FOOTBALL SKILL CAN’T BE TIMED
Speed an asset, but no guarantee of Canton bust
Fabian Washington could scoot across a football field, or a track surface.
So could Stanford Routt. He was faster than Washington.
It was the cornerbacks’ ability to accelerate to disrupt passing lanes or recover from a coverage mistake that the late Raiders owner Al Davis coveted. Davis was so enamored by their worldclass speed he selected Washington, a former Nebraska standout who ran the 40-yard dash in 4.29 seconds, in the first round of the 2005 NFL draft. He then selected former University of Houston track All-American and cornerback Stanford Routt in the second round.
Routt ran the 40-yard dash in 4.27 seconds at the NFL scouting combine that year. The only faster time in combine history is running back Chris Johnson’s 4.24 three years later. Just run, baby
“Al Davis took the two fastest guys in the draft that year, and that was important to him,” said Washington, who is a speed coach for players based in Florida. “It’s important to a lot of NFL people, especially when it comes to the draft.”
Davis wasn’t and isn’t alone in prioritizing how fast a player can run 40 yards. Whether it’s a pass rusher like Texans linebacker Jadeveon Clowney, who ran the 40-yard dash in 4.53 seconds at 6-5 and 266 pounds, or corner Johnathan Joseph, who ran a 4.31 entering the draft in 2006, NFL teams like to use the 40-yard dash as a measuring stick and a means to separate similarly ranked players.
The Texans want to upgrade their speed through the draft. It’s one of the reasons they signed running back Lamar Miller to a four-year, $26 million contract during free agency and are considering Baylor receiver Corey Coleman with the 22nd overall pick. It only takes you so far
“The reality is you can’t teach speed,” said NFL draft analyst Russ Lande. “I’m not just talking about the 40-yard dash. I’m talking about guys who have the speed to change games. Those guys are so valuable. They change the way the opponent has to play.
“Ted Ginn Jr., with all of his faults, does things to open up the offense for Carolina. He has the rare ability to run by people.
“Even a corner is a guy who can change games and make plays. You can’t teach that rare speed. It allows guys to make up for mistakes. You look for guys who are explosive. It changes the way you game-plan when you have fast players.”
But speed will only take a player so far. If the functional speed of a player in pads doesn’t translate from how well he runs in shorts, it’s a relatively useless trait.
And overrating players based on how quickly they cover a distance is one of the most common drafting mistakes.
“I love athletes with speed, but I think sometimes teams can get too infatuated with it,” Washington said. “When the film and the speed don’t match, it can get tricky. You’ve got to ask yourself, ‘There’s got to be a problem.’ It has to show up on the field. You can’t be a track guy on the football field. You have to be a football player.
“I see it all the time where a guy no one’s heard of runs an amazing 40 time and now he’s supposedly a great football player. It doesn’t work that way. I see nothing wrong with a guy who’s a decent football player who runs an amazing time and you see him as a project. When you draft a guy very high, you need them to be ready to play.” Mamula’s decline
NFL teams are wary of drafting a workout warrior who can’t produce on the field. One cautionary tale is former Boston College pass rusher Mike Mamula.
Mamula rose from a second-round draft target to be drafted seventh by Philadelphia after the Eagles traded up to pick him in 2005. After dominating the combine with a 4.58 time in the 40, 28 reps in the bench press, a 38½-inch vertical leap, a 10-5 broad jump and 49 out of a possible 50 points on the Wonderlic exam, Mamula struggled for the most part in the NFL. He recorded 209 career tackles and 31½ sacks in an injury-plagued career that lasted five seasons.
“You can’t coach it, but if a guy can run fast but he can’t play football, it doesn’t make sense to have him on your football team, you know what I mean?” Texans general manager Rick Smith said. “There is some benefit to speed and certainly you want guys who can play ball and play fast and all those things, but you’re right. You can’t overvalue one particular characteristic whether that is size, weight, speed, whatever.
“You can’t overvalue it and speed is the same thing. There’s some things that you can get away with if you can run. You’ve also got to be able to change direction. You’ve got to be able to think. You’ve got to do all those other things that encompass a good football player.”
Texans Pro Bowl receiver DeAndre Hopkins is a prime example of a player who likely would have been drafted higher if not for running a relatively pedestrian 40-yard dash time of 4.57 seconds. Hopkins emerges
Hopkins lasted until the 27th pick of the first round in 2013, but he has been productive and emerged as one of the top receivers last season when he caught a careerhigh 111 passes for 1,521 yards and 11 touchdowns.
Hopkins’ time in the 40 wasn’t much faster than Hall of Fame receiver Jerry Rice’s 4.6 clocking. Veteran receiver Anquan Boldin ran a 4.71 at the combine in 2003, causing him to fall to the second round. Boldin is a threetime Pro Bowl selection who has 1,009 career receptions for 13,195 yards and 74 TDs.
“I mean, the best route receivers of all time I don’t think ran a 4.4,” Hopkins said. “It’s different than running a 40 and running a football route. You have to know how to play the game, and you can’t play it at a full pace all the time like you’re running the 40 with your head down.
“You have to be a student of the game, not just a track guy. It’s really self-explanatory. I’m pretty sure anybody would rather take a great football player than the guy who runs a 4.1 and can’t catch.”
The Texans have scouted one of the more athletic players in the draft in Coleman. With Smith and Texans coach Bill O’Brien watching, Coleman ran the 40 in 4.37 seconds despite not being 100 percent as he was recovering from sports hernia surgery.
A former track star and football player who grew up in the Dallas area in Richardson, Coleman won the Fred Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s top receiver after catching 74 passes for 1,362 yards and 20 TDs last season. Texans no different
The Texans could use an influx of speed to work in tandem with Hopkins to create more single coverage and prevent defenses from concentrating on containing him as much.
“Every team could use that,” Lande said. “There just aren’t enough of those guys. You need game-changers. When I look at the Texans, I see a roster that’s not bereft of speed. They have the athleticism and speed to change games. They could certainly use another playmaker, though.”