Photo By: John Seb Barber
The NFL Combine 40 times are always the most popular drill at the event. Draft prospects run for a timed 40 yard dash in front of scouts to demonstrate their speed.
You can find the best NFL Scouting Combine 40 times by each position group below. While you can't find the historic results from every combine, you can get the bests since 2006. These are referred to as recent bests rather than records.
The 40 yard dash is usually the most-hyped event at the combine. Most prospects care more about this than any other drill. While the value of this is questionable, draft combine 40 times follow athletes around for their entire career as one marker of speed. There are many variables that go into running a good 40 time, including technique, training, and actual speed.
Prospects are given 2 attempts to run, with the faster time being recorded as the official time. All times below are the official, automatic time. You'll often hear ridiculous times being claimed, but these are usually the unofficial, hand times. These times can come from any random person in the stands and are highly inaccurate. Often, they are often off by multiple tenths of a second. You should only pay attention to the official, automatic times.
Quarterbacks
Athlete - Reggie McNeal
College - Texas A&M University
Time - 4.35 seconds
Year - 2006
Years in NFL - 2006
Career Starts - 0
Running Backs
Athlete - Chris Johnson
College - East Carolina University
Time - 4.24 seconds
Year - 2008
Years in NFL - 2008 - present
Career Starts - 1103
Wide Receivers
Athlete - Marquise Goodwin
College - University of Texas
Time - 4.27 seconds
Year - 2013
Years in NFL - 2013 - present
Career Starts - 1
Tight Ends
Athlete - Vernon Davis
College - University of Maryland
Time - 4.38 seconds
Year - 2006
Years in NFL - 2006 - present
Career Starts - 134
Offensive Lineman
Athlete - Terron Armstead
College - University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff
Time - 4.71 seconds
Year - 2013
Years in NFL - 2013 - present
Career Starts - 20
Defensive Lineman
Athlete - Manny Lawson
College - North Carolina State University
Time - 4.43 seconds
Year - 2006
Years in NFL - 2006 - present
Career Starts - 100
Linebackers
Athlete - Jon Alston
College - Stanford University
Time - 4.40 seconds
Year - 2006
Years in NFL - 2006 - 2009
Career Starts - 8
Cornerbacks
Athlete - Demarcus Van Dyke
College - University of Miami
Time - 4.28 seconds
Year - 2011
Years in NFL - 2011 - 2013
Career Starts - 4
Safeties
Athlete - Josh Barrett
College - Arizona State University
Time - 4.35 seconds
Year - 2008
Years in NFL - 2008-2011
Career Starts - 7
Special Teams
Athlete - Trindon Holliday
College - Louisiana State University
Time - 4.24 seconds
Year - 2011
Years in NFL - 2011 - 2014
Career Starts - 1
Overall
The results above are very interesting. Similar to the bench press, being a best performer certainly isn't a great predictor of success at the NFL level, but speed proves to be more useful in the pros, unlike the muscular endurance that is tested for some reason in the bench press.
Chris Johnson holds the recent best for all positions with a time of 4.24 seconds. Johnson, a running back from East Carolina University ran this at the 2008 scouting combine. He went on to be a first round pick by the Tennessee Titans in the NFL Draft, at 24th overall. Johnson has had a successful career, including 6 1,000 yard rushing seasons.
While timed speed is valuable, it is clear that speed alone doesn't make a great NFL prospect. Other than Johnson, Vernon Davis, and Terron Armstead, there are few of the athletes above who have had long-term productive careers.
Davis has also had a successful career following his blazing 4.38 second 40 in 2006. His time was elite for any position, not to mention the fact that he did it at 250 pounds.
It is definitely important to note that speed is simply more important for other positions. For instance, each year some of the fastest quarterbacks aren't even being scouted as quarterbacks, unless, like Marcus Marioto and Robert Griffin III, they also have excellent pocket passing potential. Often you will find prospects like Reggie McNeal, who many teams were looking at as more of a wide receiver prospect.
Speed is very important for running backs, wide receivers, and cornerbacks, even though many elite players had less than stellar times. For positions like offensive and defensive lineman, many teams prefer to look at the first 10 yard split of their 40. This is because long speed isn't important at those positions, but short area speed can be.
The best NFL Combine 40 times are always fun to look out for before the draft each year. While it can be a fun way to look at prospects, the overall value of it when scouting players has a mixed history.
