When scouting for football players, it may be difficult to discern which players to get. Oftentimes, football commentators exaggerate how good or bad certain players are. All too often, NFL quarterbacks are described by TV commentators as having "rocket arms" when their arms are actually mediocre. Some commentators exaggerate the speed of certain football players by describing them as being "blazing fast" when they are probably not any faster than Varsity football players on your son's high school football team.
One of the ways to get a more objective idea of who is really fast, explosive, strong, etc. is to look at their combine numbers. There are several metrics including the 40 yard dash, the vertical leap, the broad jump, bench press, etc. that can give you some indication of the relative athletic abilities of those players. And the key to those combine numbers is to give all the players a uniform condition or venue so that the numbers are more meaningful. For instance, the 40 time can vary greatly if they are timed indoors or outdoors. They can also vary greatly if they are hand timed or electronically timed. For this reason, NFL draft prospects are usually tested in the same venue at the same time.
Now, it is true that the numbers can be deceptive. Some players may run fast without pads and a helmet, yet appear pedestrianly slow on grass in game time conditions. And some players may run faster between 30-60 yards which is sometimes referred to as "deep speed". However, these numbers can at least give a discerning football fan some objective numbers to take into account when he or she is choosing the players in their fantasy sports league.
My name is Andrew Y. Schroeder, Esq., US Patent Attorney based in Los Angeles. Licensed to practice before the United States Patent & Trademark Office and the State Bar of California.
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