Posts tagged NFL

RSP Combine Contest: Guess the 40 Times

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Can you guess RGIII's 40 time at the 2012 NFL Combine? If you do, you could win a free RSP. Photo by cmiked.

I’m not big proponent of 40 times. They have their place, but I’ll take a 4.6 RB with great vision, good initial acceleration and balance any day over a 4.3 guy with a lot less of those other three qualities. So to make the 2012 NFL Combine more interesting, I’m holding another contest.

Your job is to guess the 40 times of Robert Griffin III, Chris Polk, and Alshon Jeffery. The closest person to guess any of these times correctly (the first person for each player)  wins a free copy of an issue of the Rookie Scouting Portfolio from 2006-2010. Here’s the details:

  1. Go to my Rookie Scouting Portfolio Page on Facebook.
  2. “Like” my Facebook page.
  3. List the 40 times under each wall post I’ve created (How fast will Robert Griffin III run the 40? How fast will Chris Polk run the 40?, etc.) .
  4. Don’t post the times on my personal Facebook wall, in a Twitter response, or on this blog – those entries will be disqualified.

If one of you guesses all three correctly (to the 100th of a second), I will give you this year’s and 2013’s RSP free.

Are you ready to be a human stopwatch? Go to my Facebook page and give it a shot.

Random Post-Super Bowl Thoughts and Rants

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The Super Bowl game is kind of like Michelangelo's famous work. The spectacle, not so much. Photo by Nathan Rupert.

I turn 42 today. I don’t feel 42 except when my knees feel like they’re 60 after playing Jene Bramel in a pick up game of basketball and it serves as confirmation that I still have to shed another 20 pounds. Since it is my birthday, I feel like sharing my thoughts on the spectacle in Indy that was the Super Bowl. So if you will indulge me I’ll take it as a birthday gift.

“Super Bowl Sunday”

I want you to to look at Michelangelo’s sculpture of David.  The craftsmanship and the detail raise the aesthetic beauty of the human body to a spiritual level. It’s a great work of art.

Now I want you to imagine David dressed in an Armani tux, surrounded by singers and dancers in Goliath costumes performing to a light show that begins with dry ice clouds and ends with fireworks, and the display hall draped in Budweiser and Geico banners. That’s what the Super Bowl has done to the NFL Championship Game. Overkill.

I understand why the NFL dresses its big game in emperor’s clothes. Just don’t tell me that I have to like it. The game is beautiful and compelling without its commercialization.

I admit I enjoy the television commercials, the Kia ad with Motley Crue, Chuck Liddell, and the surreal sequences of a rodeo rider on a rhino and two lumberjacks sawing a gigantic sub was terrific. So was the Chevy truck ad set post-Mayan Apocalypse. However you know what I thought of the halftime performance that delays the third quarter?

I can’t tell you because I didn’t see it. It seemed like a good time to do the dishes and clean the litter box.

Ahmad Bradshaw

The Giants runner had an uneven game and his “accidental touchdown” could have cost his team a championship. However, I feel sympathy for Bradshaw.  Continue reading →

Fond Memories(?) of a Violent Game

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Playing the game of football holds amazing memories, but I never got seriously injured. How do you feel about its long-term effects on former players? Photoby LC Nottassen

The sum of my experience playing organized football is one season in a DeKalb County Pop Warner league in Atlanta, Ga. I missed tryouts because my family had just moved there from Cleveland, Ohio and I joined the team a week before its first game. I had no experience playing in pads and like most kids I wanted to be a running back or wide receiver. Continue reading →

Crossing the Divide: Titans WR Damian Williams

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Damian Williams has the ability to become a primary WR in the NFL, but does he have the mindset? Photo by Nathan Rupert.

Last week, I wrote about the great emotional divide that NFL prospects must cross in order to transition from college talent to productive pro player. A player currently attempting to cross this divide is Titans wide receiver Damian Williams, a third-round pick in the 2010 NFL Draft currently starting in place of the injured Kenny Britt. Williams epitomizes a player balancing precariously on the line separating a breakthrough and a breakdown. Continue reading →

Travelle Gaines: API Director of Elite Athlete Development

0 Comments read Matt Waldman
Cowboys DB is among the myriad of NFL veterans that participate in offseason training with Travelle Gaines at API. Photo by Travelle Gaines.

Travelle Gaines gets people to do things they never thought they could. Considering that most of these people are elite college and pro football athletes makes his job fascinating. Gaines lacks the formal education of a trainer (kinesiology, physical therapy, etc.). His educational process was more old school: apprenticeship and experience. A former college football player and workout warrior, Gaines credits legendary LSU strength and conditioning coaches Tommy Moffitt and Gayle Hatch for what he’s learned about training.

