Better Athletes NFL or NBA players?

[nuposse04]

Height isn't an athletic measurement, its a physical trait. NBA players probably have better stamina, and as an average probably better speed (because of the linemen involved in football). If you examine the skill positions in the NFL, basically anything outside of the trenches save for a few freak DE's the NFL has a **** **** ton of guys that exude better speed, strength, leaping ability and body control then above average NBA athletes. It also depends what physical traits you put more weight on. You'd be hard pressed to find a guy in the NBA with JJ Watt's strength, but you'd be hard pressed to find a guy in the NFL with Rudy Gay's max vertical reach (although I think megatron comes close).

That all being said, if you're 6'4 215, I'd probably try to play basketball. Its a physically easier sport, by far. Would take more work to get "good" at as its predicated on a lot of skill.

[tha_rock220]

NFL 40 times are a joke. Half the guys in the NFL can apparently run it faster than Justin Gatlin. Not only is the dude an Olympic medalist, but he has arguably the best start of any top level 100m sprinter.

[Doddage]

Depends on the position, for the most part.

[Golabki]

First, I'd exclude the guys with clearly unique body types (7 ft centers and 300lb line men). After that I think the nba has the clearly better athletes just because there are so many more players I the nfl so the talent is more diluted.


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[Drehova]

Add another former basketball player turned tight end to the list. Denver Broncos Julius Thomas.lol

Dude was an avg college player but was a good enough NFL prospect to be a 4th round pick.

A lot of teams are looking and signing college basketball players to play te and wr .

Like some one else said I'd be willing to bet more nba players would succeed in the nfl than nfl'ers in the nba

[Drehova]

Demetruis Harris made the Chiefs practice squad after not playing a lick of cfb . He played college ball at Wisconsin-Milwaukee .

The Ravens signed Ole Miss basketball player Lawrence Okoye who hasn't played fottball since his jr year in high school.


Darren Fells signed a 3 year deal with the Seahawks . He played international ball and had no college football expirence,

That's just a few guys from this off season . There was a least a 3/4 signings like this last year too . I know one signed with the Raiders.

[KennyDuwayne]

Demetruis Harris made the Chiefs practice squad after not playing a lick of cfb . He played college ball at Wisconsin-Milwaukee .

The Ravens signed Ole Miss basketball player Lawrence Okoye who hasn't played fottball since his jr year in high school.


Darren Fells signed a 3 year deal with the Seahawks . He played international ball and had no college football expirence,

That's just a few guys from this off season . There was a least a 3/4 signings like this last year too . I know one signed with the Raiders.

Is that supposed to mean something? When they make a squad and start then we can talk. Darius Miles was given 40 million based on athleticism and 0 skill. When have you seen a QB not be able to throw a football 50 yards and still get that much money?

[Wizardspride]

Wow, there's some ignorance in this thread

1. To the dude that said Bo didn't lift a weight, STFU. You have no idea what you're talking about, Herschel Walker is said to be the one who never lifted weights.
2. NBA are so much slower than NFL players that isn't even funny. Lebron said he ran a 4.6 and he is considered one of the fastest players in the league.
3. The strength factor is also ridiculous, AP is close to the same height as DRose yet he weighs about 40 pounds more and he is just as quick and faster.
4. To the guy that said NBA players can jump higher, Barry Sanders dunked straight off of vert and he's only like 5'9

To put it in perspective Lebron supposedly runs a 4.6 and he's considered to be one of the faster players in the open court.

Trent Williams (Pro Bowl LT) runs a 4.8, has a 34inch vertical and outweighs James by almost 70lbs.

And yes, he can dunk a basketball as well.

[BmanInBigD]

The skill players in the NFL are probably the best athletes of all. DB's, WR's, RB's. Deion Sanders is probably a better athlete than anybody ever in the NBA. HOF footballer, Major League baseball player, and all-state in basketball. Those guys are fast, quick, strong, can jump, throw, all with incredible body awareness.

On average, I still think NFL'ers are better athletes than NBA'ers. Even a big, fat-looking lineman is usually pretty fast and quick, whereas you got some guys like Manute Bol and others that can barely move. Height is usually in inverse proportion to athletic ability and being that height is one of the most important assets in basketball, it just makes sense that shorter football players would be more athletic.

[BubbaTee]

Add another former basketball player turned tight end to the list. Denver Broncos Julius Thomas.lol

Dude was an avg college player but was a good enough NFL prospect to be a 4th round pick.

A lot of teams are looking and signing college basketball players to play te and wr .

Like some one else said I'd be willing to bet more nba players would succeed in the nfl than nfl'ers in the nba

Eh, every now and then you might find a prodigy, it happens in every sport.
- Andrew Bynum started playing basketball when he was 15. By age 17, he was a top-10 NBA draft pick.
- Joel Embiid didn't start playing basketball until 2011, and he's a projected top-10 pick in the 2014 draft. And he would've been a top-10 pick in the 2013 draft too, if not for the age rule.

Does that prove it's easy to become an NBA-caliber player? No, there's prodigies in every area of life. Bobby Fischer doesn't prove it's easy to become a chess grandmaster. BJ Penn doesn't prove it's easy to become a brazilian jiu-jitsu champion. You can't look at a prodigy and say "It only took him 2 years to do X, I bet any NBA player could also do X in 2 years."

[kooldude]

The top tier athletes of the NBA are superior. You simply can't disregard their height. A 6'6 athletic freak is more impressive than a 6' freak. That's what makes Lebron special; even if he was 6'2, he would still be considered a freak. At his current height, he's an once a generation specimen.

