I'm in a little late on this, but there is one reason to include bench presses in an exercise program for football players: the push-and-dance form of "blocking" that is used today.
When you weren't allowed to move your hands away from your jersey – as was the case in my day – then bench presses were for the beach. Today, the ability to push off with your arms is a central part of blocking, especially pass blocking. That's why, for most teams, OLs waddle on to the field, sort of get down in a three point stance, dance out to hit the DLs, then push them with their hands. A "pan cake block" is often the result of pushing your opponent once you get him off balance, not actually, you know, hitting him. There are teams who don't do this – Stanford is a good example – but most do and you need upper body strength and a lot of weight to make it work. Same thing right back for DLs; they need the upper body strength to contend with all the grabbing going on out there.
For a team that cut blocks and does a lot of chips and downfield blocking – like some teams we know – bench presses are less of a priority. And, yes, good core strength will serve just as well. Still, you can see why teams still use the bench press as an exercise.
