The NFL Scouting Combine has barely started and the first set of stats out of Lucas Oil Stadium is almost offensive for the offensive linemen. The biggest guys on the field should be able to put up the most reps in the weight room, right? The contest is to see how many times you can bench press the 225 weight. The Combine Record of 49 was set last year, by Oregon State's Stephen Paea, but it looks like it will be safe this time around, at least as far as the offensive linemen are concerned.
According to the story at NFL.com, while a bunch of the bigger name guys performed admirably, like Stanford guard David Decastro (34 reps), Iowa State's Kelechi Osemele (32), Georgia's Glenn Cordy (31) and USC's Matt Kalil (30), some of the other supposedly top ranked offensive linemen disappointed. Iowa's Reilly Reif only put up 23 reps of the 225 pound bar and two other guys even did a lot worse than that.
Ohio State behemoth left tackle, Mike Adams, only pressed the weight 19 times and Wisconsin center, Peter Konz, rumored to be coveted by the Baltimore Ravens as a possible replacement for veteran center Matt Birk, was perhaps the biggest disappointment of all the offensive linemen, knocking out a measly 18 repetitions. See the full list of these offensive results here.
One would think that a guy whose job is to push around 300+pound defensive tackles with such skill should be able to lift a stationary bar weighing 225 pounds a lot more times than that.