Things to Remember as the NFL Draft Combine Arrives
Josh Frey
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The NFL Draft Combine is officially underway in terms of the medical/interview processes. On Thursday, we will begin seeing over 300 prospects in action as they test out their physical gifts. The combine is a terrific way to get to know these prospects ahead of April’s draft. Here are a few things to keep in mind over the course of this weekend.
40 Times Aren’t Everything
The 40-yard dash is probably the event most synonymous with the combine, but how much does it actually mean? Well, turns out that sometimes being a speed demon can be a death sentence in terms of an NFL career. Here’s the list of the five guys with the fastest recorded 40-yard dashes in combine history.
- John Ross – 4.22 seconds
- Rondel Menendez – 4.24 seconds
- Chris Johnson – 4.24 seconds
- Jerome Mathis – 4.26 seconds
- Dri Archer – 4.26 seconds
John Ross is still playing, but to this point the only player to make a Pro Bowl out of this group is Chris Johnson, who was selected to three of them. Menendez never played in a regular season NFL game. Sometimes a prospect can just be too fast for the NFL. 4.3s are fine, but if a prospect runs in the 4.2s, it seems to be a safe bet that they won’t have a lasting NFL career for whatever reason.
Make Sure to Take in This Year’s EDGE Prospects
This draft doesn’t have as much top-end talent as we’ve seen in some classes, but almost every position has a significant amount of depth. Moreso than any other, this applies to the pass-rushers. Of course, there is the duo of Aidan Hutchinson and Kayvon Thibodeaux who will likely go in the top-5 and almost certainly within the top-10.
After that, there is a massive tier-two group that could mean we see as many as seven EDGE rushers drafted in the first round. If they don’t go in the first round, some teams will get incredible talents during the second day of the draft. Because of this massive group with no clear favorite, everyone is going in with incredible pressure to perform. Some will rise because of their results, and others will inevitably fall. No matter what, tune in on Saturday to see how these prospects perform.
The Event is More Important for Later in the Draft
At the end of the day, this whole event is really a glorified doctor’s appointment for these prospects with a few interviews and physical tests. Because of that, the prospects that are consensus top 15-20 really only have things to lose by attending, and you won’t see a ton of them do much testing, if any.
In terms of prospects that are projected to be taken in the second and third days though, this can make-or-break their stock. As recently as 2021, a big example of this stands out to me. It wasn’t a combine, but rather the pro day for BYU left tackle Brady Christensen. Christensen didn’t seem like anything special; he was a fifth-round pick for many.
After an absolutely absurd pro day though, this allowed Christensen to jump out entirely out of the third day and was drafted early in the third round by the Carolina Panthers at No. 70. He then started six games for Carolina and performed quite well in his opportunities. Without that performance, who knows where he would have landed. Christensen is not alone in this, and we will likely see similar stories emerge by the end of the weekend. It’s a really cool thing to see some of these prospects’ dreams come true at the end of the long journey.