Why are all NFL lineman tall?

[sevensages]

The average man in America is 5'10". But the average NFL lineman is around 6'5". Ask AI if you don't believe me. Last year, there was not a single lineman who played in a regular season game in the NFL last year who was below six feet tall. Before anyone says that statement is wrong because Willie Lampkin is 5'10", let me say this: Willie Lampkin was drafted by the NFL, but he never played in a single regular season game last year. And Willie Lampkin is the shortest lineman drafted into the NFL in decades, not just years but decades. Willie Lampkin is a EXTREMELY RARE anomaly.

Why are all NFL lineman who played in a regular season game last year taller than six feet tall? There are three reasons: 1# There is more potential room to fit muscle mass on a tall skeleton than an average height skeleton or a short skeleton. There is more potential room to fit muscle mass on a 6'5" skeleton than a 5'10" skeleton. So tall people tend to have more absolute strength. 2# Tall people tend to be heavier. So it is harder to push a tall person backwards than a short person. 3# Taller people tend to have longer arms. Longer arms make it easier to reach someone to push them backwards or to block them. This applies to both offensive lineman and defensive lineman.

99% of the reason that NFL lineman are tall are due to #1 and #2. #3 is a very tiny factor.

Now I know that it is possible for a short person to be stronger than a taller person. Anyone who has ever been inside a weightlifting gym before knows that. I'm not saying that all tall people are stronger than all short people. I just said that there is more potential room to fit muscle mass on a tall skeleton than a short skeleton. The key word there is potential. Just because there is more potential room to fit muscle mass on a tall skeleton than a short skeleton does not mean that there is more actual muscle mass on a random 6'5" skeleton than a random 5'10" skeleton. This thread is kind of a spinoff and kind of my football equivalent to my thread "A good big man will beat a good little man in boxing" thread.

Do you people agree with me?

 

[256bits]

How tall are Sumo wrestlers?

 

[sevensages]

How tall are Sumo wrestlers?

There is no maximum or minimum heights for NFL Lineman. So NFL Lineman is far better for my point.

People are not allowed to compete as sumo wrestlers in Japan unless they are 5'8" or taller. So the answer to your question is 5'8" or taller .

 

[Astronuc]

There are 32 NFL football teams, with an average roster of 53 persons. If one takes half the roster (say 26) for both offensive and defensive linemenn, then 32 x 26 = 832 persons, compared to lets say half the adult population in the US in the age range of 20-34 years, or about 35 million persons, or about 0.0000238 of the male population. NFL linemen represent a very skewed portion of the population, so comparing the heights of NFL football linemen to the general population isn't very helpful. The selection process starts in high school and continues through college.
Ref: https://www.statista.com/statistics/241488/population-of-the-us-by-sex-and-age/

It's probably a combination of height, mass, strength and skill, and likely the heavier (and probably taller) and stronger athletes perform better than shorter athletes on a one-to-one basis.

At university, the football athletes tended to be taller than the average student, and most were stronger than the average. One of my close friends was a tight end who weighed approximately 100-110 kgs with a height of 6 ft 5 inches (195.6 cm). He could bench press about 160 kgs, but his nominal work out was about 100 kgs. I'm about average height, and during university, my weight maximum was about 185 lbs (~84 kgs), and I managed to lift (military press) about 240 lbs (109 kgs) and bench press of about 300 lbs (136 kgs). I could dead lift the front and back ends of a VW Beetle (Bug). I was too small for the football team.

 

[256bits]

Does Sumo have height-weight categories - if not then a 5ft8inch against a larger opponent would need better technique, or something else, quickness, agility, to overcome against a heavier opponent, who may not be stronger just due to the size differential.

 

[sevensages]

There are 32 NFL football teams, with an average roster of 53 persons. If one takes half the roster (say 26) for both offensive and defensive linemenn, then 32 x 26 = 832 persons, compared to lets say half the adult population in the US in the age range of 20-34 years, or about 35 million persons, or about 0.0000238 of the male population. NFL linemen represent a very skewed portion of the population,

I agree with EVERYTHING you wrote in the above quote 100%. However, I am totally baffled as to how what you wrote in the quote above makes you think that comparing the heights of NFL football limemen to the general population isn't very helpful.

so comparing the heights of NFL football linemen to the general population isn't very helpful.

