In the Oct. 19 issue of ESPN the Mag (a.k.a. “The Body Issue”), Bruce Feldman argues that speed is far more important in college football, where the hash marks are wider, the preparation isn’t as good and the talent disparity is greater, than it is in the NFL, where everyone is fast.
Case in point, the Oakland Raiders:
Or you can just look at the Oakland Raiders. Much like the Gators’, their performance separates them from the pack in recent years — just not in a good way. No one in the NFL covets speed the way the Raiders do.
Al Davis, the man who pursued such speedsters as the aptly named James Jett, is downright enamored of fast guys, perhaps even more so than Meyer is. (Of the nine fastest players tested by the NFL over the past 10 years, four — Fabian Washington, Stanford Routt, Ashley Lelie and Carlos Francis — have played for the Raiders.) According to an NFL scout, the Raiders had 15 players on their roster last season who’d run a verified 40 of 4.5 or faster — four more than the next “fastest” team. And what did it get them? A sixth-straight season with double-digit losses.
It’s a good read.
Posted in: College Football, NFL, NFL Draft
Tags: ESPN The Magazine, Florida Gators, Oakland Raiders, Percy Harvin, speed in the NFL
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Do you want more interesting?Here is a hot news:
The NFL Draft will ask its competition committee to review concerns regarding clinching playoff teams choosing to rest starters at the end of the season, according to a report on ESPN.com.
The issue is receiving renewed attention after the Indianapolis Colts chose to pull their starters from Sunday’s loss to the New York Jets. Entering the game, the Colts, now 14-1, were undefeated but had clinched home-field advantage in the AFC playoffs. Meanwhile, the Jets, now 8-7, were still fighting for a playoff spot.
After the Colts pulled Peyton Manning and other first-stringers, the Jets rallied for a 29-15 win, improving their chances in the playoff race.
“This is an issue that we have reviewed in the past,” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello was quoted as saying in an ESPN.com article to which the AP also contributed. “The position of the competition committee, and affirmed by the clubs, when it was reviewed in 2005 was that ‘a team that has clinched its division title has earned the right to rest its starters for the postseason, and that preparing for the postseason is just as important as protecting some other team’s playoff opportunity.’ That is the current policy.”