What's the hardest position to play?

[descendency]

You can hide weakness and strengths of any player in any system, except kickers. You can either kick the ball or you can't. The punter is standing 10 yards behind everyone, all alone. And no one ever remembers good punts. They always remember the shanks and the times when the returner takes it back on you. It's always the punters fault that the gunner didn't tackle the guy 60 yards down field.

Imagine trying to throw a rocket down field 30 yards into a tire. Now imagine having to do it twice as far with your foot.

[Rosebud]

Long-snapper

[FUNBUNCHER]

Corner is the hardest.
Every starting corner IMO could start at FS in the NFL, very few safeties can play corner. Fans undervalue how difficult it is to check someone who's running at you and still find the football in the air and make a defensive play on it.

From a cardiovascular standpoint, cornerbacks are the best conditioned athletes on the football field, because they have to be.
Corners are expected to make plays literally at every level of the football field; blitzing the QB and able to cover a speed WR 80 yards downfield in man coverage.

QB is the easy answer to this question, probably the right one IMO.
But when you really study what it takes to be a good NFL corner, there's a reason why the very best are among the highest paid players in the game.

[Caulibflower]

Originally Posted by fenikz

Physically I would say RB

Right. If you're saying "toughest" I'm thinking the physical aspect of the game. In that regard, it's certainly not the quarterback. They're next to specialists on that totem pole. Running backs get hit every time a play goes to them. They have to block players much, much larger than themselves sprinting at them full speed around the edge in pass protection. The size disparities between the player and the person they're hitting, and frequency with which that occurs is highest for running backs in both cases. Runners have to compensate either by being so freakishly athletically gifted they don't get hit, or tough enough that it doesn't matter. Obviously, most are some combination of the two.

[Sloopy]

Can I change my vote to "back up place kick holder"?

[Timbathia]

It is easily kicker. QBs get about 80 snaps a game and all they have to do is lead the offense to 3 tds. Kickers get a few chances a game, and typically get one in every two games when the entire game is on the line. If they make it they are doing their job, nothing more, and if they miss they are a fucken muppet.

Way more pressure, and without even being in the game for the majority of time. Plus, they have stupid holders that dont put it laces out.

[FUNBUNCHER]

Originally Posted by Timbathia

It is easily kicker. QBs get about 80 snaps a game and all they have to do is lead the offense to 3 tds. Kickers get a few chances a game, and typically get one in every two games when the entire game is on the line. If they make it they are doing their job, nothing more, and if they miss they are a fucken muppet.

Way more pressure, and without even being in the game for the majority of time. Plus, they have stupid holders that dont put it laces out.

Most pressure doesn't equal hardest position to play.

[Steady Lurkin]

Originally Posted by FUNBUNCHER

Corner is the hardest.
Every starting corner IMO could start at FS in the NFL, very few safeties can play corner. Fans undervalue how difficult it is to check someone who's running at you and still find the football in the air and make a defensive play on it.

From a cardiovascular standpoint, cornerbacks are the best conditioned athletes on the football field, because they have to be.
Corners are expected to make plays literally at every level of the football field; blitzing the QB and able to cover a speed WR 80 yards downfield in man coverage.

QB is the easy answer to this question, probably the right one IMO.
But when you really study what it takes to be a good NFL corner, there's a reason why the very best are among the highest paid players in the game.

From a skillset standpoint, sure, but there are plenty of safeties who are already bad enough at understanding pursuit angles and can't tackle worth a crap. That problem just gets exacerbated at safety.

If we're talking about the most physically demanding position, I'll throw out a darkhorse with right guard. Right guard is the most unprotected of the offensive linemen due to defensive alignment - eg. the right guard has more unprotected one-on-one blocking in pass pro than most of the other offensive linemen (and it's usually against really good 3-techs). Left guards usually get more of the glamor because they tend to have better feet for pulling in the run game, but the RG has a really, really demanding position in terms of help he receives.

[Saints-Tigers]

As a guy who played DB, safety is MUCH easier and less pressure filled than corner.

I mean, it sort of depends on your system, but covering a guy 1 on 1 is hard enough, and you can lock him down all game, but if you make one slip, and he goes all the way, you're the goat of the team.

Think about who gets the most hate from fans? Bad QBs and bad CBs.

[NY+Giants=NYG]

From my experience on the offensive side of the ball, it has to be QB in my opinion.

[Sloopy]

Originally Posted by Saints-Tigers

As a guy who played DB, safety is MUCH easier and less pressure filled than corner.

I mean, it sort of depends on your system, but covering a guy 1 on 1 is hard enough, and you can lock him down all game, but if you make one slip, and he goes all the way, you're the goat of the team.

Think about who gets the most hate from fans? Bad QBs and bad CBs.

