Redskins trade for Jason Taylor (updated)

Drift Reality - Please tell me you are joking. Its apparent that everyone on the warpath knows about football, and I'm friends with a few NFL players and they workout all the time.

But to answer your questions (someone please turn this into a poll); I have no clue what Reggie White benched (God bless him) and I can only imagine that Lawrence Taylor benched about 100 kilos of crack rock and squatted about 100 prostitutes. Nate Newton even had a nice offseason workout.

I think the bench press is one way of measuring how much upper body strength a prospect has. Moreover, upper body strength is of obvious importance to defensive linemen.

However, sometimes draft prospects underperform due to lingering injuries, or because they are just having a bad day. Moreover, some defensive ends who don't bench 225 pounds 35 times manage to do quite well against the run and the pass. Consider the below snippet about Terrell Suggs.

SUGGS WORKOUT HURTS DRAFT STOCK

Suggs was a dominating defensive end in the college ranks, but at 6-foot-3 3/8 and 257 pounds, which he measured in at during his workout, he probably doesn't have the size to get it done week after week in the NFL.

Strength was also not on Suggs' side, as he managed just 19 reps during bench press drills. In the 40-yard dash, his times were a very pedestrian 4.84 and 4.88. He had a 33.5" vertical jump, 9-foot-0 broad jump, 32 7/8" arm length, 7.46 three-cone drill and 4.37 and 4.47 short shuttle. Whether he's just a poor workout player or what not, teams are definitely going to be forced to think twice come draft day and this workout probably pushed him out of the top five selections.

...I can only imagine that Lawrence Taylor benched about 100 kilos of crack rock and squatted about 100 prostitutes.

LOL. Great visual.

It could always be worse. But I don't think we should base our expectations on the least common denominator though.

Again, I just said I had mixed feelings. I think he will be a solid contributor if healthy this year and next year.

I feel like they could have realized their lack of depth at this position earlier and tried to bolster this position. That's all I'm saying.

well, I definitely hear ya on that one...a lot of us have been saying this for a long long long time.

On a side note, If both guys stay healthy, I can see Carter / Taylor combining for a good 25 sacks this year...maybe more. No longer will Carter see double teams, and if one doesn't make the QB, the other will. It's exciting to think we will create pressure.

I'm guessing you don't know much about football. What did Reggie White bench? What did LT bench?

Ask anyone who knows football about the importance of bench. Players don't lay on a bench and lift weights in the NFL - they get on a field and knock heads.
I won't bother to respond to your first statement. Your posts are speaking for themselves.

I don't have Reggie's bench numbers but I trust Mike Golic in that he played in the NFL for several seasons and on the same DL as RW for most. He has mentioned several times that RW was an "unbelievable combination of strength and speed". If I'm not mistaken he was consistently one of the strongest, if not the strongest, on the Eagles & Packers teams he played on. LT while not a strong as White, had ridiculous speed and well above average strength. He played LB not LDE. For LDE strength is extremely important.

No one is implying that you should just get the guys with the strongest bench numbers and plug them in. But if "anyone who knows football" thinks bench is unimportant, why is it done at the combine, with every NFL team in attendance. The NFL folks are pretty busy guys and wouldn't waste their time on a drill/test that is not important.

I've mentioned this before also, C. Campbell's D-Line coach in 2006 is on staff at Redskins Park. If he was available at a reasonable position in the draft (he was) and the Skins didn't take him, that tells me all I need to know.

Prior to the combine I was high on C. Campbell also, his size looks great, sack total looks good, but his combine performance and scouting report negatives sent up huge red flags.

I think the bench press is one way of measuring how much upper body strength a prospect has. Moreover, upper body strength is of obvious importance to defensive linemen.

However, sometimes draft prospects underperform due to lingering injuries, or because they are just having a bad day. Moreover, some defensive ends who don't bench 225 pounds 35 times manage to do quite well against the run and the pass. Consider the below snippet about Terrell Suggs.

SUGGS WORKOUT HURTS DRAFT STOCK

Suggs was a dominating defensive end in the college ranks, but at 6-foot-3 3/8 and 257 pounds, which he measured in at during his workout, he probably doesn't have the size to get it done week after week in the NFL.

Strength was also not on Suggs' side, as he managed just 19 reps during bench press drills. In the 40-yard dash, his times were a very pedestrian 4.84 and 4.88. He had a 33.5" vertical jump, 9-foot-0 broad jump, 32 7/8" arm length, 7.46 three-cone drill and 4.37 and 4.47 short shuttle. Whether he's just a poor workout player or what not, teams are definitely going to be forced to think twice come draft day and this workout probably pushed him out of the top five selections.
Agree with you on the premise. My points to Drift are specifically about Campbell, who at 280-290 lbs turned in the worst bench numbers at the combine for DL, looked soft, and there were also motiviation/motor questions on him.

Also, upper body strength is not as critical at RDE or OLB (Suggs positions) as it is for LDE.

Gabe Watson also dropped to the fourth round because of poor/questionable workouts in 2006, and he's become the first round type of talent people thought he would be.

Of course, one year later, fellow Wolverine Alan Branch did the same thing, fell to the 2nd round, and his rookie year was less than promising.

I found a video about Taylor talking about his new number. There's also a pretty entertaining one of the fans reacting to Taylor being a Redskin. Check them out on comcastsportsnet.com. Go skins!

Drift Reality - Please tell me you are joking. Its apparent that everyone on the warpath knows about football, and I'm friends with a few NFL players and they workout all the time.

But to answer your questions (someone please turn this into a poll); I have no clue what Reggie White benched (God bless him) and I can only imagine that Lawrence Taylor benched about 100 kilos of crack rock and squatted about 100 prostitutes. Nate Newton even had a nice offseason workout.

That's pretty funny stuff.

My main point is that people shouldn't get so caught up with metrics like bench reps. and clocked 40 times in my opinion.

I'm not saying that good players don't work out or are not strong. That would be a ridiculous statement.

Anyway, let's just drop it and we'll see what happens when they strap 'em on.

Drift Reality - I was just joking with you. I totally understood where you were going with your statement.