Chewy

The draft is looming but at least one element of it is lame...

Speed. So I was perusing the NFL Combine the other day during the 40-yard dash and I started wondering. The obsession with 40 times is evident, but should that be the case? Let's take a look at some numbers comparing 5 running backs and linebackers.

RB
Ladainian Tomlinson - 4.54
Larry Johnson - 4.56
Frank Gore - 4.66
Reggie Bush - 4.33
Steven Jackson - 4.45

LB
Ray Lewis - 4.8
Brian Urlacher - 4.62
Shawne Merriman - 4.61
Lavar Arrington - 4.55
Derrick Brooks - 4.56

Well I was hoping for less parity but I suppose I can roll with this for now. The difference between the fastest time (Bush) and the slowest time (Ray ray) is .47 seconds. Putting this into a ratio I can work with - that means Reggie is 11% faster than MurderInc. For sake of numbers I'll say 10% faster.

Where am I going with this?

Well a football field is 53 yards wide. A race to the sideline on a handoff - call it a sweep - means Reggie has at most 3 yards to turn up field (10% of 26 yards). That's about the only play that can maximize the speed advantage by ignoring everyone else on the field. Well I suppose a reverse would yield a 6 yard advantage to turn up field with the speed difference but there is a bigger thought in play here.

Speed in the NFL does not matter. Everyone is fast. Taking one player over the other because of a 4.3 vs a 4.5 is terrible logic. Just off the top of my head I can think of several much, much more important means to generate space in the NFL than speed - blocking, juking, route running, timing of delivery - all of those have infinitely more space generating potential than speed. If you hear on draft day Mel Kiper or anyone else say, "well it just came down to speed," then be very disappointed because that means your team didn't do a good enough job finding differences in the numerous other more important factors.

quick Sweet...

I'll take a moment on this note to recognize the human joystick recently acquired by the Rams. Behold. I hate how that video reminds me this was all in 2003. I don't really care though, the excitement potential is more palpable than the actual impact he'll probably have. In case you were wondering, he ran a ... well I can't even find it. It's irrelevant anyway.

PS - I chose the chicken dance over the more inappropriate DMX track. Even though I showed discretion here, know that I'll be listening to DMX before kick on September 9th.

back to lame...

The drought will continue. Well I had to get this post out before the draft this Saturday so that my reader can see how obsessed the draft is with speed. But the drought unfortunately will go on.