Could a college or NFL lineman break 20?

The average NFL lineman could could probably run about 30 minutes for 5K, some maybe 25 and some maybe 35.

40 for 10K is a good bit harder than 20 for 5K, and especially so for very heavy people. Some of the big guys are explosive & can sprint surprisingly well, but I would be amazed if any can go under 40 for 10K and somewhat surprised if any can go under 20 for 5K.

Lineman are much more athletic than they appear. Many of are surprisingly fast, have high vertical jumps, and are obviously incredibly strong. But I doubt any can crack 20:00 for 5k.

If you told me one or two specific linemen could break 20:00 I would not be especially surprised (big field of candidates, you never know who among the non-runner population has some undiscovered endurance genes), but I would be shocked if it turned out most could do it, or even that it was more than a handful. Think of your town's big 5k and think how many skinny, young or young-ish people you see who CAN'T break 20:00. This thread is right to recognize that NFL OL dudes are crazy athletic and that their size and builds don't tell the real story, but sub-20 is rolling for someone who weighs 300 pounds, no matter how well-trained they are at explosive/short movement. I think sometimes we are prone to assuming "athleticism" is a single stat that carries over well to all forms of movement, but it isn't. There's some crossover between similar sports/movements but this feels like a bridge too far.

I don't think you're appreciating just how much extra weight these guys have to carry. They are big dudes to begin with, then on day one of college training they get told "your optimal playing weight is 50 lbs over your current weight and you won't see the field until you hit your weight goal."

The same way that a marathoner tries to maintain their mileage right at the brink of what their body can take, a lineman maintains their weight right at the edge of what their skeletal structure can physically handle. When you're a big dude whose healthy weight is 250 and you're forcing yourself to maintain a weight of 300 even, you aren't running a 20 minute 5K.

Football players slow down quite a bit after running 40-50yards. That is why if a running back breaks free from the line of scrimmage, a db can often catch him. So no way a lineman can break 20 for a 5k

I played D1 football (no I'm not that Youtuber/Influencer Runner who played WR in New Hampshire or whatever). Our lineman were about done after 8 gassers (that's a down and back across the field).

We also had a physical test in the preseason where we ran ten 40 yard dashes in a row with about 30 seconds recovery (I think). If you ran something like 4.8 for your first rep, you could not run slower that 5.2 for your next nine reps or you were penalized and had to run endless sprints at 5am the next day with the coach.

This was a tough workout for all the guys. Many guys were puking after the workout because it's tough on that type of athlete. Football players are used to playing for 5 seconds a play and having a full recovery.

Coach Spurrier (Florida Gators) used to have a 12-minute fitness test on the track. The WR/QB/RB and Kickers all had to complete 6 laps in that timeframe which is about an 8 minute pace. If that is the criteria for faster players, there is no way a D1 linemen is running faster than that.

It's not unusual for other sports to test endurance with 3000m before the season starts. From what i have seen of results from hockey players and alpine skiers who are both lighter and more trained for endurance i have to say no chance in hell they run sub 20. sub 30 would be more than enough. I do however think most of them would be able to row very fast on a row machine first try

I think they could probably surprise some people @ 400 & under. No chance at sub-20:00. Carrying too much weight & not training for anything remotely close to the demands of an effort like that. Look at how Cross-fitters do at 5k's. I have a fitness friend that sent me a clip of those people running a short course (2.8 miles) & having just a couple athletes under the equivalent of 20:00.

If so, a DE. I've stated on here previous, H.o.F. DT Alan Page and I were in a 5K together. First mile was a net slight down hill. He split first mile in 5:2x. He looked to be 23x lbs. at the time. Some college DE today play at about (230 to 265) lbs., As tall as 6'7"or maybe taller.

Seems like some lineman somewhere someplace might have tried a 5K once. We need to find that dude.

Colts coach Jeff Saturday looks like he's been running considering he went from 300 pounds to under 200. Actually I'd imagine many linmen lose weight after retiring.

Someone posted the other day about a Colts draft pick in the early 90s running a 5minute mile and smoking all his teammates who ran it with him. Defensive end Steve Emtman. I'd have to see that to believe it though.

Some of the smaller defensive ends and maybe some tight ends could, but weighing 250 lbs, let alone 350 or even 400 lbs is absolutely no joke for any aerobic exertion over a few minutes.

I think this is a case of how us runners tend to fall into an echo chamber and think X time is unimpressive cause all of us and our friends who were highschool/college teammates that are top 1-10% talents that specialize in the event could do it pretty easily.

I think if you were to test a couch 300 lb dude against a collegiate football 300 lb dude the the difference in Vo2Max relative to bodyweight as well as strength to bodyweight would be astounding (no duh) but I think it would be uncommon to see any of these guys running a sub 8:00 mile and very rare to see a sub 7:00, let alone 6:2x miles for 3.1.

I remember in highschool gym class a good friend of mine who went on to be a D1 right tackle ran about a 9:30-something mile and just about passed out at the end. He put on a good 30-40 lbs going into college too. The difference being that the kid with similar size to him ran at 10:00 pace for 150m, and then walked the rest of the mile in god knows how long huffing and puffing and holding the whole class back from moving on.

I played highschool ball until 10th grade and obviously there’s a large leap in athleticism from HS to collegiate football, but what I saw even out of our college prospects tells me the answer is probably no. In my final season with the team I’d whoop the entire squad including skills in conditioning violently except for one other guy (who ended up being a 49 400m guy as a junior and ran a 4:47 mile the one time he tried it) when I was in roughly 19:30-20:30ish 5k shape.

What did he end up running that day?

Page played in the 60s/70s. The game has definitely changed since then. I saw that he ran a marathon in the 3:20s after his playing days. That's not worth sub-20:00. Still impressive. But I'm not sure many linemen could run sub-20. I thought we were talking just offensive linemen. There will be a few defensive guys with a shot. I still think they're mostly going to be over.

No. But don’t say it to their face. They’d squash you like a grape.Pretty much any professional runner would be dead or paralyzed if they got in front of one of these guys on a sweep.