It is very helpful for making the point of why NFL Lineman are taller than the average man in America. If one is going to write about why NFL Lineman are taller than the average man, first one needs to establish that NFL Linemen are taller than the average man.

The selection process starts in high school and continues through college.
Ref: https://www.statista.com/statistics/241488/population-of-the-us-by-sex-and-age/

It's probably a combination of height, mass, strength and skill, and likely the heavier (and probably taller) and stronger athletes perform better than shorter athletes on a one-to-one basis.

At university, the football athletes tended to be taller than the average student, and most were stronger than the average. One of my close friends was a tight end who weighed approximately 100-110 kgs with a height of 6 ft 5 inches (195.6 cm). He could bench press about 160 kgs, but his nominal work out was about 100 kgs. I'm about average height, and during university, my weight maximum was about 185 lbs (~84 kgs), and I managed to lift (military press) about 240 lbs (109 kgs) and bench press of about 300 lbs (136 kgs). I could dead lift the front and back ends of a VW Beetle (Bug). I was too small for the football team.

 

[256bits]

It's probably a combination of height, mass, strength and skill, and likely the heavier (and probably taller) and stronger athletes perform better than shorter athletes on a one-to-one basis.

One would think that against a heavier brute, one could just outrun them.
Looking a brute athlete, that is an invalid assumption, as they have a fair chance of outcompeting 99% of the regular population, in general categories of speed, agility, strength, quickness, explosive power, quick thinking.

 

[sevensages]

Does Sumo have height-weight categories -

No

if not then a 5ft8inch against a larger opponent would need better technique, or something else, quickness, agility, to overcome against a heavier opponent, who may not be stronger just due to the size differential.

Yeah

 

[sevensages]

There are 32 NFL football teams, with an average roster of 53 persons. If one takes half the roster (say 26) for both offensive and defensive linemenn, then 32 x 26 = 832 persons, compared to lets say half the adult population in the US in the age range of 20-34 years, or about 35 million persons, or about 0.0000238 of the male population. NFL linemen represent a very skewed portion of the population, so comparing the heights of NFL football linemen to the general population isn't very helpful. The selection process starts in high school and continues through college.
Ref: https://www.statista.com/statistics/241488/population-of-the-us-by-sex-and-age/

It's probably a combination of height, mass, strength and skill, and likely the heavier (and probably taller) and stronger athletes perform better than shorter athletes on a one-to-one basis.

At university, the football athletes tended to be taller than the average student, and most were stronger than the average. One of my close friends was a tight end who weighed approximately 100-110 kgs with a height of 6 ft 5 inches (195.6 cm). He could bench press about 160 kgs, but his nominal work out was about 100 kgs. I'm about average height, and during university, my weight maximum was about 185 lbs (~84 kgs), and I managed to lift (military press) about 240 lbs (109 kgs) and bench press of about 300 lbs (136 kgs). I could dead lift the front and back ends of a VW Beetle (Bug). I was too small for the football team.

So your one rep maximum bench press was 300 lbs? That's pretty strong. How many years did it take to get up to a 300 lb bench press?

 

[256bits]

No



Yeah

Chances are that the larger person can also have attributes of agility and technique and win every time from advantage in strength.
=======================================================
For a population categorized according to criteria such as smart, quick thinking, quick, strength ( arm, leg, torso ), etc, the distributions may come out as normal, with some correlations and overlap between the groupings.

A good athlete may have attributes better than average of A, B, C. A different good athlete may have better than average attributes of A,, D, E. Another A, B, E. and so on.
If A seems to be the commonality for success in any particular sport, then athletes with that attribute will be chosen first.
For the linesman example, size, particularly height, would be looked at first fore the next recruits, since that would have been seen to have been the one criteria that allowed excellence. Anyone who does not have the size criteria is not selected for tryouts even if they might gave been amongst the top performers if given the chance.

Seems utterly biased no doubt.
50% of the population is immediately excluded from being a linesmen. ie women

As in everything, there are exceptions.
Not all basketball players are exceptionally tall.

 

[BWV]

The missing element here is opportunity cost- the undersized guy who could make up the deficit through athletic talent is better off playing a different position. The very gifted athletes will find their highest and best use - maybe 5’9” Emmitt Smith could have been a decent lineman, but would have been a waste of his talent