Blazing fast Dalvin Cook shows how irrelevant 40-yard dash times can be

[purplefaithful]

At Florida State, Dalvin Cook gained a reputation as one of the quickest players in college football. His 40-yard dash time, though, is nothing special.A stop watch is certainly one tool available when measuring the speed of NFL players, but like a lot of measuring tools that have been around for a while it is probably not the best. Simply gauging how long it takes a player to go from point A to point B in a straight line is a convenient way to compare a lot of people in a similar situation, but it’s not a thing that really happens on the football field much.
A good example: Vikings rookie running back Dalvin Cook. At Florida State, Cook gained a reputation as one of the quickest players in college football. Then he arrived at the NFL Scouting Combine and ran the 40-yard dash in 4.49 seconds — a good time, to be sure, but maybe not the number some teams were looking for.
SB Nation wrote of Cook’s combine performance: “An average performance at the 2017 NFL Combine tempered a lot of enthusiasm. Cook ran a 4.49-second 40-yard dash, slower than expected.”
http://www.startribune.com/blazing-fast-...444228353/

[Guest]

The Vikings drafted Cook in the second round. Presumably character questions were as big a factor as anything in him lasting that long, but teams could also nitpick about his speed.
So it was interesting — and heartening, for a Vikings fan — to see this nugget tweeted Tuesday by Randall Liu of NFL Communications: “Dalvin Cook recorded 2 of the top 3 fastest max speeds by a RB in Week 1 reaching top speeds of: 20.45 MPH 19.98 MPH.”
That jibes with a tweet from April — between the combine and the draft — from Bleacher Report’s Marcus Mosher: “According to Sports Science, Cook has the second fastest top speed of any RB they’ve tested in the past five years.”

[Guest]

He got chased down by a LBer who had a bad angle on his 33 yd. run. 

[Guest]

@mgobluevikes said:
He got chased down by a LBer who had a bad angle on his 33 yd. run. 

The LB with a bad angle had the fastest time.  On second thought, it was a good angle

[Guest]

@mgobluevikes said:
He got chased down by a LBer who had a bad angle on his 33 yd. run. 

Looked plenty fast in the game vs Michigan...

[Guest]

@mgobluevikes said:
He got chased down by a LBer who had a bad angle on his 33 yd. run. 

Angles. Angles. Angles. 

[Guest]

Underwear fast and football fast are 2 different things.  I think the combine is the most overrated event in sports.

(Except for the interviews)

[Guest]

He got 127 yards.  I'm good.  Now he just needs to stay out of off the field troubles that plagued him in the past

[Guest]

Running in a straight line and on field speed are two different things (Yes, you guys know this lol) and if anyone watched Cook in college would know just how fast he is with the ball in his hands.
My favorite player coming out (FSU fan I must admit)

[Guest]

@mgobluevikes said:
He got chased down by a LBer who had a bad angle on his 33 yd. run. 

Actually, I thought there was no way anyone was going to catch him on that last run. I think he was getting gassed. But it's a damn fine game 1 imo. 

Clearly a tail-back for this generation of play...