Classification of Pro Football Players Essay The National Football League is the highest level of professional (american) football in the world. It was formed in 1920 and has gone through expansion, contraction and mergers to become what it is today. The amount of money that the league generates is very bug business, and so the athletes that play need to be in peak physical condition to preform at the highest level.
There are many different types of players that play in the NFL, some are big and some are small.The classification of these players are the ones mainly involved in the game. Each position requires the athlete to have a unique ability and certain physical attributes to perform successful against other top athletes. This should shed light on how many pieces there are in creating a proper roster, and how difficult it can be to have a successful team, The quarterback is the most important player on the field, it is often called the most glorified and scrutinized position in organized team sports.
A quarterback has to be very intelligent, seeing the defense and organizing his team to be in position to exploit the weakness of the opposition. The quarterback communicates with the coaching staff to get plays that are to be run on a given play. The quarterbacks main objective while the ball is is in play is to either hand the ball off to a running teammate, advance the ball himself by running, or passing the ball to a teammate to gain as many yards as possible. These men need to have quick udgement to decide where and how to advance the ball and a strong throwing arm to make any type of throw that is necessary to get a completion. Those are the two most important attributes for a quarterback.
The wide receivers and defensive backs are both of the same mental and physical mold, they are often called perimeter players because they play outside of the line of scrimmage and near the sidelines. The only thing that separates them is that wide receiver are said to have better hands to catch passes, and those athletes hat tend to drop alot of balls, end up as defensive backs. Many of these players are former high school or college track and field stars. They need to be great runners because they are constantly running all over the field, trying to find open space to receive the pass or running after an offensive player to prevent them from making a catch. The quarterback gives a wide receiver a predetermined route to run on a certain play.
The wide receivers main objective is to either block the opposing defensive back or run a route to receive the ball and gain as many yards as possible.The defensive backs main objective is to stop the opposing team from advancing the ball. He lines up in front of a wide receiver and guards them to block any pass attempt or tackle them if they gain possession of the ball. These men need to be great runners to make long runs and sharp cuts across a large field and they need to have great stamina to constantly be running up and down the field. The offensive and defensive linemen are large blocking and tackling players that play along the line of scrimmage, they are also called interior linemen.
They often weigh in excess of 300 pounds and have great upper and lower body strength. The offensive linemans main objective is to block with their arms and bodies any defender who is trying to tackle or recover the ball from the offense. The defensive linemans job is to break through the offensive line and tackle or strip the ball from the ball carrier. These players have the least responsibility in terms of knowing playcalling and difficult strategies. The lineman need to have great lower body strength o maintain their balance and great upper body strength to control opposing players momentum with a block or to shed a block with their arms. Running backs and linebackers are in most cases smaller than lineman and larger than wide receiver and defensive backs.
These types of players are a hybrid of the perimeter players and interior linemen taking their best qualities and utilizing them to accomplish their goal. The running back is responsible taking the hand- off from the quarterback and running forward for as many as yards as possible.They need to be quick like a wide receiver but also strong like a lineman in order to withstand punishment from strong tacklers. The linebackers objective is to either stay back in pass coverage to prevent a completion or to attack the line of scrimmage and tackle any advancing offensive runner. The linebacker is similar to a running back in that he needs to be quick like a defensive back to catch up to elusive runners trying to gain yards and strong to be able to tackle powerful runners.
