Better Athletes NFL or NBA players?

[Takingbaconback]

This is so difficult because there are so many different roles in NFL

Obviously punters, kickers, LS, OL, NT, etc. won't be as athletic as NBA players

RB, WR, CB, TE, etc. are.

Then again we got NBA centers who aren't as athletic as some defensive tackles, hell as sure aren't as athletic as 3-4 OLB 4-3 DE

If you quantified it just average, obviously NBA cuz NFL has a lot of various positions instead of 5 guys relatively having the exact same purpose. If you nit picked the positions to where you expect the best athletes, NFL hands down. Their ability to hit and take hits display athleticism at a higher level.

[SkyHookFTW]

There are very few guys in the NFL with a 40 inch vertical, even fewer that can bench 225 20 times (outside of fat linemen), and about 2 guys in the entire league who can run a 4.3. You just made it sound like every guy in the NFL is an elite jumper, sprinter, and strongman.

Guys like Westbrook, Rose and Lebron could put up elite NFL combine numbers.

Most NFL players were former elite jumpers, Sprinters and strength athletes in college and HS. Marquise Goodwin, Trindon Holliday, Jacoby Ford, Jerome Simpson and some NFL Linemen were champion in the shot put and discus. Trindon Hollidayand Jeff Demps would smoke any guard in the NBA in a dead sprint while Marquise Goodwin would absolutely demolish anyone in any jumping contest, and lets not get into the strength and power comparison, NFl athletes are the cream of the crop in America some were elite in the world in their past athletic track careers.

just goes to show you how easy it is to play football than basketball. The track guys are only on the team cause they're fast. When I played sports in high school the track guys could never play basketball.


NBA players have a better chance of making the NFL than NFL players making the NBA,,,,A GATES, MARCUS POLLARD,JOEY GRAHAM, Tony Gonzalez.

Charlie Ward didn't look athletic on the basketball court but yet dominated the QB POSITION IN COLLEGE. Which makes me believe Allen Iverson would've been a great college QB

And what did Ward do in the NFL? The NFL is light years above college. I know it as someone who tried to make the jump from D1 to the NFL. I was cut from two teams in training camp. The athletic ability needed to play in both the NFL and NBA is insane. But nothing is like the NFL. NBA players might have the ability...until they get crushed by a 320 pound pulling guard or manhandled by a big ass tackle. Getting hit by NFL players changes everything.

[Chalk1]

Is endurance really something we should be listing under athleticism? Are marathon runners athletic?

Are you serious, or a parody post? Of course it is.

[NBA Fan 1234]

Is endurance really something we should be listing under athleticism? Are marathon runners athletic?

Are you serious, or a parody post?

I'm serious. Marathon runners are not athletic. They have unbelievable stamina, but are lacking in essentially every other athletic area. I have a lot of respect for their skill, but I don't consider them amazing athletes.

[Cycklops]

There are far more guys drafted into the NFL and they don't have to be in the 99.7th percentile in height, so you will see a greater number of impressive athleticism scores in the NFL combine.

[RealBucksFan]

Obvious this isn't close. NBA requires teamwork, finesse, skill. Football is more about getting from point A to point B repetitively as fast as possible. It is all about short area quickness and physical explosiveness. Perhaps elite NBA players have better endurance, but NFL players are way stronger/more explosive. Of course, getting too big can hurt an NBA player.

[Hero]

Is endurance really something we should be listing under athleticism? Are marathon runners athletic?

Are you serious, or a parody post?

I'm serious. Marathon runners are not athletic. They have unbelievable stamina, but are lacking in essentially every other athletic area. I have a lot of respect for their skill, but I don't consider them amazing athletes.

A 400 m sprinter is an athlete. He needs endurance to win his races as just pure speed isn't enough. Heck same with the 100m even where you need to be able to keep it up for the full race.

[Chalk1]

Yeah, but none of those football players have anywhere near Rose's overall athletic abilities, or else they'd be playing in the NBA.

They can run, jump and catch a ball. That's it. Rose and all the other NBA PGs have so much more overall athletic abilities. Some of those NFL guys can barely even dribble a ball, and if they could they would be playing basketball instead of football.

