Great adjustments to the game. Very nice.
I did read the notation you made that the 40 times doesn't determine the players speed, and that others things factor in to it.
Man I'm so glad to have read that, and it really expresses that you guys are really understanding what the NFL is about.
Just one thing I wanted to point out, and that is no player in the NFL at all should have a speed rating below 75 period.
Here is a log of what was recorded in this year combine and the slowest time was ran by a Offensive lineman. Here are the numbers for the Lineman
Name Time
Murtha, Lydon 4.89
Meredith, Jamon 5.03
Fulton, Xavier 5.04
Beatty, William 5.12
Cadogan, Gerald 5.12
Luigs, Jonathan 5.14
Bell, Joel 5.15
Britton, Eben 5.16
Walker, Brandon 5.17
Cooper, Jon 5.18
Smith, Jason 5.22
You can see the slowest time was 5.22, nowhere near where your chart went. What this is telling us is that the game of football is very different than what it was in the past. Players from all positions have really good speed. This is crazy the slowest time ran by a O lineman is only 0.82 hundredths of a second away from Percy Harvin's 4.41.
Now here is something interesting. Percy Harvin who runs extremely fast, and in this years NCAA I believe was given a 98 speed rating, and I do agree with it. Now looking at what he did in the 40 time your chart would not had given him that rating. He ran a 4.41 and is 6th on the list for WR's, and We all know that Percy deserves a 98 speed rating.
Please note EA: I know your chart isn't the final factor for the speed rating, but I'm just mentioning it to prove my point about the 40.
Name Time
Heyward-Bey, Darrius 4.30
Wallace, Mike 4.33
Knox, Johnny 4.34
Butler, Deon 4.38
Thomas, Mike 4.40
Harvin, Percy 4.41
Underwood, Tiquan 4.41
Byrd, Demetrius 4.42
Murphy, Louis 4.43
McKinley, Kenny 4.44
Im really glad to see that the person responsible for speed ratings is looking into other factors than the 40 time. I feel the one thing the 40 time can really determine accurately is the acceleration rating. The speed rating can truly only be determined by watching film.
Im sure for those that really know the game. The 40 time is one thing but actual game speed tells a whole other story, and in the end the truth on how fast they really are.
I have seen Defensive lineman in the NFL chase down WR's , and Im sure their 40 time was nothing close to that WR's 40 time.
The other rating that does factor into speed is fatigue. How long can they hold that speed, and that will also determine if a player can be caught from behind.
Here is a video of Ahmad Bradsaw who breaks a run but runs out of Gas, and gets caught. He is fast but since he got tired he gets caught from behind. What caused him to tire was that he had to counter one way then run about 8 yrds laterally then make a few miss then try and go paydirt. Where the defender that caught him didn't have to do all that. Fatigue hit Bradshaw.
Here is another run where he didnt have to do as much and was able to pull away.
I just wanted to mention that a few things factor in to the overall speed of a player, and the whole breakaway aspect of it also.
I hope this info I provided is helpful