Again it depends on your system but when I played (and I believe that many systems work similarly to this) it was the safeties job to prevent the big play.

Just one more thing that added to it.

Still both are difficult, I played both and have an affinity for both positions as well as a great deal of respect for those who play there; again, neither are easy and I feel it's kind of a toss up

[Saints-Tigers]

Preventing the big play is a lot easier when it's your responsibility as a safety. Sitting back in a deep zone and having everything in front of you is way easier to me than manning up with a dominant receiver.

[Sloopy]

Originally Posted by Saints-Tigers

Preventing the big play is a lot easier when it's your responsibility as a safety. Sitting back in a deep zone and having everything in front of you is way easier to me than manning up with a dominant receiver.

You also have to remember that CBs aren't even in man coverage on every play, nor do they always man up on a dominant WR every play.

Again, it depends on scheme. Playing CB in a cover two isn't nearly as hard as being a safety in a cover two. Hence why the corners are not as important in such a scheme.

Still, when your a corner in man press on a cover 0, if the blitz doesn't get there you can be rather exposed.

I will say that being confident in your safety over the top makes it a lot easier on you as a corner in man coverage (If your safeties are playing over the top).

Then again the same can be said for the safety. Having a great corner can allow you to shade your coverage slightly to one side.

It all depends on scheme and even individual plays within a scheme.

End of the day, if you have good corners you play to your strength. Same thing if you have good safeties.

[Thunder&Lightning]

This thread is childish...

[TheFinisher]

There are so many different schemes out there that it's almost impossible to answer this, positions aren't universal anymore. For instance take the Bears and what they ask Brian Urlacher to do in the Tampa 2. Not only is he asked to be the tackling machine in their defense in the running game, but he also has the pass coverage responsibilities of a deep safety... lining up at about 5 yards from the LOS. Think about how hard it is to first recognize it's a pass and react, open up and sprint 15-20, sometimes 30 yards towards the deep middle, all while keeping his eyes on the 2 inside receivers waiting for them to declare their routes... and having to do a 180 turn and run if the designated deep receiver is on the opposite side of where he opened up to originally. AND THEN make a play on the ball when you read the QB's going to throw at him. How many MLBs can even run vertically with slot receivers 30 yards downfield?

I understand QB is by far the most mentally demanding, but outside of that I'd say Urlacher in his defense throughout his career has individually had the toughest job in the NFL. You need to be an insanely athletic LB to succeed in the Tampa 2, and he takes it to another level by also being an absolute beast in the running game. Because of the pass responsibilities most MLBs in that D are anxious to bail out because they're afraid of getting beat deep, which results in being less active/aggressive in the running game. Urlacher is just so athletic that he knows he can afford that extra second to really commit to reading run/pass and still be able to get behind those receivers. It's insane.

[Monomach]

The hardest position to play is the one being backed up by Tim Tebow. You have to read billboards and hear constant chants asking for you to be fired.

[Timbathia]

Originally Posted by FUNBUNCHER

Most pressure doesn't equal hardest position to play.

I was kidding, but whatever.

[Hurricanes25]

QB is #1. Man to man corner has to be #2.

[FUNBUNCHER]

Originally Posted by TheFinisher

There are so many different schemes out there that it's almost impossible to answer this. For instance take the Bears and what they ask Brian Urlacher to do in the Tampa 2. Not only is he asked to be the tackling machine in their defense in the running game, but he also has the pass coverage responsibilities of a deep safety... lining up at about 5 yards from the LOS. Think about how hard it is to first recognize it's a pass and react, open up and sprint 15-20, sometimes 30 yards towards the deep middle, all while keeping his eyes on the 2 inside receivers waiting for them to declare their routes... and having to do a 180 turn and run if the designated deep receiver is on the opposite side of where he opened up to originally. AND THEN make a play on the ball when you read the QB's going to throw at him. How many MLBs can even run vertically with slot receivers 30 yards downfield?

I understand QB is by far the most mentally demanding, but outside of that I'd say Urlacher in his defense throughout his career has individually had the toughest job in the NFL. You need to be an insanely athletic LB to succeed in the Tampa 2, and he takes it to another level by also being an absolute beast in the running game. Because of the pass responsibilities most MLBs in that D are anxious to bail out because they're afraid of getting beat deep, which results in being less active/aggressive in the running game. Urlacher is just so athletic that he knows he can afford that extra second to really commit to reading run/pass and still be able to get behind those receivers. It's insane.

Nice breakdown.

You should be in the room when the HOF voters have to make a case for and against whether Urlacher belongs in Canton.

[TheRubberDuck45]

Qb, Center, CB

[GoRavens]

Mentally = QB
Physically = CB