NBA PGs have elite hand eye coordination, dexterity and the overall athletic abilities that are simply not required of any football position. It's not even close.

HAnd Eye co-ordiantion, dexterity are SKILLS and not linear athleticism, NFL players suck at dribbling and shooting the ball when they played in HS but godamn they were the fastest and strongest amongst their peers many were former HS track champions and record holders in the throws and sprints. This is why they excelled at track and football and not basketball where skill is more of a determining factor for athletic success.

I disagree strongly with your sentiment here. Hand eye coordination especially is huuge in athletics and sports at the processional level and can't be discounted.

I've seen gym rats who can bench 300 lbs and squat 450+ etc. but without hand eye coordination their strength is pretty much negligible for any athletic purposes aside from maybe powerlifitng.

Hand eye coordination can be what separates the strong dude at your squat rack from elite athlete.

Agree with your assessment.

Being able to dribble, pass and shoot a basketball are SKILLS that can only be acquired at the absolute highest level by people who possess the athleticism to acquire them. People can argue you can teach skills, but not to someone who doesn't possess the prerequisite athletic ability to learn and master those skills.

Every sport requires skill. The 100 meter dash requires skill. Usain Bolt didn't just master the skills when he was a teenager. To be fair though it's a very low skill sport. Not a whole lot needs to be learned compared to other sports.

Being able to run fast and jump high are a only small part of overall athleticism but it appears way too many people think they are the only part of athleticism these days.

NFL players simply DO NOT have the overall athletic abilities as NBA players. Otherwise they wouldn't be playing that brutal sport for less pay, with a shorter career span, and a much higher risk of becoming physically and mentally ruined for life.

[B-Ball Freak]

Gates and Graham look like athletic beasts on the football field but they didnt look like such freaks of nature on the basketball court when they played (the clips I saw).

I agree with the poster that said NFL players are the more explosive athletes and the NBA players are the more well rounded athletes.

[NBA Fan 1234]

Are you serious, or a parody post?

I'm serious. Marathon runners are not athletic. They have unbelievable stamina, but are lacking in essentially every other athletic area. I have a lot of respect for their skill, but I don't consider them amazing athletes.

A 400 m sprinter is an athlete. He needs endurance to win his races as just pure speed isn't enough. Heck same with the 100m even where you need to be able to keep it up for the full race.

I guess I should have been more specific, but the second sentence is the important one - I was referring to long distance. 400/100m sprinters also require/use different oxygen pathways (anaerobic v aerobic) and recruit more muscles than longer distance runners (because sprinters need to reach a top speed in a shorter amount of time and maintain that high end speed).

[MikeM]

When there are countless examples of college basketball players becoming great NFL players, I tend to give the edge to the NBA.

I think WRs and DBs are extremely athletic, probably the most athletic NFL players but there's always a part of your brain that wonders how they would do on a football field against Lebron, prime Rose, Wall, and guys like that. There is no part of your brain that wonders what an NFLer would do on a basketball court because you know they have no chance.

[Chalk1]

Is endurance really something we should be listing under athleticism? Are marathon runners athletic?

Are you serious, or a parody post?

I'm serious. Marathon runners are not athletic. They have unbelievable stamina, but are lacking in essentially every other athletic area. I have a lot of respect for their skill, but I don't consider them amazing athletes.

Not sure why you would believe that that doesn't require athleticism. You have a skewed sense of what athleticism is.

Athleticism: of or relating to athletes; involving the use of physical skills or capabilities, as strength, agility, or stamina:
athletic sports; athletic training.

[TheUroborosWorm]

Marathon WR is at 2'50" KM for the whole 42km... try doing 2'50" during 1 KM... and then tell me if marathonians are not "athletes".

Edit: Crossfit??? you serious? Any Decathlete in the top 1000 ranking (anyone over 7500p) has the toughest of the crossfit events (for example their ridiculous world champioship) as their DAILY training schedule.

Its easy, NBA players are the best athletes to play the sport of basketball, NFL are the best to play american football.

