Is there any NFL player that could currently run a 4:30 mile?

NFL players are not superheroes. The majority of letsrun jogger could beat an NFL player in any endurance event. The only thing an NFL player has is strength and speed.

Dial it up wrote:

iouerterfd wrote:

As a high school junior were you playing in the NFL?

Why would you take the time to post something that stupid?

Reasonable enough. The obvious followup question is why would you ever take the time to post anything at all since your posts are consistently the stupidest things to ever get posted on LRC.

The Dingo wrote:

Phil Fondacaro wrote:

Elite decathletes are far worse athletes than NFL players (the reason that they are working at Home Depot to finance their hobby rather than making millions isn't their love of decathlon). If unathletic decathletes that barely train for the mile break 4:30, of course some NFL players can break 4:30.

I think the athletic vs. un-athetlic thing is being overplayed. I have a friend who's a decent athlete that can't break 5:20 in the mile despite training year round. I have another friend who is, in my mind, the worst athlete of all time, and he can run 4:50.

I don't think being an "athlete" has as much to do with it as having the endurance. Athletes have coordination, instincts, explosiveness, etc. These are not necessary to run a 4:30 mile, and don't really help you to run one either.

The notion that a person can run a 4:30 mile and be "un-atheletic" is silly. Having exceptional endurance entails athletism. In the Olympics running is referred to as athletics.

Xfit_guy_the_real_1 wrote:

Most of them have the talent, no doubt.

However, they would have to lose a significant amount of body mass, and with that, most of their appeal to the ladies. After all, the ladies lust after BUFFNESS.

Xfit_guy is correct on this. I can't believe I just said that. :)

You quite obviously implied in your post that because YOU as a high school football player also ran a sub 4:30, this entire thread is absurd about how an NFL player can do it. The problem we are trying to bring up to you about your comparison is that the two situations are totally different. Apples and oranges. A high school kid is not nearly in the same shape of an NFL football player. Therefore, I believe a high school kid has a much HIGHER chance of running sub 4:30 than an NFL player.

Also, the question at hand is not whether an NFL player could train over a period of time and run the 4:30. The questions is: Can an NFL player RIGHT NOW run a sub 4:30 during mid-season football shape. The fact that a high school kid ran a sub 4:30 a month after RECREATIONAL football and basketball (ie, not your full time job) is totally irrelevant and really has no grounds for dismissing the threads validity.

dial it up wrote:

Exactly, the people here saying there is no way are people who either

a)lack athletic ability themselves so 4:30 seems fast

b)have never been around a very high level athlete

4:30 is fast. Obviously, it's fast relative to how fast humans can run a mile. Less than 2% of runners can do it. If you are best suited for sprinting as football speedsters are then it becomes real fast.

Just because a guy can play football at the pro level does not mean he can throw down a 4:30 mile. that time requires significant distance running talent.

No, no, and no. I ran for a lower tear DI college many years back. .[/quote]

A lower tear? Are you saying you sustained a lower tear of some kind, or you shed a tear upon your lower regions when reading this thread?

Fricking moron.

There's plenty of guys in the NFL who can run a 4.4 40 yard dash. Taking that speed and extrapolating to a full mile, and adding a minute for having to run a longer distance gives a 4:13.6 minute mile.

I think that sounds about right, so yeah, definitely, I'd say most NFL players can easily run 4:30 cold

asdfgh wrote:

wrote:

Ted Ginn Jr for example, ran a 46.57 400m in High School. He didn't run track in college, but he definitely could cruise to a 4:30 mile with that speed.

Apparently you've never watched the 1500 in a decathalon.

Great point. As far as athletes go, I would bet decathletes train most similar to football players and even they have some specific training for the 1500m, yet rarely do you have world class decathletes running 4:15 or faster. It happens, though:

This list pulled from a previous LR thread (http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=2026189)

P Decathlete Nat Result Points Venue Date

1 Robert Baker USA 3.58,7 7479 Austin 03.04.1980

2 Herbert Peter GER 4.00,51 7127 Bernhausen 30.07.1978

3 Vladimir Kuznetsov URS 4.00,8 7028 Zhitomir 25.08.1973

4 Robert Fournier USA 4.01,4 7028 Sacramento 13.04.1985

5 John Gamble CAN 4.03,7 7021 Ottawa 21.08.1976

6 Dietmar Jentsch GER 4.04,1 7416 Erfurt 16.06.1979

7 Leonid Litvinenko UKR 4.05,91 7963 Mchen 08.09.1972

8 Thomas Stewens FRG 4.06,65 7300 Brescia 22.05.1988

9 Jan Podebradsky CZE 4.07,20 7876 Lyon 03.07.1994

10 Fritz Mehl GER 4.08,08 7837 Krefeld 16.06.1979

On the other hand, nobody in the 2013 World Championships did an equivalent (4:18 was the fastest). So right there it would seem that the chances for an NFL player who isn't training for it specifically is unlikely to be able to do the same.

However, there's this about NFL football talent: there are more highly trained NFL players than decathletes. The reward incentives are much higher to play football than do decathlon (heck, we didn't even have decathlon in my state in the early 90s) and, as a result, it's going to attract a larger pool of talent. The larger pool of talent means that a disproportionate number of the most talented young athletes are going to go into football and, of those, it will take more talent to ultimately succeed because the competition is so high. Granted, there are many positions in football so you get different body types and most aren't going to have the distance build that so many of you have been getting at. But those that do are more likely to come from that pool of outliers called freak athletes. Those freak athletes could just have the right training to do it.

Given that these guys are already in amazing shape for their sport (which, admittedly, requires standing around doing nothing for about 95% of a 3-hour game), I'd bet chances are good that one of these guys could do it today and, if not, then one of these days someone will come along who could. Maybe today Ginn Jr, Maybe Jeffrey... who knows?

aaryn wrote:

asdfgh wrote:

Apparently you've never watched the 1500 in a decathalon.

