FIRST ROUND – HOW FAST ARE YOU? – Track Football Consortium

FIRST ROUND – HOW FAST ARE YOU?

The Art of War is an ancient Chinese military treatise dating back to the 5th century BC. The work is attributed to the ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu.

Tzu believed war could be won by misdirection, power, or speed. Football is war.

In my opinion, the football world is amazing at misdirection. I was on a Zoom Football Clinic last night. For thirty minutes prior to my lead-off presentation, brilliant football coaches made me feel like a first grader in a doctoral quantum physics class. 100% of the discussion concerned the schemes and strategies of football. When you hear football intellects talking x’s and o’s, you can’t help but to be dazzled by their expertise.

The football world also gets an A+ in power. The weight room is the church of football. The commitment is unquestioned.

But the football world fails in the maintaining and improvement of speed.

The typical football S&C guy is a meathead. He probably never won a race in his life. Not a cat. We know the type. Massive muscles, shaved head, tight shirt, and highly caffeinated. They do great work in the pursuit of power. They may even honestly believe that power creates speed, but it doesn’t.

If you ask a college football coach what he values in a recruit, most will say “SPEED”. Yep, speed is a difference maker in college football. College football coaches RECRUIT SPEED. Smart.

College football programs take their fast recruits and turn them into body builders. THE GRIND becomes their motto. In other words, college football coaches recruit speed, then neglect it. Every college football team has a weight room guru. Where’s the speed guru?

The NFL

The NFL is just like college football, but on steroids (double entendre). The NFL is incredibly complex (misdirection). The NFL has entire staffs of weight room wizards. Power is the priority.

But speed wins.

As far as I know, weight room experts outnumber speed experts in the NFL by alarming numbers.

The NFL Draft is a sprint showcase.

Last night was round one of the 2020 NFL Draft.

Here are some of my takeaways.

If you are a wide receiver, you better be a track athlete. The first five wide receivers selected ran high school track. The fastest wide receiver of the first round, Henry Ruggs (Raiders), ran 10.42 in the 100m in high school and 4.27 at the NFL Combine. Another track phenom was Jalen Reagor (Eagles) who ran on blazing 4×1 and 4x2s in high school (40.33 and 1:24.27). Reagor also high jumped 6’6″ and long jumped a mind-blowing 26’0″.

What a job TFC partner, Tracking Football, does with the NFL Draft!

If you are a cornerback, you better be fast enough to keep up with the wide receivers. The six CBs picked in the first round had an average time of 4.47 at the NFL Combine. The slowest of the group, Damon Arnette (Raiders), ran a super-slow 4.56 which projected him as a 3rd round pick. No big surprise to me, Arnette was not a track athlete in high school. Damon Arnette played basketball. Most analysts tabbed the Raiders as the “biggest loser” of the first round due to this pick.

Last year CB Julian Love (Nazareth Academy, Notre Dame) came out early and expected to be a first round pick until he ran 4.54 at the NFL Combine. He dropped to round-4 (Giants). From what I understand, track is an after-thought at Nazareth. Most of their football players spend their spring doing 7on7.

My favorite athletes in the NFL Draft are the BIG CATS. This year, seven big cats were taken in the first round. The average offensive lineman was 6’5″, weighed 327, and ran 5.10 in the 40. The average time was skewed by the #29 pick, Isaiah Wilson (Titans). Wilson was the slowest player picked in the first round, running 5.32. However, at 6’6″, 350, that’s still relatively fast.

To me, the strangest pick of the night was the final pick, #32 by the Super Bowl Champs, Kansas City. The Chiefs took a RUNNING BACK, the only RB taken in the first round! Running backs are a dime-a-dozen in the spread offenses of the NFL these days. Every NFL offense wants a star quarterback, big cats to protect him, and Olympic sprinters as wide-outs. Running backs? Not a priority.

Supposedly, Patrick Mahomes made the call. One draft analysis gave the Chiefs an “A” for the pick. Here’s what I see… Clyde Edwards-Helaire is a great football player, but not so fast. Slow doesn’t age well in the NFL (or anywhere for that matter). Edwards-Helaire (LSU) is not “slow”, but he’s “a step slow”. At 5’7″ 207, he ran a pedestrian 11.44 in the 100m and long jumped a mediocre 21’7″ in high school. The Chiefs love Edwards-Helaire’s pass-catching ability but with a 4.60 time at the NFL Combine, he’s not going to run away from linebackers. I guess when you’re Super Bowl Champs, you get to make funky picks.

Linebackers? Isaiah Simmons of Clemson was taken first at #8 (Cardinals). Simmons at 6’4″ 238 ran 22.02 in the 200m and long jumped 24’5″ in high school. Freaky. At the NFL Combine, Simmons ran 4.39. The fastest corner in the first round ran 4.39. The averages of the four first round linebackers… 6’2″, 237 pounds, and 4.49 in the 40.

Misdirection, power, and speed are essential to winning in football. But in what order?

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Tony Holler
@pntrack
630-849-8294
tony.holler@yahoo.com

The 2019 Three-Part Football Series

♦ Big Cats (Not Hogs)

♦ Football Coaches: Too Many Priorities

♦ Football Coaches: Stop Doing Mindless Conditioning

Feed the Cats:

♦ Feed the Cats
(75 minutes with live demos, best seller for CoachTube)

♦ Origin and Philosophical Basis of Feed the Cats