If you wanted to plot instantaneous speed vs time, then yes the GPS jacket would be better, provided it’s not a piece of junk. It should still be done in a controlled test, like the same 40 you’re already running just with a jacket on. I don’t see the point TBH. They can already break it down into 10 yard increments, or smaller if they want, to give you the explosion value.
Given that not everyone gets a chance or opportunity to go near 100% speed in any particular game, the 40 is still useful as a measure of raw athleticism, raw speed. The GPS measurements could be all over the place. When you get a high GPS speed, I’d say that gives you alot of confidence that the player plays fast. But when you don’t get one, he just may not have had an opportunity to go near full tilt.
I agree that football is not an endurance sport, the more endurance/stamina you have, the better your power and explosiveness late in a game when everyone is tired, no? I agree that you shouldn’t ask players to run marathons, but I would think that an explosive athlete with poor aerobic stamina will tire more easily and his explosiveness/power will lessen in later stages of a game. So that some endurance training (or repetitive sprints) would be necessary. Am I wrong about that…ask your contacts?
This is probably a good time to remind people that the combine was invented as a way to consolidate medical information into one place and time. Prior to the combine prospects had travel to the teams to do medical checks (or the teams traveled to them). The drills were just an add on. “Hey, while we have you here, go run to that pylon over there. How far was that? 40 yards? Okay, we will have the next guy up run 40 yards as well and then compare the times.”
It wasn’t quite as arbitrary as that, but almost. As the story goes, Paul Brown was the father of the 40 yard dash. He had guys run that distance because it was the standard distance of a punt. Having no standard distance prospects were running (some did 100 yards, some did 50, etc) Gil Brandt helped usher in the era where everyone was running and reporting times on the same distance. But why 40? Gil says it just seemed like a good distance. Its not scientific guys, its just another box to check or mark an X by.
Didn’t Larry Fitz run a 4.6 or something? It’s an extremely small piece of a massive puzzle. It doesn’t say one thing or the other in the big picture.
In the grand scheme of things, 40’s don’t mean much. Its just another measureable to verify what is seen on film. It can also have you second guessing an opinion. For example, Brad Holmes said something along the lines of, if a player you thought wasn’t that fast on film goes out and runs a 4.3, sometimes you have to go back and double check the tape to see if you missed anything. The same holds true when a guy you thought was fast runs slow. Its more for verification purposes then anything.
Barry was a 4.3 guy but would get caught from behind, he didn’t have the long speed.
How are you supposed to know how quick Barry was by GPS?
Conversely, there are guys who are long striders that arent as quick to get to top speed. Does GPS really help see that?
Today’s 40s are measured by distance over time. This is highly effective for NFL purposes but does not give a very precise reading of instantaneous velocity or max velocity (which may be fun for the viewers). It is however good for average velocity since that is simply distance/time. GPS works via satellite, generally the more satellites you pickup the better. GPS does not compute velocity by using distance over time since the signal delay time from the satellite to the antennae can be significant. It uses the doppler effect which you can google if you’re interested.
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The 40 is an antiquated distance anyway.
It was originally that distance because that’s about how long you had to run to cover a punt decades ago. Now punters boom the ball 50 yards regularly. Net yardage for good punters are in the mid-40s.
But many NFL players (especially stars) won’t ever play on punt or kick coverage units anyway, so it’s become mostly a fancy number that doesn’t mean all that much in the grand scheme of things.
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