"At the draft combine, he didn't do the 40-yard dash, but Deuce Vaughn's self-reported time was 4.44, which is only slightly quicker than Elliott's, but quicker nonetheless.
(I was not aware that there even was such a thing as a self-reported time that anyone would ever write about... so thanks for that. But I still don't care about self-reported times any more than you suggest you do. Agreed?)
There have also been reports that Deuce ran a 4.46 40-yard dash at his Pro Day
I'm going to do for your preferred conclusion what any God-honest assessor would do.
I'm finding that that's wrong... the number that I'm finding is 4.56.
Sproles? 4.47.
So there's that. Sproles did have a speed advantage evidently.
Sproles had 23 reps, Deuce had 17.
Confirmed.
So, in your God-honest opinion, one could shimmy and juke others out of their cleats.... only one... and which one then would you assign that attribute?
So, in your God-honest opinion, one could accelerate and get to top speed so much faster than the other, that there is no comparison to be made... only one... and which one then would you say that about?
Because if you can't answer those questions God-honestly, who are we kidding.
Both were/are at a decided disadvantage in terms of body size and strength... so that Sproles was appx. 10 lbs heavier and had stronger biceps is of limited interest... I don't see that making any real difference.
Both were/are at a decided advantage based on their overall escape-ability, and difficulty to square-up to tackle. And there's no quantitative way of measuring "vision," but watching the tape and how Vaughn sets up his blockers, and runs to daylight... and how typical it is that scouts would write about his vision... I feel pretty confident that Vaughn doesn't give up anything to Sproles in that department, but again, no real way to measure that one. On the other hand, given today's capacity for using tape to assess a variety of talents/skills, I'm inclined to think we conceivably could compare the two in terms of acceleration, but just conceivably. I'm not aware that anyone has actually done that.
But there's wide acknowledgement that making others miss was Sproles' calling card. That is Vaughn's calling card, somewhat obviously.
Kudos to you, you did find one possible way in which Sproles might have been superior by almost a 1/10 second... not insignificant (assuming that that 4.56 wasn't hobbled by illness).
But I would just tie the bow this way... still... to what degree does speed really matter when you're not even able to get out of the backfield due to the opposition knowing you're running out the clock? Could I be giving Vaughn too much credit? Maybe but I really don't think I am... we saw him in preseason do Deuce things on occasion... and you know I'm not lying, he really and truly had zero or almost zero touches in regular season behind the first string line and at a consequential time in a game. Could you be underestimating Vaughn? Suffice it to say I'm confident that the preseason and the new RB-by-committee approach is going to allow for a much higher confidence conclusion, assuming Deuce stays healthy.