Speaking of Ted Ginn Jr., Ashton Eaton runs a 46.02 (and trains for it) and his 1500m PR is 4:14 (and he trained for it).

So maybe you need to find that football player who is NFL slow but gets in the game because he's smart. Maybe he could run a 51.

A handful of wide receivers and kickers ( Emmanuel Sanders, Ted Ginn, Jr., maybe Steve Weatherford ) with track backgrounds would have a decent shot at breaking 4:30 without specific training. There are many pure sprinter types who would never touch 4:30 with or without training. However, I do think some exceptional all-around athletes have the natural efficiency (despite untrained aerobic system) to run quality mid-distance times as long as they are game-fit.

I am confident Brandon Lloyd could have broken 4:30 without specific training in his younger years. Brandon had/ has crazy hops and great speed along with competitive instincts and track sense.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2012/08/06/patriots-brandon-lloyd-every-ball-catchable/QhZWGLIaHomk6oqD3ZywWJ/story.html

As an aside, Nick Setta was a kicker in the CFL and at Notre Dame. Setta ran sub 15 for 3 miles in XC in the same season he kicked an IL HS record 59 yd field goal. He was the Illinois 800 M state champ in 1:53, ran a 3:59 1500m (4:17 mile), high jumped 6-10" and medaled in the 300 Meter hurdles at state.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Setta

http://www.und.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/setta_nick00.html

He did not play in the NFL but he was a professional football player who could likely break 4:30 regardless of his current training focus.

To clarify, Nick Setta was not drafted by the NFL but he was signed and on the roster for New Orleans, Tampa Bay, Chicago, Cleveland and Buffalo. ( I'm not sure if he ever kicked in a regular season NFL game)

In the CFL, he led the league in points and was a CFL all-star in 2006 and was active in the CFL through 2014.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Setta

'Ashton eaton runs a 4:14 1500M. This is one of his worst events (he has run a 45 in the 400M and 10.2 100M). '

No NFL player could run 45 without specific training. So Ashton Eaton who is faster than them over 400m and does some regular training for the 1500m cannot run a sub 4:30 mile but some NFL player who does not even have to run 100m is going to do it.

'Remember these are grown men who have been training for 10+ years at the highest level.'

In a competely different sport which has almost zero cross over. It's amazing how many people come on here who now nothing about running.

Fact is, right now, no one has any proof that any NFL player at any time in their life ever ran sub 4:30. Forget during their NFL career.

The guys who could do it (corners, WRs, QBs, etc) are so gifted physically, which means so quick, explosive and strong, that their specific talent is a hindrance to running a 4:30 mile.

Better chance being a farm league baseball player

This is silly guys. Is the NFL full of great athletes with the POTENTIAL to run 4:30 or better? Absolutely. Can a bunch of them do it right now without specific training? Almost certainly not, and it has nothing to do with athleticism.

Some of you guys keep citing the fact that "tons of scrawny high school kids can run 4:30, so surely fast NFL players could." Well, the fact that those high school kids are scrawny has a lot to do with their ability to run 4:30. Even the smallest NFL players are the Hulk compared to the typical 4:30 miler. And all that extra bulk makes it hard to run a decent time in a primarily aerobic event, especially without training for it.

Disagree that the "NFL is pull of great athletes with the potential to run 4:30 or better"

I doubt it

I doubt Usain Bolt could. He would be receiver in the NFL where people would point to him as easily being able to break 4:30. Possibly specifically trained, surely not as a NFLer

[quote]Rare Exceptions wrote:

A handful of wide receivers and kickers ( Emmanuel Sanders, Ted Ginn, Jr., maybe Steve Weatherford ) with track backgrounds would have a decent shot at breaking 4:30 without specific training. There are many pure sprinter types who would never touch 4:30 with or without training. However, I do think some exceptional all-around athletes have the natural efficiency (despite untrained aerobic system) to run quality mid-distance times as long as they are game-fit.

I am confident Brandon Lloyd could have broken 4:30 without specific training in his younger years. Brandon had/ has crazy hops and great speed along with competitive instincts and track sense.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2012/08/06/patriots-brandon-lloyd-every-ball-catchable/QhZWGLIaHomk6oqD3ZywWJ/story.html

As an aside, Nick Setta was a kicker in the CFL and at Notre Dame. Setta ran sub 15 for 3 miles in XC in the same season he kicked an IL HS record 59 yd field goal. He was the Illinois 800 M state champ in 1:53, ran a 3:59 1500m (4:17 mile), high jumped 6-10" and medaled in the 300 Meter hurdles at state.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Setta

He was training for the track then obviously. You lose a lot more than 10 seconds if you stop training for it and pile on weight

There is zero chance any NFL player could run a 4:30 mile without specific training

Rare Exceptions wrote:

As an aside, Nick Setta was a kicker in the CFL and at Notre Dame. Setta ran sub 15 for 3 miles in XC in the same season he kicked an IL HS record 59 yd field goal. He was the Illinois 800 M state champ in 1:53, ran a 3:59 1500m (4:17 mile), high jumped 6-10" and medaled in the 300 Meter hurdles at state.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Settahttp://www.und.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/setta_nick00.html

He did not play in the NFL but he was a professional football player who could likely break 4:30 regardless of his current training focus.

I've run a 4:15 mile. If I was doing only a ton of football training and no distance training there is no chance I could run a sub 4:30 mile. They are two completely different types of fitness levels.

EXACTLY. If all I was doing was football training(Even less training than professionals do) and I could do it, I am sure a handful of them could do it as well.