40 Yard Dash

[sportsfan23]

IMO, the 40 yard dash is extremely overrated. It gives a good overall look at a persons speed. Some people run really good without pads, but when they get on a football field there not all that fast, and some people just have football speed. What does everyone else think?

[Crock1615]

how often does a player run in a straight line for 40 yards in a football game?

speed is important. but so is reaction, acceleration, agility, etc.

 

i have seen a lot of guys that never timed better than a 4.7 that were almost untouchable in a game. I have also seen guys that ran a "4.5" that looked slow in pads.

[unakafan07]

IMO, the 40 yard dash is extremely overrated. It gives a good overall look at a persons speed. Some people run really good without pads, but when they get on a football field there not all that fast, and some people just have football speed. What does everyone else think?

 

Here is a good read straight from the olympic commitee on the 40 yd dash.. I found this trying to find some info to dispute those "i know someone that knows someone that ran a 4.10... "

 

here is a quick quote from near the bottom..

 

Veteran La Jolla-based agent Jack Bechta says Ron Wolf, the former general manager for the Green Bay Packers, explained it best to him once.

 

"He told me that there are guys who are fast but play slow, and that there are guys who are slow but play fast," Bechta says. "He told me that, sure, there are exceptions, but you can't have a team full of exceptions. Their thinking is, you can't take a good football player and make him fast, but you can take a great athlete and make him a good football player.

 

"You need a baseline, a common denominator, and that's what 40 times are. They are like minimum qualifying standards."

 

 

 

http://www.olympic-usa.org/11611_32384.htm

Edited October 7, 2006 by unakafan07

[StorkMontgomery]

It is a measurement used by each college when recruiting kids. Regardless of opinion it is the busiest station at the combines. If a kid runs a 4.42 (there are no 4.3's) everybody at the combine knows it. You can’t teach speed. You can teach them to block, you can teach them to tackle but you can’t teach speed. It rules all.

 

 

You can think what you want. I like the one on one station for lineman at the combines myself. Thanks www.storkmontgomery.com

[lazarus]

"how often does a player run in a straight line for 40 yards in a football game?"

 

not all that often...

 

but, if you think about it,

when a player does run in a straight line for 40 yards,

it is generally a VERY important play.

[War Eagles]

The 40 yard dash is not overrated bc all colleges look at that during a player's recruiting process.

[bhsOL]

It is a measurement used by each college when recruiting kids. Regardless of opinion it is the busiest station at the combines. If a kid runs a 4.42 (there are no 4.3's) everybody at the combine knows it. You can’t teach speed. You can teach them to block, you can teach them to tackle but you can’t teach speed. It rules all.

You can think what you want. I like the one on one station for lineman at the combines myself. Thanks www.storkmontgomery.com

I disagree....you can teach speed to an extent. When I played football at MTSU we had speed schools. Most people don't know how to run with proper form. Coaches can teach players how to run with better form, which will slightly increase their speed. I know this because I shaved about 2 10th's off my 40 time fairly quickly when I was playing. Speed is given to you by God, but coaches can perfect it a little.

[StorkMontgomery]

I do not disagree the key word is "slight". I have done highlight videos on several different players in Rutherford County. Gleen McKnight who played back in the Day O was and is the fastest I have seen to date. Gaston ran the best in the open field. Marsalous is the best in take off his second step is what makes him deadly. Charles Orona did things with the football on Friday night that only he can do. It’s kind of like watching Larry Daniels. Larry and Charles have that same feature they can lock it up and take off again. It doesn’t matter. The 40 yard dash rules all with schools that have rings on their fingers and trophies in their cases. If coaches could teach that much speed difference they would be rich. God issues out who gets speed we do agree on that.

Edited October 11, 2006 by StorkMontgomery

[mikey65]

Yeah it's overated. If you're slow that is.

Edited October 11, 2006 by mikey65

[allsports#1]

The 40 yard dash is overrated. For example, Brandon Warren was timed at a 4.81 according to rivals. But if you read the article that interviewed the FSU coaches a few weeks ago they said flat out he has the speed to play reciever at FSU. They were even considering moving him to reciever after seeing his speed.

[Footballfan15]

Overated if not done digitally.

[KnightTime05]

Overated if not done digitally.

I agree