A Comparison of the National Football League's Annual National Football League Combine 1999-2000 to 2015-2016

Fitzgerald, CF and Jensen, RL. A Comparison of the National Football League's annual National Football League combine 1999-2000 to 2015-2016. J Strength Cond Res 34(3): 771-781, 2020-The purpose of this study was to determine if elite football players are becoming bigger, faster, and stronger over the past decade by analyzing individual performances at the National Football League's (NFL) Combine. This study was conducted with (N = 1,263) subjects from the 1999-2000 (99-00) NFL Combines (n = 635) and the 2015-2016 (15-16) NFL Combines (n = 628) separated by position. Data were collected for height, body mass, 40-yd (36.58 m) dash, NFL 225 lb. (102.06 kg) repetitions test, vertical jump (VJ), broad jump (BJ), pro-agility shuttle, and 3-cone drill. Statistical significance between the years for all subjects participating in the NFL Combine was found for the 40-yd dash (99-00: mean +/- SD = 4.85 +/- 3.2; 15-16: 4.80 +/- 3.5; p = 0.002) and VJ (99-00 = 82.04 +/- 10.36 and 83.46 +/- 10.59; p = 0.028) at the alpha p < 0.05 level. Statistical significance was also found for BJ (99-00 = 111.37 +/- 8.81; 15-16: 115.03 +/- 9.22; p < 0.001) and the 3-cone drill (99-00 = 7.41 +/- 0.42; 15-16: 7.29 +/- 4.1; p < 0.001) at the alpha p < 0.001 level. There were no statistically significant findings (p > 0.05) for mass or height found across all subjects by combine years. Results indicate that elite football players have improved their performance, when comparing results from 1999-2000 to 2015-2016. These finding may be beneficial to NFL franchises in their prospective player assessments.