A Profile of a National Football League Team

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to document the physical profiles of players on the 2011 New York Giants (NYG) team and to make comparisons with the historical literature on previous National Football League (NFL) player profiles. In this study, height, body mass (BM), body fat percentage (BF%) using skinfold measurements, and several predicted 1 repetition maximal strength and power measures in 30 returning players from the 2011 NYG team, who recently won the Super Bowl, were collected. Players were grouped by position: running back, quarterback (QB), wide receiver (WR), tight end, offensive lineman (OL), defensive lineman (DL), linebacker (LB), and defensive back (DB). Pooled and weighted mean differences (NYG - NFL) and effect sizes were used to evaluate height, BM, and BF% comparisons of NYG to previous NFL studies from 1998 to 2009. The characteristics of the players as a group were: age, height, BM, BF%: 26 ± 2 years, 183.8 ± 9.0 cm, 144.9 ± 20.8 kg, 14.3 ± 5.5%, respectively. Comparisons highlight distinct position-specific dissimilarity in strength measures, BM, and BF%, which reflect current strength training, conditioning, and team play strategy. As expected, NYG positional differences were found for height (p ≤ 0.05), BM (p ≤ 0.037), BF% (p ≤ 0.048), bench press (p ≤ 0.048), inclined bench press (p ≤ 0.013), and squat (p ≤ 0.026). Anthropometrics profiles did not significantly differ from previously published trends in NFL players indicating equity in physical characteristics over the past 13 years. However, NYG LBs, DLs, OLs, QBs, and WRs trended toward less BF% but generally similar BM compared with NFL players, suggesting greater lean BM in these positions. This study adds new players' data to prototypical position-specific databases that may be used as templates for comparison of players for draft selection or physical training.