't the question I addressed. You said that if they're slow at the 40, then they're slow elsewhere. I disagree. 

 

Also, DL (more than OL) will run 20 +/- yards all the time. Since you're a stickler about literal comments, OL and DL will occasionally run great distances in an effort to keep up with someone else. You can't say they won't ever run those distances. 

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That wasn't the question I addressed. You said that if they're slow at the 40, then they're slow elsewhere. I disagree. 

 

Also, DL (more than OL) will run 20 +/- yards all the time. Since you're a stickler about literal comments, OL and DL will occasionally run great distances in an effort to keep up with someone else. You can't say they won't ever run those distances. 

 

OK so maybe the 20-yard dash would be useful for them. But they should do it while wearing uniforms including pads, helmets, and cleats on the turf with the roof open if that would make their time closer to game speed.

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OK so maybe the 20-yard dash would be useful for them. But they should do it while wearing uniforms including pads, helmets, and cleats on the turf with the roof open if that would make their time closer to game speed.

 

What's your point?

 

If you want to get technical, none of the drills are applicable since they aren't in-game. We use them to form a comparison against players we know to be successful. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. 

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I just run a biopsy for fast twitch muscle fibers.

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I know other methods of timing a player would be impractical, but if the NFL could do something better than what they do now, we would not think the 40-yard dash is overrated.

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The 40 is more of a media darling than it is anything of value scouting wise.  There are certain things you can take from it but it is an extremely minor piece in the scouting process.  It can confirm or deny a few things but again is only a minute piece of the overall puzzle.

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Scouts like to see the forty time because it helps them rank players by athleticism. They already know what speed to expect for a defensive tackle, etc. What they look for in the forty is anaerobic power, the ability to go from dead stop to all-out performance.

 

http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/wingate-test.html

 

Most are now claiming that they only count the first ten or twenty yards of the dash. They draft a guy for his ten or twenty split, but seems to me there's a lot of moaning by coaches about players not being able to finish. Maybe focusing on split times isn't such good idea after all?

 

an·aer·o·bic power (an'ār-ō'bik pow'ĕr)

Maximal power (work per unit time) developed during all-out, short-term physical effort; reflects energy-output capacity of intramuscular high-energy phosphates (ATP and PCr) and/or anaerobic glycolysis. http://medical-dictionary.thefreediction...obic+power

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First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. - Mahatma Gandhi

 

http://s6.postimg.org/vyr2ycdfz/Teddy_Br...cked_4.gif

What in the world are you talking about?

My thoughts as well haha

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Shock the world

It's like everything else that is a player-generic evaluation at the Combine. It gives everyone a baseline, neutral environment where they can be judged against their peers.

 

Consider a DE that a scout has seen tape on. In his tape, he looks slow but he is in on tackles. Now consider a RB whose speed always pops out on tape, but he consistently gets tackled by Defensive Linemen. Now that the two of them are placed into a neutral environment, we can see how their speed and acceleration match up. Did one or the other use perfect sprinter form to gain his speed? Was there a stance issue? Was there good quickness, but poor overall speed? Did the player begin to fade through the latter half of the run?

 

With this type of a critical, analytical look at a player we can get just a little bit better picture of his athletic ability.

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I'm trying to make myself more informed and less opinionated.

Stop saying whatever stupid thing you're talking about and pay attention to all the interesting things I have to say!

It's like everything else that is a player-generic evaluation at the Combine. It gives everyone a baseline, neutral environment where they can be judged against their peers.

 

Consider a DE that a scout has seen tape on. In his tape, he looks slow but he is in on tackles. Now consider a RB whose speed always pops out on tape, but he consistently gets tackled by Defensive Linemen. Now that the two of them are placed into a neutral environment, we can see how their speed and acceleration match up. Did one or the other use perfect sprinter form to gain his speed? Was there a stance issue? Was there good quickness, but poor overall speed? Did the player begin to fade through the latter half of the run?

 

With this type of a critical, analytical look at a player we can get just a little bit better picture of his athletic ability.

 

If that is what they care about, why does the media always sound like the most important thing is the stopwatch?

 

If smaller objects move faster than bigger objects, I would expect the defensive end to run much slower than the running back.

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A 40 time is just an addendum to a player's film. Case in point: Jarvis Jones. Sure, the production was there but he had a lot of sacks where he was schemed as a free rusher or a cleanup sack and showed lack of burst off the edge; indicative of lack of speed and his slow 40 time confirmed it. For a receiver who runs past DBs against poor competition and has a poor 40 time would not project well at the NFL level for that reason

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