Are NFL Player the Best OVERALL Athletes

[Phlog]

Sure NFL players are some tough MF'ers.

But to claim NFL players generally have more quickness, agility and fast-twitch muscles via running with a handegg than these guys...

Spoiler

Lol. Footwork and fast twitch? You got nothing:

 

[gspieler]

If guys like Lebron, CPIII, Blake Griffin, etc had been training their whole lives at football, they would have put up insane combine numbers, and be among the very best athletes in the NFL.

 

[Rjay]

Football should really be called hand egg to avoid confusion.
I was just reading about the AFL, seems more like American football than rugby(at least in regards to points). What do you prefer to watch?

I think your cultural background matters alot, because goddamn I can't watch an NFL game, the action in intense but there's too little of it with all the stops and starts (11 mins play in a 3 hour telecast?!). I know it's like kinetic chess, but chess isn't exciting to watch either. Soccer IMO is boring af, nothing happens. All the shameless diving doesn't help either. Rugby is ok, lots of meatheads running into one another but I see less skills in play.

Pretty crazy AFL match today, one team is losing, their guy takes a mark (catches the ball so he can take a free kick), and the final siren goes off. Based on the rules he can still take his free kick at goal even though the game is over, and if he kicks a goal they get the points. If it goes through the middle they win, anything else they lose.

 

[Halifax]

If you want to argue violence of hits, I counter

Yeah hockey hits are more like car crashes due to head to head collisions on skates at speeds people cannot run

 

[horc00]

The nfl is full of athletes who can do that shit. Gymnasts are close though, that sport is brutal, if it didn't prioritise manlets I might have your back. Manlets dancing around is hardly a sport worthy of mention tho is it?

I'm no gymnastic fan, but just because most people don't follow gymnastics doesn't make it any much less of a sport than NFL. This thread's asking which sport has the best athletes, and not which sport has the strongest athletes. It does not make sense to judge athleticism by absolute strength. The fact is that gymnasts are P4P stronger than NFL athletes in almost every aspect of strength and explosiveness except MAYBE for sprinting. It only makes sense that overall athleticism should be judged based on your strength as a comparison to your body weight. And it is for the same reason ALL military including US Military gauge a soldiers fitness based on push-ups and pullups and NOT bench presses.

Again, I'm no fan of gymnastics but I'm just making a factual point based on this topic, without injecting my personal preferences and biases.

Lol. Footwork and fast twitch? You got nothing:

Nice video. I've seen this man on youtube and FB countless times. There's even one where he makes Ronaldo looks slow. Very impressive.

But what's your point? This man is not a NFL athlete or a American footballer so that doesn't disprove my point that real footballers (soccer for you) require more footwork and fast twitch than American footballers. If you're trying to say that soccer players don't have the best footwork and fast twitch muscles, then yes I absolutely agree with you. I never said they had the best, just better.

I played basketball, soccer and rugby in school. While rugby and American football have vastly different rules, the mechanics of the games are identical. Trying to control and dribble a ball (instead of hugging it) while sprinting (or running in basketball) while dodging opponents require way more hand-eye and foot-eye coordination and agility than imaginable in American football or rugby. Perhaps you should try it someday.

As impressive as NFL highlight videos are, none of them can display agility or footwork better than a REAL football highlight video. Feel free to prove me wrong.

 

[Phlog]

I'm no gymnastic fan, but just because most people don't follow gymnastics doesn't make it any much less of a sport than NFL. This thread's asking which sport has the best athletes, and not which sport has the strongest athletes. It does not make sense to judge athleticism by absolute strength. The fact is that gymnasts are P4P stronger than NFL athletes in almost every aspect of strength and explosiveness except MAYBE for sprinting. It only makes sense that overall athleticism should be judged based on your strength as a comparison to your body weight. And it is for the same reason ALL military including US Military gauge a soldiers fitness based on push-ups and pullups and NOT bench presses.

Again, I'm no fan of gymnastics but I'm just making a factual point based on this topic, without injecting my personal preferences and biases.



Nice video. I've seen this man on youtube and FB countless times. There's even one where he makes Ronaldo looks slow. Very impressive.

But what's your point? This man is not a NFL athlete or a American footballer so that doesn't disprove my point that real footballers (soccer for you) require more footwork and fast twitch than American footballers. If you're trying to say that soccer players don't have the best footwork and fast twitch muscles, then yes I absolutely agree with you. I never said they had the best, just better.

I played basketball, soccer and rugby in school. While rugby and American football have vastly different rules, the mechanics of the games are identical. Trying to control and dribble a ball (instead of hugging it) while sprinting (or running in basketball) while dodging opponents require way more hand-eye and foot-eye coordination and agility than imaginable in American football or rugby. Perhaps you should try it someday.

As impressive as NFL highlight videos are, none of them can display agility or footwork better than a REAL football highlight video. Feel free to prove me wrong.

I played rugby for 8 years, American football for 6. They're similar in some aspects of tackling and running but that's about it.

Footballers have skill, a great deal but they ain't strong, a lot of their sport is mental, I'd place gymnasts above them.

Dude in video played high-school and the footwork and drills are all American football shit.

 

[Rimbaud82]

Rugby is ok, lots of meatheads running into one another but I see less skills in play.

Pretty crazy AFL match today, one team is losing, their guy takes a mark (catches the ball so he can take a free kick), and the final siren goes off. Based on the rules he can still take his free kick at goal even though the game is over, and if he kicks a goal they get the points. If it goes through the middle they win, anything else they lose.

Sweet from my man Tuohy, hadn't seen this yet.

 

[Mr Mojo Lane]

23 year olds who get cut by the NFL by definition are not NFL guys. They're guys who want to be NFL guys but aren't good enough. That they're not good enough for some other sport doesn't say anything about the guys who actually had the ability to be NFL guys.

