Good Portis stuff from Washington Times blog

[JoeRedskin]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

One of the big reasons that the 40 yard dash is overrated is that speed is the first thing to go...usually by 26 a guy has put at least a tenth of a second or two on his 40, and that's the age at which said player is just becoming competent at his position.

So while these guys all time well at the combine, by the time they actually become starters at their position, won't be running faster than any of the guys they outtimed.

Thus, teams like the Raiders, who value speed above all else, don't win, because their players can't run faster than the other team's players.

Well, true and not. EVERYBODY slows down. So the slow guys at the combine are still going to be the slow guys a couple years later. True, while the fastest guys will probably suffer the biggest drop off, the slower guys speed will still erode.

I agree that straight line 40 times are vastly overrated (Donte Stallworth anyone?). When Terrell Sugg's draft ranking dropped based on his 40 time, his comment was "How many yard is it from the DE to the QB - probably less than 40" (I am paraphrasing).

With all that said, however, you can't teach speed. In the pro game, speed is an advantage and slow players aren't going to get faster as they get older.
Some players, as they adapt to the game may "play faster" as they learn to play intuitively rather than have to think about what's going on. The really good players, however, have both the natural ability of speed and the learned ability to play intuitively. Slower players can only make up so much ground by "playing fast".