High school Melk had a 29 inch vertical (played volleyball, but was a setter). Never did a 40, but I was decently fast. The kid is more athletic than I was, so I think he probably has enough.
I think if we focused on lower body training and speed from now, he could hit those marks.
I’m picking you first if we ever have a forum pickup game.
LOL, that was high school Melk. I doubt I’ve got even 12" now.
Asked our friend ChatGPT about this and he largely agreed with you:
If we’re assuming the person:
Then yes — becoming a punter is arguably the most plausible “long shot” path into the NFL, compared to almost any other position. Here’s why:
Why It’s Plausible (with Early Focus and Reasonable Athleticism)
But Still… The Hard Wall at the EndEven with all that:
Realistic Odds (with Early Start + Commitment)Here’s a very rough funnel of what happens:
| Stage | Approx. # of People | Odds Drop-off |
|---|---|---|
| US high school punters | ~5,000+ | — |
| Serious punting trainees | ~500 | 1 in 10 |
| College punters (D1–D3) | ~300–350 | 1 in 5–10 |
| NFL-caliber punters | ~50–75 | 1 in 2–3 |
| NFL punters | 32 active | Final cut |
If you’re in the top 50 punters in the country, your name is on NFL radars, and you may eventually get a shot. From there, it’s about timing and execution.
Final TakeFor someone reasonably athletic who starts early and trains seriously, punting is:
Compare that to trying to make the NFL as a wide receiver with 4.7 speed — not happening, no matter how committed you are.
Want a realistic 10-year plan to make this path happen? I can sketch that out too.
I would think if you’re not fast but decently big, long snapper could be a better path. Barely have to block any more, so just need to get really accurate with the snap. Feel if you trained non-stop for a few years you might have a shot.
This thread allowed me to set up an excellent exchange with Mrs Rugby
Me: I told my weirdo internet forum friends that between us we wanted little rugby to either be a pro rugby player or on RuPaul.
Mrs Rugby: okay… What did they say
Me: they were like "oh no, dude!..
…
Rugby is dangerous for kids!"
Anyone that lets their kid play football with what we know now about CTE is a bad parent. It blows my mind that people still watch the sport.
I played soccer through 8th grade then made the switch to football my freshmen year.
Growing up all we did was play pickup tackle football games in the common ground. We played some pickup baseball/basketball/hockey but football was probably 90% of our pickup games.
I’m not sure my parents could have stopped me from playing football when I made it to high school.
All this to say parenting is hard.
For those interested, the recent amicus has the lawyer who argued the trans case. They absolute shred the awful NYT article Simp so loves.
Worth a listen.
It’s funny because you’ve been shit on, piled on, and acused of being a conservative by posters here because of 1 or 2 takes, and you’ve pleaded with people to assume good faith and not jump to the worst conclusions. Then you turn around and do the same thing to someone else at first opportunity. Just zero self-reflection. Sad.
Sam Harris for all his flaws, has been one of the only “IDW” members to be vociferously anti-Trump the last few years, specifically because he agrees that the excesses of the right are far worse. This came likely at great personal cost to his brand.
I think you’re going to have to show your work on punter.
I’m not saying you can’t get there. I can see a way, but I’m just curious how you did.
I played 5A football and had at least two concussions. Thankful I didn’t get to college and struggle so hard to complete my math homework that I blew my brains out.
The difference is I change my mind when convinced otherwise. Also I have never held a negative position agaisnt any group of people based on anything other than bad ideas.
you’re a scholar of logic, have you considered shooting yourself in the foot?? the worst that could happen is it would look basically the same, and if you’re unemotional about it you might see how by metaphorically shooting your foot at close range with a gun you will probably make your foot less abominable, not just how it looks, but medically, like you could reroute something, or just let a little air out of the tire
I don’t know the details and don’t plan to read the the mental health thread, but in general I would regard as a sign of disrespect to not make good faith arguments one believed to be true because their could potentially be regarded as hurtful.
Perhaps one could be especially attentive to tone, but that would be unusual for an internet message board and not in keeping with a thread where ad hominum attacks based on the assumed truth of the poster’s position seem to be the primary form of argument.
And the award for most sociopathic post ever goes to…
Exhibit A.
When talking about kids sports I don’t think puberty is fair competitively, some kids get it sooner and are monsters on the field. Using how physically developed someone is as a gatekeeper to sports seems like it would filter out all of the best athletes. My problem with Trans Rights is how much more heat it has generated vs the number of actual Trans people out there. I want Trans people to have the same rights I have and I hate that we have to have a conversation about how much political capital we should pay for it.
I think a lot more of the “real world” is based on showing up than you think. Granted, participation trophies for mandatory activities in schools is probably counter productive, but there aren’t a lot of jobs out there that don’t care what your attendance is.
I don’t think the issue matters much at all substantively, but the inability of trans activists to compromise on it or even propose potential compromises is indicative of their general approach: accept our view of reality or you are a bigot. You have to accept that trans woman are women to find this argument at all compelling, which is essentially the question up for debate, and demanding that everyone agree to is is akin to not just thinking gay people should be able to marry who they want, you must agree that same sex partners are in fact better, and that’s just reality. That demand changes trans rights from a “don’t discriminate” question to one of forcing opponents to accept a novel framing of reality, which is about the worst possible move politically.