NFL Combine Bench Press--Yea or Nay?

[DoomPatrol]

The combine bench press is done because it's easy to get a couple dozen guys to go through. They stay at 225lbs because it's easy to load, is close to the average weight of football players, and everyone can do it.

If they tried to do some sort of 5RM you would have all sorts of issues. First you would have to load up each players weight which takes a lot of time. If you stay at 225lbs then you can have all the players knock it out rather quick. And what happens if you have players do some sort of 1rm or 5rm? What if they miss their weight? What if they try a weight they can't hit and they tear a pec or get hurt somehow? There's just too many potential problems with that. Repping out 225lbs is a quick and easy standard to determine how much upper body strength a player has.

The exact number isn't a huge deal. It's more about what range are you in. Did you hit 10 reps? Kind of weak for an NFL player, especially if you're a linebacker or lineman. 15 to 20 reps? That's stronger. 20-40 reps? You never have an issue with strength on the field. It's just the combine, the teams don't really care too much unless you're a nobody. They care more about your performance in the sprint and drills.

 

[UFCLEGEND88]

yeah the combine bench press is the least important. Are you 270lbs and athletic?....you will lift a lot of reps at the combine. Rocket science.

I know 170lb 55 year olds that rep 225 easily. Yeah it's a measure of strength.....but so are a lot of things

so is looking at a guy, how big his muscles are, weighing him, watching him hit guys on the field....

do we really need to know exactly how many times an athletic young 300lb guy can rep 225 lbs? especially when we know less athletic 150lb guys can hit that for 10+ reps without excessive training?

at least up the weight, find a different lift or just get rid of the test.