I remember reading years ago that Wayne Rooney was the fastest player in the Premier League--- at the time the most popular and profitable league in the world.
Wayne ran a 4.55 40 yard dash..........
Show me a anyone in soccer that has ever even thought about squatting over 700lbs. I can show you a battalion worth in the NFL.
Same goes for bench press. Larry Allen bench pressed 700 pounds.
There have been Olympic sprinters play in the NFL. Renaldo Nehemiah-- remember that guy? Darrell Green used to run circles around him.
Hollis Conway is a two time Olympic medalist high jumper. He jumped 7'10.5 inches. He says his "standing vertical" is 31 inches. The NFL combine record is 46 inches.
"The only high jumper I know of who advertises his vertical leap is two-time Olympic medalist Hollis Conway of the U.S. His vertical leap is only 31 inches, which by most standards is just above average."
But clob--- Soccer players run for miles and miles during a game.
Duh--- because they TRAIN for it. You think DBs and WRs can't run for miles and miles already? Now imagine if they trained for it like soccer guys do. They'd run miles and miles ----- but faster.
I get it--- you also have to have foot agility---- and we all know that football players don't have agile feet...... Right? I mean, all those club footed DBs unable to run backwards faster than most humans can run forward and then pivot and turn to run even faster without breaking stride.
I can tell you what our Russian strength coach at Texas told me in 1996 before the summer games when I asked him why the US does so well in some Olympic events but so poorly in others---
"Because- best athletes in world are NFL. If NFL athletes train since age 5 for shot put, pole vault, ice dancing like in Russia-- America win gold silver bronze in all Olympics sports."
1. I don't ever remember Rooney being known as the fastest in PL. There are/were many players much faster. Maybe fastest with the dribble?
2. Why would a soccer player need to squat 700 pounds? And how does that automatically make someone a "better athlete?"
3. Olympic Sprinters can't play soccer either...Usain Bolt is in the equivalent of a glorified beer league and he sucks
4. Ah yes, the great Gerald Sensabaugh, lol
5. If a football player did one day of a soccer training they wouldn't finish. How many soccer trainings have you been to? Participated in? Could these DBs/WRs get used to it? Absolutely.
Surely, you don't think the only athletic attribute a soccer player must possess is endurance...
6. Soccer players back pedal, side sprint, hip pivot, etc. as well. This isn't something unique to a football player
7. Sounds like the Russian guy was using hyperbole. I don't disagree that many of the best athletes choose football. But to say, or even insinuate that all of them are the absolute peak of athletic performance is a punch in the face to basketball players, soccer players, etc. And incredibly short sighted and wrong.
8. No, if the best athletes in the US chose soccer we still probably wouldn't be competing for a WC title. We would have minimally better success, but nothing profound.
On top of that, Christian Pulisic is one of the best American athletes. He is 5-8 and can dunk a basketball. He has a peak speed of about 22 mph and he isn't even in his prime. Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie, Miles Robinson, etc. would have no problem adapting to a football environment.
Some African soccer players would have no problem stacking up against NFL players in an all around athleticism and most African nations struggle to even get out of the group stage.
With all that said, football is the perfect sport for "bigger, stronger, faster." You don't need a specific skill set to be successful. But, you can't play football successfully if you don't have strength and/or speed.
The NFL has the largest collection of athletes, but to say they're the best is incorrect. An elite athlete is an elite athlete, no matter the sport.
