On Day One of the NFL Combine, former Oklahoma tackle and projected first-round pick, Orlando Brown made the decision to try and impress scouts by showing off his strength in the bench press.
It did not go as planned.
Brown pressed 225 a meager 14 times. Tied for the third-lowest output in the last 20 years.
Safe to say he won't be appearing on "How Much Ya Bench?" anytime soon.
Quickly, scouts and analysts started to play off the number, based on Brown's enormous 85 1/8" wingspan. The average human has a wingspan 2 inches greater than height. Brown's reach is six inches greater. Tackles regularly underperform compared to their guard counterparts, and part of it is surely due to wingspan. Guards are more–compact, while tackles are massive behemoths who toe the line between strength, grace and quickness.
If you're Brown though, why even decide to do the test, when you know how bad it will look. Scouts get scared off very easy these days based on combine results and the fallout immediately after.
See: Smith, Andre
Having said that, Brown will sleep easy tonight knowing that only a handful of tackles in the last 20 years have made the NFL All-Pro while also excelling at the NFL Combine's bench press.
While it may be an indicator for strength on the Jersey Shore, at the NFL level the determining factor for strength is one's ability to withstand a bull-rush from blood-thirsty defenders while also being able to open up a hole in the running game. Brown has shown he has the ability to do that time and time again for the Sooners. He is rated on many draft boards as the top tackle, and one bench press mishap won't change that.
It might, however, be a good idea to spend some time before the draft to raise that number into the 20s– even punters can do that.
