Why do they only measure "strength" by Bench Press?

Very Simple- Have any of you guys tried to run after squatting or deadlifting? You wouldnt be able to run anywhere near your top speed. Could you Squat decently after Sprinting 40 yard dashes? No. Its just the easiest way to test an athlete with little chance of injury.

All the above answers are pretty good. I just think the NFL is pretty wary of getting players hurt at the combine, if that happened, their participation would go WAY down.

Although, I would love to see receivers run the 40 and routes (timed set routes -- deep in, out-n-up, etc) with pads and helmets. It might sound funny, but the helmet is the primary thing that affects speed because of its weight and affect on your center of gravity. Also, has an impact on receiving ability - RBs, TE, and WR should run their receiving drills with helmets. Not likely to see that though. LOL

One last thing that seems very hard to test is referenced by guys that "play fast." A lot of that is related to the "eyes" and body control. A receiver and WR can't run at absolute top speed and still maintain good body control to receive the ball - so they have to taper it back slightly. And a guys speed in his routes and YAC have a lot to do with how well they "see the field" and can be confident in their path. If a guy knows he doesn't see all the moving pieces well, he slows slightly. The guys that can press that limit more gain an advantage -- a guy like Rice that can play at 98% of his top speed and remain fluid and stable to catch the ball and maintain good vision, versus a slightly faster guy that can only play at 95% of his top speed. Randy Moss was/is the rare combination of both top flight speed with body control and concentration.

VERY good question. And I have no real idea.

Whenever you tell people you workpout in a gym; the primary question seems to be, "How much can you bench?"

i do ann exercise once a week that is a real strength builder and could be used as a better method to calculate real strength.

I Push Cars. My GF sits in thhe car and puts it in N. I then hold my hands chest level at the truck and push the car forward. {Not very far I might add. i'm 5'6" and 155lbs]

BUT it is the hardest exercise I've ever done. Part two of it is putting your bak against the car - facing away from it, placing your hands on the bumper and push backwards.

Thee is this moose at thye gym who pushes cars uphill.

Originally posted by HearstFan:
All the above answers are pretty good. I just think the NFL is pretty wary of getting players hurt at the combine, if that happened, their participation would go WAY down.

Although, I would love to see receivers run the 40 and routes (timed set routes -- deep in, out-n-up, etc) with pads and helmets. It might sound funny, but the helmet is the primary thing that affects speed because of its weight and affect on your center of gravity. Also, has an impact on receiving ability - RBs, TE, and WR should run their receiving drills with helmets. Not likely to see that though. LOL

One last thing that seems very hard to test is referenced by guys that "play fast." A lot of that is related to the "eyes" and body control. A receiver and WR can't run at absolute top speed and still maintain good body control to receive the ball - so they have to taper it back slightly. And a guys speed in his routes and YAC have a lot to do with how well they "see the field" and can be confident in their path. If a guy knows he doesn't see all the moving pieces well, he slows slightly. The guys that can press that limit more gain an advantage -- a guy like Rice that can play at 98% of his top speed and remain fluid and stable to catch the ball and maintain good vision, versus a slightly faster guy that can only play at 95% of his top speed. Randy Moss was/is the rare combination of both top flight speed with body control and concentration.

it's actually true and that's why i always hated helmets because of the affect it has on your speed and balance. and being a receiver myself playing fast is much more important than being fast. and what you said is true and it's not just confidence your reaction time has to be no greater than about 1/10 of a second if you're a little slow to react that is the difference between a reception or an incompletion and possibly an interception. you need to read and react to coverage types find the hole in the defense that is along the route you are supposed to run and be confident and be fast enough to get it there before the hole closes because everything is moving at once

Originally posted by LasVegasWally:
VERY good question. And I have no real idea.

Whenever you tell people you workpout in a gym; the primary question seems to be, "How much can you bench?"

i do ann exercise once a week that is a real strength builder and could be used as a better method to calculate real strength.

I Push Cars. My GF sits in thhe car and puts it in N. I then hold my hands chest level at the truck and push the car forward. {Not very far I might add. i'm 5'6" and 155lbs]

BUT it is the hardest exercise I've ever done. Part two of it is putting your bak against the car - facing away from it, placing your hands on the bumper and push backwards.

Thee is this moose at thye gym who pushes cars uphill.

I don't think they are going to add the car push to the combine any time soon.

Originally posted by NinerDieHard:
it's actually true and that's why i always hated helmets because of the affect it has on your speed and balance. and being a receiver myself playing fast is much more important than being fast. and what you said is true and it's not just confidence your reaction time has to be no greater than about 1/10 of a second if you're a little slow to react that is the difference between a reception or an incompletion and possibly an interception. you need to read and react to coverage types find the hole in the defense that is along the route you are supposed to run and be confident and be fast enough to get it there before the hole closes because everything is moving at once

I played reciever too and they always gave me huge pads. I wanted small pads, its hard to turn around with all that extra padding and a helmet on when you are running a fly route up the field. Catching in all that gear is harder, and the more gear on the slower you run.

Originally posted by I-U-Porta-Poties:
I actually wish that they would do the big three lifts and give the total amount of weight.

Bench + Deadlift + Squat = a good measure of overall strength.

I agree. These are the 3. I never understood why they emphasize just the upper body strength. I think squats and deadlifts would tell you a lot. Like O Linemen who bench 19 times and everybody is saying "he is weak, he is weak." Maybe he squats and deadlifts out of the gym. And plays with a lot of knee bend and lower body leverage. Might be one of the strongest O Linemen on the field despite not 30 lifts in the bench press....

Bench press is a lower weight and they are measuring for reps, which I guess they could do with squats, but the goal is to test explosiveness. Timed squats? How many squats can you do with x weight in 30 seconds?

Pushing a sled would show more than squats and dead lift may result in too many injuries. The changes I can really see happening would be electronic meters measuring punch and impact on a wired sled. Not sure how accurate they are but they would at least tell more than weights.

Too many people make up their minds by combine numbers. I think GMs watch the combine to verify opinions, not to form them. So the interview may be more important than any other aspect. Of course, if a WR candidate runs a 5.2 40...