FanPost

Defensive Tackle: A Combine Primer

With the NFL Combine little over a week away, I thought it might be prudent to delve a little deeper into each event and provide some context for the athleticism that will be on display come February 22-25. For those of us less accustomed to the ins and outs of the NFL combine and interested in familiarizing themselves with the process, here is your primer.

The combine consists of a series of tests/evaluations to give Talent Evaluators predictive tools for the NFL's most pivotal offseason process, the Draft. I say predictive tools, because success in any given category is not meant to guarantee a successful draftee.

These tests include the following:

40 yard Dash
Bench Press (225 lbs)
Vertical Jump
Broad Jump
20 yard shuttle
3 Cone Drill
60 yard shuttle
Position Specific Drills
Interviews
Physical Measurements
Injury Evals
Drug Screen
The Cybex test
The Wonderlic Test

Without accounting for Free Agency, Defensive Tackle looks to be an obvious draft target for the Chicago Bears in 2014. I will breakdown the historical statistics of the last 15 years for the more important drills and hopefully provide every reader with a reference to make the results of this year's combine make some sense.

First let me give a quick refresher of the statistical significance of each measure for those that haven't spent time with statistics since their earlier academic days.
Mean= This means average.
Mode= The number that appears the most
Standard Deviation= This is a measure of dispersion for the numbers studied. It implies that one standard deviation in either way will have about 68% of the observations, two standard deviations will have 95% and three standard deviations will have 99.7% of the observations. This just gives the reader a reference for how wide the results may be.
Maximum= The highest observation
Minimum= The lowest observation
Percentile= This is a relative statistic that will show where a combine applicant ranks relative to the rest of his class. 90% means that 90% of the applicants have a score less than the one applicant in question.

Weight

The NFL will weight each player and this is a fun way to see how liberal schools are with their player descriptions throughout the year.

Dt_weight_medium

via s1.postimg.org

Mean = 305.6 lbs
Mode = 306
Std Dev = 14.8
Max = 369
Min = 268

95th percentile= 336
90th percentile= 324
75th Percentile= 314
50th Percentile= 305
25th Percentile= 297
10th percentile= 290

40 Yard Dash

Per Wikipedia: The 40-yard dash is a sprint covering 40 yards (36.58 m). It is primarily run to evaluate the speed of American football players by scouts, particularly for the NFL Draft but also for collegiate recruiting. A player's recorded time can have a heavy impact on his prospects in college or professional football. This was traditionally only true for the "skill" positions such as running back, wide receiver, and defensive back, although now a fast 40-yard dash time is considered important for almost every position. The 40-yard dash is not an official race in track and field athleticsand is not an IAAF-recognized event.

The origin of timing football players for 40 yards comes from the average distance of a punt and the time it takes to reach that distance.[citation needed] Punts average around 40 yards in distance from the line of scrimmage, and the hangtime (time of flight) averages approximately 4.5 seconds. Therefore, if a coach knows that a player runs 40 yards in 4.5 seconds, he will be able to leave the line of scrimmage when a punt is kicked, and reach at the point where the ball comes down just as it arrives.

Dt_40_medium

via s21.postimg.org

Mean = 5.103
Mode = 5
Std Dev = .163
Max = 5.75
Min = 4.69

Observations = 283

95th percentile= 5.39
90th percentile= 5.32
75th Percentile= 5.215
50th Percentile= 5.095
25th Percentile= 5.05
10th percentile= 4.195
5th percentile = 4.845

The Bench Press (225 lbs Repetitions)

Per wikipedia: The bench press is an upper body exercise. The person performing the exercise lies on his or her back, lowers a weight to chest level, and then pushes it back up until the arms are straight. The exercise focuses on the development of the pectoralis major muscle as well as other supporting muscles including the anterior deltoids, serratus anterior, coracobrachialis, scapulae fixers, trapezii, and the triceps.

