Speed is a sensitive subject in the NFL.
Slow guys think they’re fast. Fast guys think they’re faster.
During Panthers training camp this summer in Spartanburg, speed seemed to be a daily conversation.
Who’s the fastest guy on the team? And of the running backs? Or on the offensive line?
And why does it matter so much?
“Speed is really the only thing that has to do with football,” receiver Corey Brown says. “When you talk about bench press and all that other stuff, it really doesn’t mean that much in football. You’re never going to bench press a guy on the field. But when it comes to speed, that’s kind of what people measure each other off of.”
As much as it matters on the field, off it, there’s little that hurts a player’s pride more than what a few dozen video game developers decide.
Every summer, the group behind Madden NFL builds the latest version of the game at the EA Tiburon offices in Orlando. It’s hard to find a professional football player who doesn’t play the game. Or one who doesn’t have a problem with it.
In 2014, Cam Newton’s speed was eighth-best among quarterbacks. So he lodged a complaint while on a promotional visit to the EA Tiburon office.