40 times are over rated!!

In my opinion, they're useful as a rough guide to see how fast someone is and that's it.

I'm much more interested in how someone performs on the field.

I think 40 times for d-linemen are such a waste of time.....

I always tell my d-line if we are having to run 40 yards that is usually not a good thing because it means we are chasing down a ball carrier who broke free

I am much more concerned with a 3-5 yard burst and balance with those guys

When a number is so subjective...why do colleges always ask for it? Whereas the clean is completely objective!

I have not run the 40 in over 8 years with my kids! When does a FB player run 40 yards in a straight line? we try to mold drills to be game like situations and we try to make the weight room as significant to the field as possible, so why would we run the 40?

I run the kids in the 20 yard dash and this is for all athletes in all sports! 20 yards is close to home to first in baseball, a turnover in basketball, KO in football, half of a dig route, you get the point. It is more sport specific.

We run 40s two or three times a year as part of our lifting classes. We want the guys to see that the lifting is not only making them bigger and stronger but also faster. We don't pay any attention to the 40 times on the football field.

Only time it matters is if it is done at an official Combine or some kind of scouting day. Then it does matter as well as other tests and skills. Those kids that do well at scout or rivals combines are always timed and their profiles are seen by many.

Because that is the kind of stuff college recruiters look at. If a kid is 6'4" 230# and runs a 4.5 40 there is a good chance someone will take a chance on him as a college player whether his high school performance is great or not.

it is just another tool used to asses the athletic ability of an athlete. it is far from being the ultimate reference for football skill or playing time. however, we do test a few time a year. it gives the kids something to work for. and while the results are very minimal in our eyes, it gives the kids another chance to compete and be able to see improvement (which always leads to more confidence).

one thing that really irritates me is all the sub 4.4's we see out there on pages like Rivals. if this country has that much speed in the 14-18 year old group (as these "trainer" and "agents" like Bryan Butler claim), then we will be seeing our olympic team winning all kinds of gold medals in future olympics.....

That's why I enjoy reading the results from the NFL combine. When the results are objective and public it's fun to see how many LBs who were 6'3" on Rivals are really 6'0" and how many ex-4.4s run in the high 4.5s.

We time a few times a year for a number of reasons. Partly, it's just because the kids expect it and want it (attendance is always good on timing days). Partly its to show improvement. We also use it as a guideline (only a guideline) as to what position a kid should play. A good player and athlete who runs a 4.9 needs to be on the field but maybe not at corner. If a lineman runs better than expected maybe he can play defense after all.

I don't know about the rest of you, but how much time do you devote to teaching the proper technique on running a 40. In my understanding, improving your start technique can drastically reduce your 40 time, and how much of football is running a linear 40 yd dash. To me, agility is more important. I once heard a very successful coach talking about the weightroom and his kids and how much they lift. His words were "As soon as they put a squat rack or a bench press on the 50 yard line and give us points for how much we can lift, I will start caring about the quantitative number. I want my kids strong, fast, and confident and not to worry about the number. Kids that can lift more generally have shorter arms and legs!"

That hit home with me and we focus very little on the quantitative aspect of lifting.

Another reason why I don't necessarily do 40 times anymore is my first year we took over as a staff, i timed all 40's and out of 45 kids, NOT 1 had a time under 5.0. That was depressing and we finished not very well. We took our focus off of the number and focused more on the result of just getting faster and stronger without the empahsis of how much one can lift.

Someone eluded to this earlier as well. Two years ago we had a senior move into the district, this kid was a speciman and played football at his old school. Legit 450 squat, legit 335 bench, 250 clean, and the fastest kid on the team, needless to say we were licking our chops. Couldn't play a lick of football. Threw the pads on him and he was just ordinary, nothing special.

We test to show improvement and because to the players it's important. I agree that it is overrated and I believe Michael Irvin at this years Combine did a great job of explaining why (WR never runs a route with his head down for the first 15yds...)

I admit that I get caught up in numbers, specifically out of season. I'm a strength coach though- that's part of my job is to improve the numbers!

We do it to have a mark to shoot for improvement, etc. and something for them to put down on recruiting cards, but I don't know how accurate it is. We have a kid now that can probably run at best a 4.8 in the 40. However, when he's on the field, he's very tough to catch and is rarely run down from behind. I've never seen anything like it, and we play in FL so a 4.8 is gonna get you run down by...one of the cheerleaders!!!!

For the coaches who don't time 40's...what do you tell the college coach when they ask?