Origins of the 40-yard dash
After three days, I finally heard something interesting on the NFL Network. Rich Eisen said the 40-yard dash came about because Paul Brown wanted fast guys on special teams to cover punts. So in order to test a player’s speed, Brown decided that 40 yards would be a good measuring stick and the 40-yard dash was born. It’s amazing that years later the 40-yard dash can now make or cost prospects millions of dollars, when Brown originally created it to find guys to cover punts.
By the way, what ever happened to the conclusion of Erik’s “story?”
February 24, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Thank God you’re here Tom. Can you give us some results for the workouts? Erik has been giving us these little 1 paragraph snippets about interviews. While interviews are all well and good they don’t mean as much as the numbers do sadly. Not to mention that the interviews with media folks are not nearly as important as the private interviews run by the actual team scouts. So please give us some numbers Tom, as it appears the guys who are actually there are unable to do so.