Cotter, Allison and Foradora 1

Can The Pros

Carry Their
Weight?
Nick Cotter, Peter Foradora, Danessa Allison

Introduction:
 Cotter, Allison and Foradora 2

Our project will be exploring the correlation between the weight of a pro football player, and

their 40 yard dash time. We will gather data on 25 different NFL players from all positions. We

predict that if the weight of a NFL player increases, then their 40 yard dash time will increase

with a correlation of .878, or a strong, positive correlation. We will gather our information using

the internet and retrieving data others have collected. This project is a sample survey, or a study

that obtains data from a subset of a population.

Data Set:

The population is the entire set of individuals that are studied. The population for our project

would be all players in the NFL. The sample are the players of the population that we actually

collect data from. The sample for our project is the 25 athletes we researched to find their weight

and 40 yard dash time. A variable is any characteristic of an individual. The explanatory variable

is the weight of the player, and the response variable is the 40 yard dash time. The reason the

weight is the explanatory is because that if you gain weight, it is harder to run faster and requires

more muscle, but if you run a slower 40 time, there is no way to determine your weight. You

could be skinny but slow or fast and heavy.

 Cotter, Allison and Foradora 3

Gathering Data/Collection:
 Cotter, Allison and Foradora 4

Graphing Data Using

Excel:

There is one major outlier, which we know after looking back to be a quarterback.

Quarterbacks are among the slowest in the league because of their top priority to be good

passers. This is why they are not the heaviest, but their 40 yard dash time is so high.

Interpreting r and r2

In class, as a whole we determined the definition of correlation. Correlation describes

direction and strength of a straight line relationship between two quantitative variables. This is

written as r. If r= .850, the correlation is positive meaning as the weight of the football player

increases, then the 40 yard dash time increases. The correlation of .850 means the correlation is

strong meaning the correlation is valid. Next, we defined Coefficient of determination as the

fraction of the variation in the values of y that is explained by the least squares regression of y on

x. Since r = .850, then r2 = .722 meaning any prediction has a 72.2% explained variation.
 Cotter, Allison and Foradora 5

Prediction

The least squares regression line is the line that makes the sum of all the squares of the

vertical distance as small as possible . The equation for our least squares regression line is

Y = .005x + 3.419.

Predict the 40 yard dash time for a player weighing 240 lbs:

Y = .005x + 3.419

Y = .005 (240) + 3.419

Y= 1.2 + 3.419

Y = 4.619

If the player weighs 240 pounds, then I predict that the 40 yard dash time will be 4.619 seconds

with a 72.2% explained variation. An actual player weighing 240 lbs had a 40 yard dash time of

4.750 seconds. This proves the prediction is relatively accurate.

Lurking Variables

Lurking variables are are variables that have an important effect on the relationship

among the variables in a study but is not one of the explanatory variables studied. Lurking

variables in this study could be the age of the players and the position they play. The player’s age

is an example of common response. If the player's age increases the weight tends to increase and

their speed tends to decrease. The position they play is also common response. Some positions

don't require someone to be as fast, so the don't train to increase their speed.
 Cotter, Allison and Foradora 6

Conclusion

We predicted that if the weight of a NFL player increases, then their 40 yard dash time

will increase with a correlation of .878, or a strong, positive correlation. Our hypothesis was

correct with regard to the strength and direction, but our guess at the exact correlation was

slightly off, but that is expected.. Our actual correlation value is r = .850 which is a slightly

weaker, less positive correlation than we predicted.

Works Cited:
 Cotter, Allison and Foradora 7

“NFL Combine.” SBNation. n.p. n.d. Web. 28 Dec. 2016.

“NFL Stats.” NFL. n.p. n.d. Web. 20 Dec. 2016.

“2016 NFL Statistics.” ESPN. n.p. n.d. Web. 20 Dec. 2016.