Draft/FA Watch

Hope they claim this guy, I liked him alot last year this time

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Seahawks | Parker Released - from www.KFFL.com
Sun, 27 Mar 2005 0853 -0800

Mike Sando, of the Tacoma News Tribune, reports the Seattle Seahawks have released DB Arnold Parker.
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It does when you increase the speed at which the game is played... which you do when you move from college level to the pros. Its one thing to be able to catch a running back that will never see the NFL vs catching a probowler.

 

Not really. When people say "the game is so much faster," they're talking about the mental aspects. That's why they then talk about how things eventually slow down. Players have to make decisions much more quickly in the NFL than in college because opposing players are faster and more explosive, along with the game just being more complex in general. Pure speed will help in that it can compensate somewhat for slow decision-making, but fast decision-making would be even better, and that's exactly what will show up on film and not at the combine.

 

I'll have to disagree with part of this. When the NFL drafts the best of the best college players, then yes indeed, the physical speed increases on the field. Line up the Wofford Terriers vs. the Miami Hurricanes in a footrace.

 

The point was that when players talk about having to adjust to the speed, they're talking about mental and not physical factors. It is obviously physically faster in the NFL, but what they're talking about is the reaction to that speed. And in those cases, clearly how quickly you process and act on that information is far more important than what 40 time you had. A guy who shows read and react skills on film is going to show the same thing in the NFL. He might need a slightly different angle, but the raw speed isn't what's important. That has been hammered home by all the 4.5 linebackers bagging groceries while Zach Thomas and many others who had equally poor times in the 40 are making millions.

 

That doesn't mean that the pro game isn't physically faster. How many RBs in the Big 10 run 4.6 and succeed? How many of the same backs never amount to a thing in the pros?

 

When I have to repeat myself not only once, but twice, that's pretty irritating.

And for the record, many if not most of those highly drafted Big 10 RBs had good to great 40 times (re: Bennett). Meanwhile 4.5 and 4.6 RBs have had as much if not more success in the NFL than 4.3 and 4.4 guys. 40 times just aren't that important and statistical analyses of combine results have proven that conclusively (although it's less irrelevant at some positions than others).