Dt_bench_medium

Mean = 27.6
Mode = 27
Std Dev = 5.8
Max = 51
Min = 8

95th percentile= 37
90th percentile= 35
75th Percentile= 31.5
50th Percentile= 27.5
25th Percentile= 24.5
10th percentile= 21.5
5th percentile= 19.5

The Vertical Jump

Per Wikipedia: Vertical jump measurements are used primarily in athletic circles both to measure performance and as something athletes brag about among themselves. The most common sports in which one's vertical jump is measured are track and field, basketball, football, and volleyball, but many sports measure their players' vertical jumping ability during physical examinations. In addition, single and multiple vertical jumps are occasionally used to assess muscular strength and anaerobic power in athletes.[1]

Dt_vert_medium

Mean = 29.4 in
Mode = 30
Std Dev = 2.9
Max = 37
Min = 20.5

95th percentile= 34.5
90th percentile= 33.5
75th Percentile= 31.5
50th Percentile= 30
25th Percentile= 27.5
10th percentile= 26

The Broad Jump

The long jump (historically called the "broad jump") is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength, and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a take off point. This event has a history in the Ancient Olympic Games and has been a modern Olympic event for men since the first Olympics in 1896 and for women since 1948.

Dt_broad_medium

Mean = 104.9

Mode = 103
Std Dev = 5.53
Max = 120
Min = 86

95th percentile= 114
90th percentile= 113
75th Percentile= 110
50th Percentile= 105.5
25th Percentile= 101.5
10th percentile= 98.5

The Shuttle Drill

per wikipedia: The 20-yard shuttle, also simply called the short shuttle, is a test performed by American football athletes at the NFL combine. It is primarily run to evaluate the quickness and change-of-direction ability of players by scouts, particularly for the NFL Draft but also for collegiate recruiting. While not as highly regarded a test as the 40 yard dash, it is still an important barometer used by NFL personnel to compare players.

Dt_shuttle_medium

via s16.postimg.org

Mean = 4.63
Mode = 4.56
Std Dev = .195
Max = 5.27
Min = 4.1

95th percentile= 4.93
90th percentile= 4.87
75th Percentile= 4.76
50th Percentile= 4.65
25th Percentile= 4.5
10th percentile= 4.38
5th Percentile= 4.275

The 3 Cone Drill

per Wikipedia: The 3 cone drill, or three cone drill, is a test performed by American football athletes at the NFL combine. It is primarily run to evaluate the agility, quickness and fluidity of movement of players by scouts, particularly for the NFL Draft but also for collegiate recruiting. While not as highly regarded a test as the 40 yard dash, it is still an important barometer used by NFL personnel to compare players.

The name "3 cone drill" is derived from the fact that there are three cones used to distinguish the path for athletes. Three cones are placed five yards apart from each other forming a right angle. The athlete starts with one hand down on the ground and runs to the middle cone and touches it. The athlete then reverses direction back to the starting cone and touches it. The athlete reverses direction again but this time runs around the outside of the middle cone on the way to the far cone running around it in figure eight fashion on his way back around the outside of the middle cone and finally finishing back at the starting cone. The total distance traveled is about 30 yards. Athletes are timed for this whole procedure. This drill is primarily used to determine a player's agility.[1]

Dt_3cone_medium

Mean = 7.71 seconds
Mode = 7.78
Std Dev = .296
Max = 8.75
Min = 6.85

95th percentile= 8.19
90th percentile= 8.1
75th Percentile= 7.92
50th Percentile= 7.72
25th Percentile= 7.51
10th percentile= 7.38
5th Percentile= 7.25

The percentiles as presented are in descending order. For timed events, you can easily make the 5th percentile the 95th, by just subtracting the percentile from 100. Hopefully this gives everyone a good barometer for the upcoming events.

This Fanpost was written by a Windy City Gridiron member and does not necessarily reflect the ideas or opinions of its staff or community.