The NFL put together a veteran's combine this weekend where the likes of Michael Sam, Felix Jones and Mike Golic Junior ran through a bunch of agility drills with the hope they could catch the attention of a scout. I believe the NFL network broadcast the entire thing which is great since it probably still drew better than hockey or baseball but I think that this experiment might very well be a one-and-done thing because it seemed that the reason these were all ex-NFL players was pretty obvious....they had all gotten fat..
Looking over the 40 times of a bunch of running backs, I saw that Mikel Leshoure turned into Michael Bush and Michael Bush turned into Michael Moore because these guys who were once world-class athletes were starting to get into Rich Eisen territory..
the saddest time was that of Felix Jones who clocked in on with a sun-dial time of 4.8 which basically proved that he went from Felix the Cat to Garfield.
Deadspin says there was even some load who clocked in at 6 seconds.. you could eat a lasagna in less time than that..
anyway, maybe the NFL can expand the rosters to 60 spots.. give a couple of guys a shot at making the big league and (hopefully) rotate a few of them in so the head-to-head collisions for any individual player can come down a bit.
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Makes me wonder just how slow active NFL veterans' 40 yard dash times are. Everyone slows down over time, and no one is as fast at 31 compared to age 21. Those veteran RBs and WRs who insist they haven't lost a step at age 30 are all full of it.
ReplyDeleteI remember watching Emmitt Smith at the end of his career on the Cardinals, Marcus Allen on the Chiefs, and Jerry Rice on the Raiders thinking they were all slower than before. Now I know they were.
I wonder just how much lost speed guys like Wes Welker, Greg Jennings, Mike Wallace, Chris Johnson, Reggie Bush, Andre Johnson, Reggie Wayne, Michael Vick, and Larry Fitzgerald have each experienced. Those guys are near the end of their careers and have all dropped off significantly in production. You have to chalk up lost speed and explosion to much of that diminished production.