40 times for offensive linemen…who friggin’ cares?!

The NFL Combine is several days of college players being treated like a complete piece of meat. How strong are you? How fast are you? How smart are you? Was your mother a prostitute? (ok, that wasn’t technically during the Combine, but you get the point).

This whole obsession with knowing every possible thing about a player’s second cousin’s uncle’s wives’ sister’s underwear changing habits started when the New York Jets drafted Wesley Walker, a talented receiver who could only see out of one eye. So, teams got all worried and now you have this monstrosity known as the NFL Combine.

Now, PFT just passed this along regarding the 40-yard dash times of the offensive lineman, which were just officially released today.

Oklahoma tackle Donald Stephenson registered the fastest forty for an offensive lineman at this year’s Combine, running an official 4.94. Projected top-three pick Matt Kalil, a left tackle from USC, was this year’s second-place finisher with an official time of 4.99.

Other top official forties included Iowa guard Adam Gettis’ 5.00 flat, Rutgers guard Desmond Wynn’s 5.05, and South Dakota tackle Tom Compton’s 5.11.

Iowa tackle Riley Reiff notched a 5.23, officially, and Georgia tackle/guard Cordy Glenn clocked a 5.15.

Among notable linemen, some of the slower times were posted by Ohio State tackle Mike Adams (5.40), Wisconsin guard Kevin Zeitler (5.39), and Midwestern State Amini Silatolu (5.43).

PFT noted that these aren’t very important, but I want to know why they even run the 40-yard dash? Why in the hell do you care about how fast a huge lineman is in a dead sprint? If that 40 time ever becomes relevant on the playing field, something verrry wrong just happened.

The fact that they even have these guys run at all is stupid. Who on Earth would look at a 40 time and draft a lineman because of it? “He can’t block, but he’s fast as hell!”

Makes no sense whatsoever.