Gaines has clearly taken these lessons and added his own perspective to develop a clientele that includes some of the best football players in the world: Chris Johnson, LeSean McCoy, Percy Harvin, Bob Sanders, Jon Beason, Matt Hasselbeck, Ryan Mathews, Marcus Trufant, and over 100 others. Gaines is now the director of Pro Training at Athletes’ Performance Institute. He agreed to take some time to have a conversation about his career, his role and process with training football players, and the transition required to go from college to pro football.
Continue reading →

RSP Readers Poll: 2011 NFL Season

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With the 2011 NFL season approaching fast I want to know your takes. Photo by Matt McGee

I have great readers and I’m curious about your takes heading into the 2011 NFL season. Since I’ve spent all summer giving my takes on the NFL, now it’s your turn to share yours.  Below are 15 questions. Continue reading →

Eye Catching Tweets: NFL Preseason Week 1 (8/15)

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49ers RB Kendall Hunter is demonstrating that he's a good fit with the team because he's decisive and explsoive. Photo by Wunderlich Photography.

Randall Cobb

@gbpressgazette #Packers rookie receiver Randall Cobb shows ability to do damage in slot position: gbpg.net/n4FREL

@MattBowen41 I am impressed with #Packers rookie WR Randall Cobb. Post up at NFP at 11 E

The gist of the situation: Cobb’s 60 yards on 3 catches – 2 of them third down conversions – has everyone excited about the possibility of Cobb becoming a regular season factor on offense as a rookie. Even Packers cornerback Charles Woodson is impressed with Cobb. Even Aaron Rodgers was quoted in the Press-Gazette as saying that he’s excited about Cobb and looks forward to getting reps with him.

My take: The receiver depth chart is a crowded place in Green Bay. Donald Driver might be 36 in football years (47 in media years), but Continue reading →

Reads, Listens, and Views…and Tweets 8/5

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How good are UTEP's Kris Adams (Bears) and Cincinnati's Armon Binns (Jags)? The 2011 RSP has the low-down. Collage by Matt Waldman.

A great week of football at the Rookie Scouting Portfolio. A healthy dose of training camp helps. Special thanks to all of you who have subscribed to the blog or have made it part of your daily ritual. If you like what you’ve seen thus far, please consider these three acts of kindness: Continue reading →

Sigmund Bloom Part III

0 Comments read Matt Waldman
Footballguys/Draftguys writer Sigmund Bloom mentions Cadillac Williams as an under appreciated NFL player - not fantasy player - NFL player. Bloom could see him as the 2000s version of Rocky Bleier. Photo by Sienc.

In this part of my conversation with Sigmund Bloom, Footballguys senior staff writer and Draftguys co-founder, we discuss under appreciated NFL players, emerging NFL players, the Bloom 100, what he’s watching when he’s evaluating players, and why he plays in 25-plus fantasy leagues .

Waldman: Aside from fantasy football, just as a fan of the game, tell me about some players you’ve seen as you watch all of these games who you feel are underappreciated to the average fan.

Bloom: Yeah. Wow. Of course, I’m going to start with the Pittsburgh Steelers. If you watch what they ask their players to do then you’ll understand why James Farrior is the guy that James Harrison, Lamar Woodley, and Lawrence Timmons get a lot more attention because of him. Posse is just there every game whether it’s coverage, whether it’s run-stuffing, whether it’s blitzing. This is the guy that has really been the unsung hero of that Steelers defense. And I really believe that because of the guys he plays with – Troy Polamalu – he is never going to be one of the first people mentioned in a discussion of great NFL linebackers but as a lifelong Steelers fan and someone who is passionate about the Steelers organization, he is one of those guys.

Some of the other players…somebody who has never gotten due is Cadillac Williams. He’s persevered through so many injuries. To come all the way back and then suffer another catastrophic injury twice…and he was clutch for Tampa Bay last year! Them becoming a winning team last year was a lot due to the offense and he did some amazing things on third down for this team. I’m honestly shocked that they aren’t trying to bring him back. I think whomever he goes to will find that he will be an important contributor and fan favorite. I can only hope that the Pittsburgh Steelers will be one of the teams that eventually gets in the running for him. We’re not going to talk about how great Williams is for fantasy football, but I do believe he is a player who has great value to a team.

Waldman: He could be the modern day version of Rocky Bleier.

Bloom: Yeah, without the shrapnel in his leg… Continue reading →