![]() 157 of the 203 players are as fast or slower than they were in high school, according to their claimed 40 times.The hours-long investigation compared the 40-yard dash times given to high school recruiting sites by 203 players with the 40-yard dash times recorded by those same athletes at the NFL Combine. It certainly makes sense, as there are millions and millions of dollars to be won or lost with a strong or slow time in Indianapolis.An in-depth SB Nation investigation has uncovered a conspiracy between major college coaches to make football players slower. Same goes for running a heavy 40 too slow, and that first-round grade you thought you had before the combine can be in free fall.Īthletes now spend hours and hours before the combine training to run a fast 40-yard dash. This growing attention to speed in the game has continued to inflate what the numbers actually mean.īy running a fast 40-yard dash time, a player can skyrocket his draft stock from the middle rounds to the first round. Players like Michael Vick, Robert Griffin III and Colin Kaepernick can create nightmares for opposing defenses by using their legs as a secondary form of offensive weaponry, and more and more teams are starting to value that asset in a quarterback.Īnd to combat faster offenses, defenses now need defensive ends, linebackers and safeties who can run too. The field is now littered with fast, explosive receivers and tight ends who are able to move as well as (if not better than, in some cases) most receivers.Įven the quarterback position-once thought to be reserved for slow, pocket passers-is depending more and more on speed. The game is more open, allowing for the faster to thrive.Īs cornerbacks have gotten faster, so have receivers. No longer can defensive backs put their hands on receivers after five yards, which makes it more difficult for slower corners to cover large portions of the field. Over a 10-yard interval, how fast is a defensive end going to get upfield?Ĭan this tight end expose the seam of a defense with speed?Ī vertical, more modern game has continued to increase the importance of pure speed. How long will it take a big middle linebacker to cover sideline to sideline? How fast can a pulling offensive guard get to the corner? But slowly, the importance of speed has grown to all positions. Cornerbacks, wide receivers and running backs have always needed to be faster than the rest, and they therefore originally saw the most pressure to perform well in the event. Timing a player in that interval would have allowed Brown to find the fastest players to cover on special teams.Īt one time, the 40-yard dash was only important to certain positions. This makes sense, as a traditional punt can be expected to travel anywhere from 40 to 50 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. However, the origins of the prestigious event are somewhat cloudy.Īccording to Rich Eisen of the NFL Network ( via the Patriots' official blog), the 40-yard dash came about when former Cleveland Browns head coach Paul Brown wanted his fastest players to cover punts. ![]() Speed is a valuable commodity in the modern game of football, and few tests are better at separating the slow from the fast. ![]() In 2013, one could realistically argue that no other event at the combine is given more importance to an individual player's draft stock than the 40-yard dash. ![]()
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