I'm talking about the guys who made NFL rosters. There have been a number of those guys on the Ultimate Fighter. Bob "Too Juiced for the NFL" Sapp was probably the most successful of the NFL guys

 

[Mr Mojo Lane]

I am pretty sure the guys you mention like Gastineau, Too Tall were washed up badly.

Too Tall was in the prime of his NFL career https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_"Too_Tall"_Jones

 

[bad seed]

https://www.statslife.org.uk/sports...cketing-genius-make-him-a-statistical-outlier

1 standard deviation either side covers 68% of all variance, 2 standard deviations is 95%, 3 is 99.7%. Sir Donald Bradman was 6.48 standard deviations and no other sporting star comes close.

I think Phil Taylor could be considered to have an even greater reign of dominance over his sport.

Philip Douglas Taylor (born 13 August 1960) is an English retired professional darts player, nicknamed The Power.[5] He is widely regarded as the greatest darts player of all time, having won 216 professional tournaments, including 85 major titles and a record 16 World Championships.[6] He won eight consecutive World Championships from 1995 to 2002 and reached 14 consecutive finals from 1994 to 2007 (both records).

 

[StrikerKing]

These debates always boil down to how one defines athleticism. To me, a great athlete is a combination of strength, agility, speed, coordination, and endurance. While guys like NFL linemen or even pro powerlifters are impressive, I wouldn't consider them better athletes than say a Olympic decathlon competitor. There is also the consideration of overall fitness. Some NFL players are walking heart attacks with zero endurance, not exactly what I imagine when I think great athlete.

However, if we're talking purely physical ability in terms of power and explosiveness, it's hard to argue against Olympic weightlifters, sprinters, and throwers. They have the advantage over NFL and nba players in that their sports are purely about physical ability.

 

[MadSquabbles500]

Too Tall was in the prime of his NFL career https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_"Too_Tall"_Jones

Are you talking about boxing or MMA?

 

[MadSquabbles500]

Sure NFL players are some tough MF'ers.

But to claim NFL players generally have more quickness, agility and fast-twitch muscles via running with a handegg than these guys...

Spoiler

Everyone thinks the ball control guys in soccer are the best athletes, but really the soccer equivalent of defensive back in football are the Wing backs, and centre backs. Those are the guys that chase around guys like GOATnaldo, Messi, and Neymar.

 

[MadSquabbles500]

Lol. Footwork and fast twitch? You got nothing:

Who is that guy?

 

[Fox by the Sea]

you americans really need to get your head out of your asses and stop thinking you're the only ones good at stuff.
cause the next decades won't be so fun if that's your world view.

 

[livingdeadmoose]

You have to be joking!!!

This is a sport where the ball is in play for a few seconds and then the game actually STOPS, which means the players effectively receive some rest until the next play.
Seriously, i'm gobsmacked anyone would think of them as the best athletes, it literally makes no sense whatsoever.

How on earth can nfl players in general be better athletes than Tennis pros, cyclists[Tour de France type] and pro boxers? Think about the fitness levels and athletic abilities needed for those sports when done at the highest levels, there is simply no comparison, without any doubt at all.

As far as football codes go when there have been comparisons and tests done with players from Football,[soccer] League, Union, and AFL,[aussie rules] the AFL players won with a good margin from the others.
Some players from these codes regularly end up running miles throughout the games they play.

NFL players are only actually moving for 11 minutes on average during an NFL game. Only 11 minutes of action! The rest is mostly standing around, with the occasional momentum-killing penalty review thrown in for good measure.
Yes there is more to elite athletes than just running but aerobic ability is vital.

https://gizmodo.com/5992583/how-far-do-you-run-in-different-sports

Being considered a good or even elite athlete isn’t about being a cardio freak. Strength/power have just as much to say about ones athleticism as does cardiovascular endurance. Would you tell Hafthor Bjornson that he isn’t an elite athlete? What about an olympic level shotput/discuss thrower? What about gymnasts? None of those sports require crazy cardio during competition yet are some of the most amazing athletes in the world.

And yes, football players do work on high intensity conditioning a lot. You can play high level football like that without good conditioning. They just don’t train for long continuous cardio. In the end, I don’t like the argument of who’s the best type of athlete anyway. It’s all relative to the individuals sport.

 

[livingdeadmoose]

you americans really need to get your head out of your asses and stop thinking you're the only ones good at stuff.
cause the next decades won't be so fun if that's your world view.

Chill out. People watch sports that are more popular in their country so that’s what they go off of when discussing sports. Clean the sand out.

 

[bad seed]

you americans really need to get your head out of your asses and stop thinking you're the only ones good at stuff.
cause the next decades won't be so fun if that's your world view.

Until another country wins the Super Bowl, America will remain #1. USA! USA!

 

[livingdeadmoose]

I'd say MMA fighters.

Name something they would be bad at.

Climb a tree, rope or net and most of the NFL are terrible.

Being a good athlete isn’t about the application of your athleticism in every little activity you can think of. But you’re smoking something funny if you don’t think NFL players that aren’t linemen can’t climb a fucking tree or rope.

Edit: I’d say most fighters (outside of heavy weights) would be bad at strength output. Yes they strength train to get better at their sport, but most pro mma fighters couldn’t come close to matching amateur powerlifters, Olympic lifters, and strongman at strength.

 

[Rimbaud82]

Everyone thinks the ball control guys in soccer are the best athletes, but really the soccer equivalent of defensive back in football are the Wing backs, and centre backs. Those are the guys that chase around guys like GOATnaldo, Messi, and Neymar.

Don't think centre backs, you can get by there with very poor athleticism if you have good positional play...and it doesn't require a whole lot of running. Modern day wing backs though, for sure are some of the best athletes in soccer.