The NFL Combine is slowly approaching, with the quarterback position drawing the usual level of intrigue. Many fans want to know who will be the fastest and look like the most polished passer in the individual workouts.
Some might even want to know who has the strongest upper body strength of the quarterbacks. That last one might be something casual fans may not find out, but why?
Quarterbacks Bench Pressing at the NFL Combine
The truth of the matter is that it’s rare to see quarterbacks bench press at the Combine. Most strength and conditioning coaches recommend quarterbacks avoid it altogether. Their concern with quarterbacks doing the bench press is they will wear out their arms when they need to throw at the Combine.
The most important drill for quarterbacks is the individual workout throwing to receivers. So, it wouldn’t make sense for QBs to give out their arm on the bench press when they need it to make all the throws.
How rare is it for quarterbacks to participate in the bench press? In the last 10 years, only five quarterbacks have participated in it. The last one to do it was Virginia quarterback Kurt Benkert, who did 16 reps in 2018.
Rhett Bomar has done the most reps on the bench press of any quarterback in NFL Combine history, recording 25. Brady Quinn was second with 24, and Jay Cutler was third with 23. Tarvaris Jackson (22) and Levi Brown (20) round out the top five.
Heading into the 2024 NFL Combine, fans shouldn’t expect to see the top quarterbacks — or any — participate in the bench press.
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If they do, it would be to show that they are stronger than experts think. Otherwise, if fans want to follow just the quarterbacks, this would be the event to skip out on. It won’t be important to the evaluation of the position by NFL teams.
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