Power Profiles of Vertical and Drop Jumps in Elite American Football Players by Position

Power Profiles of Vertical and Drop Jumps in Elite American Football Players by Position

Athletes seeking to be drafted by the NFL must demonstrate peak performance on a test battery that includes jumping. Jumping is modulated by rate of force development, air-time, and time from initiating the jump to take-off, and indicates an athlete’s ability to produce power. Despite providing insightallowing for diagnosing jumping inefficiencies and/or to monitor training progressions, published data from NFL combine hopefuls is rare. Therefore, this descriptive study aims to present power components of selected jumping tasks in elite American football players training for the NFL combine. Thirty-one males (age, 22.5+0.8 yrs; ht, 1.86+0.08m; mass, 100.81+14.04kg) performed the following tests in a laboratory setting: 4-jump drop jump (DJ) onto a timing mat, and vertical jump (VJ) from a force plate. DJ and VJ height, DJ contact time, DJ reactive strength index (RSI=jump height/contact time) and VJ take-off force were calculated and stratified by player position group [Skill players (SP: i.e. wide receivers, defensive backs, n=13), Big Skill players (BSP: i.e. linebackers, tight ends, n=14), Big players (BP: i.e. offensive/defensive linemen, n=4)]. DJ height for SP, BSP and BP was 0.52+0.09m, 0.47+0.06m, and 0.43+0.07m, respectively. DJ contact time was 0.40+0.15s, 0.41+0.12s, and 0.49+0.14s, respectively. DJ RSI was 1.41+0.39, 1.22+0.33, and 0.94+0.40, respectively. VJ height was 0.79+0.08m, 0.72+0.06m, and 0.60+0.06m, respectively. VJ force was 710.36+91.21N, 766.21+96.62N, and 678.25+186.55N, respectively. SP was superior in all components of power in the DJ and VJ, except VJ take-off force; SB produced the highest force. Player position requirements may influence components of jumping power.