Brock Lesnar NFL Highlights; "A-Level Athlete"?

Givvee said:
He didn't really know the game and let's remember that he played against guys who played all through HS and College, that's a lot of experience. Let's put it this way, he did way better than any of them would do in a wrestling match against him.
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Stephen Neal, the guy that beat Brock twice in the NCAA championships, played in the NFL without any prior experience and won a couple Superbowl rings.
 
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Playing on the interior defensive line in American football takes technique. Even for a freak athlete.

You can get away with less technique playing at the end of the line (defensive end), at least when the quarterback is throwing the ball.

You can take a great athlete but if you put them into a new sport/position where skill is required, they're likely to fail. Particularly against other highly-skilled athletes with similar physical attributes.

I took a friend one time to play basketball who had never really played. This guy was a gym lifting freak of nature and a high level grappler.

But he was totally lost on the court and was horrendous.
 
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just shows how much tougher it is to break into the NFL than MMA, even if you're a human freak.
 
Gamer2k4 said:
I stumbled upon this video of Brock Lesnar playing for the Minnesota Vikings back in 2004:



I think the thing that surprised me most is just how ordinary, or even sub-par, he looked. Yes, I understand this was his first attempt at football in nearly a decade (and he had only ever played high school ball), and to make even the practice squad of a professional football team with nothing but pure physical ability is absolutely remarkable. Still, when surrounded by similarly massive linemen, Lesnar loses that "specimen" mystique that he has in both the UFC and the WWE.

We talk a lot about how the best athletes in the world aren't in MMA; they're earning real money in more prolific sports. Does Lesnar's short stint in the NFL prove that? Or does it prove just the opposite - that on pure natural talent and next to no actual training and experience, Lesnar could hang with the pros regardless of all of their supposed advantages, and they're not all the incredible athletes we make them out to be? (For context, if we assume each of the 32 NFL teams has 6-7 defensive lineman, that makes Lesnar in the top 200 in the WORLD - and that's with no prior experience whatsoever.)

EDIT: Sorry the link doesn't embed properly. At least you can still watch it on YouTube.
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You've been posting at Sherdog for 5 years and only just realised NFL players would destroy all UFC fighters?

Fucking idiot.
 
4th quarter, preseason.


Just to be clear, he was on the field with a lot of other people who never made any pro teams.

It IS impressive that he even made it that far, but he's out there with the 5th stringers.

Also, TS, NFL teams have more than 6-7 defensive linemen. Normally they'll have closer to 12, and then practice squad guys.
 
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Bend NvR Break said:
Stephen Neal, the guy that beat Brock twice in the NCAA championships, played in the NFL without any prior experience and won a couple Superbowl rings.
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He also got waived from two different practice squads before he got signed, and spent a good deal of time injured when he did find success. Let's not pretend he was the Drew Pearson of offensive linemen.
 
I hate when DLs wear numbers in the 60s-70s... Makes them look awkward I think
 
Davemeddlehed said:
He also got waived from two different practice squads before he got signed, and spent a good deal of time injured when he did find success. Let's not pretend he was the Drew Pearson of offensive linemen.
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He started on at least 2 Patriot's Superbowl teams. Good enough for me to give him praise. People are giving Brock praise and he got cut from the Vikings, couldn't make the practice squad and was offered a spot in what was really the NFL developmental league.

And people are saying Brock should've player college football. He wasn't good enough people. He played 4 years in high school.
 
Davemeddlehed said:
He also got waived from two different practice squads before he got signed, and spent a good deal of time injured when he did find success. Let's not pretend he was the Drew Pearson of offensive linemen.
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Your right he wa injured often but he was very legit during his prime. Most definitely an above average nfl guard
 
Brock would have been considered a top athlete if he played in the NFL but by NFL standards he wasn't a athletic freak. There are many players more athletically gifted than him and stronger.
 
Context matters
 
Bend NvR Break said:
Stephen Neal, the guy that beat Brock twice in the NCAA championships, played in the NFL without any prior experience and won a couple Superbowl rings.
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Guys like Neal are the exception, but yeah, he was a great athlete. It is worth noting that he bounced around on at least one practice squad and didn't start more than a game or two until his third or fourth season. It took him a few years to learn the game. He never quite lived up to his full potential, but I think it was mostly due to chronic injuries.

PwCPzT1.jpg
 
War Pig said:
Brock would have been considered a top athlete if he played in the NFL but by NFL standards he wasn't a athletic freak. There are many players more athletically gifted than him and stronger.
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Who? He was definitely an athletic freak by NFL standards. He just wasn't a good football player by NFL standards.
 
Bend NvR Break said:
He started on at least 2 Patriot's Superbowl teams. Good enough for me to give him praise. People are giving Brock praise and he got cut from the Vikings, couldn't make the practice squad and was offered a spot in what was really the NFL developmental league.

And people are saying Brock should've player college football. He wasn't good enough people. He played 4 years in high school.
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He also didn't enter the NFL a year after graduating college like Neal did. He walked onto the practice squad six years later, making it a total of a decade since he'd last put on pads. He wasn't cut because he wasn't good enough. He was cut because his skills were wholly unrefined, and he had issues learning the playbook.
 
ryanrandy said:
Your right he wa injured often but he was very legit during his prime. Most definitely an above average nfl guard
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Oh I'm not saying Neal wasn't a very good player. I'm just saying he didn't take the position by storm the way @Bend NvR Break wants to paint things.
 
kashmir said:
His NFL combine statistics are better than J.J Watt's. He's clearly a superior athlete than most "A Level" NFL guys.

Terrible ball player though.
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His combine numbers weren't better than Watt's.
 
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