Very true. Its my opinion that the almighty 40 is the main tool used to build, and repair the brainwashing that is American football. They use that forty time anyway they need to. In all actuality what could be more useless in gauging football talent than running 40 yards in track shoes with no pads on?
Like dwid always says, many times white players simply have their times slowed down, and blacks have theirs sped up. The 40 is a huge problem, and I hate it with a vengeance. If a black guy runs a fast 40 they will bring up that fast time for a decade. Every time he drops a pass, blows a coverage, gets a stupid penalty, muffs a punt, or fumbles the commentator will remind us that he ran a 4.3 forty.
If a white guy runs a fast forty its ALWAYS discredited, or ignored. Ive never once heard mention of a white player being "blazing fast", or "the fastest guy on the field". They refer to our guys only as "sneaky fast", or "deceptive speed".
Matt Jones is a great example. The guy was the fastest guy on the field anytime he was out there, yet they tried to make him a tight end. He ran something ridiculous like a 4.38 or something in the almighty 40, but they never mentioned it. Their are dozens of other examples.
Agreed, and getting a little off subject here, but I argued this a DWF here in Carolina about white high school football players running better 40 and shuttle times than blacks and why D-1 schools were not offering these guys. His excuse was; maybe the some players haven't reached their full potential, while other kids had maybe peaked.
Yeah right, that's why we have combines. If a white RB runs a 4.9 he's too slow, he'll never get a look and if he runs a 4.5, he's peaked. This is insane!
I may be wrong, but I don't think most players improve their 40 time from the senior year in high school till they are seniors in college? What you run in high school is most of the time your best and it doesn't get much better, typically.
16 or 17 of the college RB's invited to the 2013 NFL combine ran a 4.6 or higher. Robbie Rouse of Fresno State ran a 4.8 at 5'6 190 lbs. Imagine if Danny Woodhead would have run a 4.8 at his pro-day? We would have never heard from him!
I presented these numbers to the DWF and said, I guess Robbie Rouse ran a 5.1, 40 in high school at 5'6 so they gave a 5'6 170 RB, 5.1 in the 40 out of high school a full D-1 scholarship to Fresno State based on dat upside? Of course I received no response from this DWF!
Other College RB's invited to the 2013 NFL combine with less than impressive 40 times, include Ray Graham, Pitt. 4.8, Lonnie Pryor FSU, 4.7, Stepfan Taylor Stanford, 4.76, George Winn, Cincinnati 4.75,
Don't bother looking these guys up on NFL Draft Scout, somehow their times were lowered from their original times for some strange reason!
I could go on and on...
It's a shame, so many white high school RB's across the country that run much better 40 times may play at D-1 AA, or lower or may never even play at all!