Invasion of the Bod Pod

Sporting News, The, April 26, 2004 by Dan Pompei

The number that concerns NFL about Miami defensive tackle Vince Wilfork is 345. That was his playing weight for 2002 and most of 2003.

The number that allays those concerns is 256. That is the weight of his lean body mass, as measured by a state of the art device called the Bod Pod.

Technology like the Bod Pod could turn the draft, always a crapshoot, into more of a science. The Bod Pod, which looks like a giant ornamental egg with a window, is being used by eight teams--the Bills, Bears, Colts, Eagles, 49ers, Lions, Texans and a club that prefers not to be identified. Some general managers say they would like to see all prospects tested by the Bod Pod at the NFL Scouting Combine.

"It's a diagnostic piece, not an evaluation piece," Colts general manager Bill Polian says. "For example, if a guy was 340 pounds, and it told us the fat content was incredibly high, we'd say there is a problem here. The guy might have an eating disorder, or he's not disciplined, whatever it may be."

Even though Wilfork's weight was high, the Bod Pod showed he was not in bad shape. Wilfork checked in at 336 pounds during his visit to Chicago two weeks ago, up 13 from what he weighed at the Combine in February. But in Chicago his body fat registered at 23 percent, an acceptable number for a player at his position. Converted to a skinfold caliper reading, Wilfork's body fat would have been about 18 percent. That told the Bears he came down from 345 without losing muscle. It shows Wilfork has worked hard and eaten fairly well. And most important, it proves he can carry the weight.

Red flags are raised when players such as Wilfork and Arkansas offensive tackle Shawn Andrews lose a lot of weight heading into the draft. "I'm not alarmed by weight loss, but I want to know about it," Polian says. "How did he do it? (The Bod Pod) tells you whether the weight loss is real or cosmetic or water weight. It diagnoses what the guy's true weight ought to be."

Wilfork says he first sat in a Bod Pod when he reported to the High Intensity Training Center in Jacksonville early in the year as part of his draft preparation. He said his body fat was 29 percent at the time, six percentage points higher than it is now.

NFL teams would rather have a player like Wilfork weigh 336 with 23 percent body fat than have him weigh 315 with 30 percent body fat. Having a player lose lean body mass just to get his weight down is not going to improve his performance.

Judging a player by his weight alone is like judging a movie by its trailer. "If a guy's fat weight is too high, his endurance is not going to be there, and he's probably going to get injured," Polian says. "You want to measure it very carefully. If it's too low, he'll be susceptible to cramps and pulls. You'll have to watch him in hot weather, take special precautions, maybe hold him out and give him one (practice) a day instead of two."

An extremely low body-fat reading on a draft prospect also is useful information. It tells an NFL team that the player has the potential to gain weight without carrying excess fat.

Some teams provide body-fat parameters for players at each position. The Bears recently revised their parameters to reflect new coach Lovie Smith's desire to have a sleeker, faster team, though they will have exceptions for players at all positions.

The business of determining what a player's ideal lean body mass and overall weight should be has become a serious one since the death of Vikings offensive tackle Korey Stringer. The process is regulated by the NFL and overseen by team physicians.

Body fat has been measured by NFL teams for years with skinfold calipers, bioelectrical currents and underwater weighing. Calipers and bioelectrical currents can be off by as much as 8 percent. Underwater weighing is as accurate as the Bod Pod, but it's not as quick and convenient. For a Bod Pod reading, the subject wears a pair of Lycra shorts and a hair cap and sits in the machine for a few minutes.

Some teams, such as the Bills, Texans and Eagles, are more interested in using the Bod Pod after the draft than before. "We see where (rookies) are at the end of April and try to get them where they need to be by the beginning of training camp," Bills G.M. Tom Donahoe says.

Why don't more teams use the Bod Pod? It costs $38,000.

"It's useful" Eagles coach Andy Reid says. "Just don't ask me to get in it."

Watching their figures

Under coach Lovie Smith,
The Bears have established new
position-by-position parameters
for body-fat percentage.

Wide receivers      8 percent
Tight ends          12 percent
Running backs       10 percent
Fullbacks           12 percent
Offensive linemen   26 percent
Defensive tackles   23 percent
Defensive ends      18 percent
Linebackers         13 percent
Safeties            9 percent
Cornerbacks         8 percent
Quarterbacks        Judged case
                    by case

SPEED READS

* The Browns obviously didn't realize how badly they need Ron Wolf's personnel expertise. They didn't use him after signing him to be a consultant, then allowed him to quit in the wake of Carmen Policy's resignation. Some of their drafting and personnel decisions have been highly questionable, but apparently coach Butch Davis believes he didn't need another voice.