Logic says that overall athleticism is for Decathletes, after all, they develop all the skills that are considered athleticism, strengh, jumps, speed, stamina and coordination.

After those, the disciplines that involve different skills and muscle work (triatlon/ironman, for example)

And then the outliers in the most played team sports, Soccer, BBall, Boxing (great overall athletes) Volleyball,

[Chalk1]

Marathon WR is at 2'50" KM for the whole 42km... try doing 2'50" during 1 KM... and then tell me if marathonians are not "athletes".

A lot of people would need these numbers converted from metric for the well intended point to come across.

I agree with your argument nonethless. World class marathoners are absolute athletic freaks of nature.

[NBA Fan 1234]

Are you serious, or a parody post?

I'm serious. Marathon runners are not athletic. They have unbelievable stamina, but are lacking in essentially every other athletic area. I have a lot of respect for their skill, but I don't consider them amazing athletes.

Not sure why you would believe that that doesn't require athleticism. You have a skewed sense of what athleticism is.

Athleticism: of or relating to athletes; involving the use of physical skills or capabilities, as strength, agility, or stamina:
athletic sports; athletic training.

They're highly specialized and lack in essentially all other senses of the word "athlete." It's just my opinion. You're more than free to disagree.

[Chalk1]

That's exactly what every NFL player is; "highly specialized".

In what crazy distorted view is the ability to run at amazingly fast speeds over ridiculously long distances "lacking" in any respect to athleticism? That's an absurdity.

I'm not trying to argue that marathoners are amazing all around athletes, because they're not. Just like NFL players, they are highly specialized athletes, but athletic nonethless.

[NBA Fan 1234]

That's exactly what every NFL player is; "highly specialized".

In what crazy distorted view is the ability to run at amazingly fast speeds over ridiculously long distances "lacking" in any respect to athleticism? That's absurdity.

I'm not trying to argue that marathoners are amazing all around athletes, because they're not. Just like NFL players, they are highly specialized athletes, but athletic nonethless.

NFL players are highly specialized? Being explosive, quick, strong, fast, and having great hand-eye coordination = highly specialized? They're multiple tool athletes.

What do marathon runners have in terms of athleticism besides very high level endurance?

[Chalk1]

That's exactly what every NFL player is; "highly specialized".

In what crazy distorted view is the ability to run at amazingly fast speeds over ridiculously long distances "lacking" in any respect to athleticism? That's absurdity.

I'm not trying to argue that marathoners are amazing all around athletes, because they're not. Just like NFL players, they are highly specialized athletes, but athletic nonethless.

NFL players are highly specialized? Being explosive, quick, strong, fast, and having great hand-eye coordination = highly specialized? They're multiple tool athletes.

American football by it's very nature is an extremely specialized sport. This isn't really up for debate.

[Yoshun]

When there are countless examples of college basketball players becoming great NFL players, I tend to give the edge to the NBA.

I think WRs and DBs are extremely athletic, probably the most athletic NFL players but there's always a part of your brain that wonders how they would do on a football field against Lebron, prime Rose, Wall, and guys like that. There is no part of your brain that wonders what an NFLer would do on a basketball court because you know they have no chance.

Just because more players have been able to switch to the NFL doesn't mean they are necessary better athletes. It just means their skill sets were more suited for the NFL. It's an easier switch to make skill wise, it's not really about athletic ability at that point. We know both leagues contain steller athletes.

[NBA Fan 1234]

That's exactly what every NFL player is; "highly specialized".

In what crazy distorted view is the ability to run at amazingly fast speeds over ridiculously long distances "lacking" in any respect to athleticism? That's absurdity.

I'm not trying to argue that marathoners are amazing all around athletes, because they're not. Just like NFL players, they are highly specialized athletes, but athletic nonethless.

NFL players are highly specialized? Being explosive, quick, strong, fast, and having great hand-eye coordination = highly specialized? They're multiple tool athletes.

American football by it's very nature is an extremely specialized sport. This isn't really up for debate.

Well, since you say it's not up for debate I guess it must not be. You can just ignore the post you quoted. Enjoy your day, sir.