[BirdManAndersen]

It's easily football.

The key to making the NBA is to have the height, and wingspan/length. That's the main line of separation between them and your average person.

Now football players...other than the OTs and QBs their height is closer to a regular person. What separates them is that they are freak of nature athletes. Incredible speed, strength, explosiveness. NFL players are the best athletes in the world.

I played a ton of basketball against the players at my D3 college back in the day. Now at a D3 school the players arn't exceptionally long, or tall....closer to the average person. And I've also played some basketball against the football players at the school as well. Let me tell you, playing against the football team was an absolute nightmare. They had poor skills, but they are out there trapping everyone on the perimeter with amazing speed, getting out in the fast break, it is extremely hard to drive by them on defense, they rebound well, and their first steps are extremely explosive, way more than the bball players. Football players are definitely way better athletes.

[BmanInBigD]

The top tier athletes of the NBA are superior. You simply can't disregard their height. A 6'6 athletic freak is more impressive than a 6' freak. That's what makes Lebron special; even if he was 6'2, he would still be considered a freak. At his current height, he's an once a generation specimen.

I disagree. At 6 feet or even 6'2", he wouldn't be considered that special. There's tons of guys as athletic as him; his height (6'8", not 6'6", btw) and length make him so unusual. And he's the exception in the NBA. And even still if you had an all-around test of athletic ability, Deion and Bo Jackson would come out ahead of him.

[jinxed]

The top tier athletes of the NBA are superior. You simply can't disregard their height. A 6'6 athletic freak is more impressive than a 6' freak. That's what makes Lebron special; even if he was 6'2, he would still be considered a freak. At his current height, he's an once a generation specimen.

Why is height considered a 'good' athletic trait? It depends on the sport. For basketball yes, height is great. Gymnastics? Nope, height's a bad thing. A 6'8 cyclist? Err..aerodynamic nightmare. Would also weigh too much to climb hills effectively.

The average Olympic Gold Medalist is 6'0 tall. The perfect all around height for an athlete. Which is why the best decathletes are around that size.

[CodyB_]

The problem with American Football is the fact that it always stops. Which means the "athletes" as you put them, generally have one thing to do and then they get another rest. They are as one dimensional as short distance sprinters in athletics.

Basketball players are playing 2-3 minutes sometimes without stoppage, moving laterally, forwards, backwards and jumping. Raw bench numbers, vert or combine stats aren't going to make up for the fact that NFL players couldn't back and forth in the NBA.

[sp6r=underrated]

Athleticism is a somewhat ambigious term. Stamina, Body control and hand-eye coordination are to me part of athleticism but that is not what people focus on when discussing athleticism. Athleticism is typically used for acceleration/quickness and raw strength. By those attributes the top NFL players kill the average NBA player.

Accordingly the answer is football. That doesn't change the fact that football basically sucks and is doomed long-term due to punch-drunk syndrome.

[Frank Mulely]

Definitely NBA. I went to high school with guys who made the NFL and played overseas in hoops and went to college with a bunch of NFL and NBA players - and played pickup basketball against both of them, including Tony Gonzalez (who is an athletic freak that could have made the NBA imho). NFL players are just more numerous so average athleticism is lower.

Now at the peak...it's a tossup. I think the most athletic guys in NFL and NBA are the same range of athleticism but because NFL bulks up so much NBA players are more versatile and could probably play other sports easier. You definitely could see NBA players walk on to the NFL easier than vice versa but that's more of a skill question.

I think you might say the absolute best NFL players can do better at the NFL combine numbers but because the sport is SO focused on short busts of activity that they would only translate better into stuff like sprinting. NBA guards (shortest and most athletic of NBA) could become elite soccer players easier, probably could become baseball players easier, etc.

When i played pickup hoops in college against guys who ended up NBA and NFL players I was more wowed by the NBA players. the NFL guys kind of banged around and were able to dunk etc. but in terms of more subtle stuff - body control etc., just weren't as versatile athletes.

[Mahaffey]

NFL and it's really not close
mayyyyyyybe Lebron could hang but that's it
You have guys like Clowney being 6'7 280 running a 4.6 and benching the gym
even scrubs like Aaron Maybin are better athletes
look at Margus Hunt, a great shotputter, ran a 4.6, 35 inch vertical and 10 foot broad jump at 6'8 280
Same size as Lebron with roughly the same stats, and he's not enough the best athlete on his team

[CablexDeadpool]

NFL 40 times are a joke. Half the guys in the NFL can apparently run it faster than Justin Gatlin. Not only is the dude an Olympic medalist, but he has arguably the best start of any top level 100m sprinter.

Its a 40 yard dash which is 36 meters

That's not even top speed in a track race, so yes, an NFL in the first 40 yards, can be faster than a top olympic sprinter, doesn't mean the NFL player would beat a top olympic sprinter in meter race.

And Justin Gatlin only had a 4.42 in the 40 and there are several NFL players faster than him in the 40, but I doubt many are faster than him in a 60 meter dash which he has the fastest time.

[Rapcity_11]

When i played pickup hoops in college against guys who ended up NBA and NFL players I was more wowed by the NBA players. the NFL guys kind of banged around and were able to dunk etc. but in terms of more subtle stuff - body control etc., just weren't as versatile athletes.

No **** the former NBA players looked more athletic playing basketball.

What if you went and played tackle football with those same guys?