You all may have noticed that there is "officially," no official 40 yard time given for the combine, and that there are many different "official" times reported by different sources. The reason is that there can be 6 different clock times for each player based upon the use of 3 clocks per attempt, times the two attempts.
The fact that each participant has 6 "officially" recorded 40 times (4 manual, 2 electronic) allows for those 6 times to be "interpreted" differently. One scout may throw out the best and worst times and average the 4 that are left, while another my just average the electronic times.
Another may report the best overall time, so who you believe is up to you. Even the "electronic time" is started manually, so there is human error involved throughout the entire process. My point is, if you have seen some different results on players than what you see below, then it must have been from another source than what I'm using in this example.
I've seen 3 different times on Antwan Harris alone, and I wasn't even looking hard. The source I used is topendsports.com, and it works well enough to make a point or two. It provided at least a partial list of 1999 and up, but becomes more detailed the closer to 2012 that I got.
All I'm interested in are the players who scored a 4.35 or faster, since I have to cut it off somewhere. Since 1999, I found 47 players who have run a 4.35 (or lower) 40 yard dash as their "official" time at the NFL combine events. Of the top 15 times through out those years, 3 of them never recorded an NFL statistic!
Joakland drafted 5 of the twelve that were left, and have managed to retain 4 of them on their roster as of the end of 2012. Pittsburgh ended up with their 2010 selection, DB DeMarcus Van Dyke (Tied with Champ Bailey and two others at 3rd place with a 4.28 time).
The Crypt Keeper was still kicking in 1999, so why he didn't grab the draft bust Rondel Melendez (4.24) in the first round. He could have kept Atlanta from selecting him in the 7th round if he had. I just don't get how he missed that one!
If you cruse through this list, you'll see that the only one of these guys Denver drafted was DB, Josh Barrett (4.34), but Josh mysteriously disappeared from the roster, (while that "Other Josh" was here) only to show up in New England. Hmmmm.
There are 7 RB's, 17 DB's and 23 WR's in this group.
TIME |
NAME |
POS |
YEAR |
TEAM |
NOTES |
4.24 |
Chris Johnson |
RB |
2008 |
Tennessee |
|
4.24 |
Rondel Melendez |
WR |
1999 |
Atlanta |
No NFL Stats |
4.27 |
DB |
2005 |
Joakland |
|
|
4.28 |
WR |
2010 |
Joakland |
|
|
4.28 |
DeMarcus Van Dyke |
DB |
2010 |
Pittsburgh |
Drafted/Joakland 3rd rnd/2010 |
4.28 |
WR |
2005 |
Houston |
|
|
4.28 |
Champ Bailey |
DB |
1999 |
Denver |
from Washington |
4.29 |
DB |
2008 |
Philadelphia |
from Arizona |
|
4.29 |
Jay Hinton |
RB |
1999 |
|
No NFL Stats |
4.3 |
DB |
2006 |
Detroit |
from St. Louis |
|
4.3 |
WR |
2009 |
Joakland |
|
|
4.31 |
DB |
2008 |
Joakland |
|
|
4.31 |
DB |
2008 |
Pittsburgh |
|
|
4.31 |
DB |
2006 |
Houston |
from Cincinnati |
|
4.31 |
Aaron Lockett |
WR |
2002 |
|
No NFL Stats |
4.31 |
WR |
2001 |
Washington |
from NYJ |
|
4.32 |
DB |
2008 |
Dallas |
|
|
4.32 |
DB |
2006 |
Chicago |
from Indianapolis |
|
4.32 |
WR |
2006 |
2 teams |
Played 3 years. Last/Denver/08' |
|
4.32 |
WR |
2005 |
Jacksonville |
from Minnesota |
|
4.32 |
Kevin Garrett |
DB |
2003 |
Houston |
from St. Louis |
4.32 |
WR |
2002 |
|
Drafted/NYG Last year 09' |
|
4.32 |
Antwan Harris |
DB |
2000 |
NWE |
|
4.33 |
DB |
2012 |
Minnesota |
|
|
4.33 |
WR |
2009 |
Pittsburgh |
|
|
4.33 |
Dexter Jackson |
WR |
2008 |
|
Played 2 years, 08' & 11' |
4.33 |
RB |
2008 |
Joakland |
|
|
4.33 |
Francis Carlos |
WR |
2004 |
Joakland |
3 yrs NO stats. Last year 06' |
4.33 |
WR |
2001 |
Kansas City |
6 team changes since 07' |
|
4.33 |
Karsten Bailey |
WR |
1999 |
Green Bay |
from Seattle |
4.33 |
Jonathan Carter |
WR |
2001 |
NYJ |
from NYG |
4.34 |
DB |
2011 |
Arizona |
|
|
4.34 |
RB |
2011 |
NYG |
|
|
4.34 |
WR |
2010 |
Denver |
from Houston |
|
4.34 |
WR |
2009 |
Chicago |
|
|
4.34 |
Josh Barrett |
DB |
2008 |
NWE |
from Denver, "Josh was here" |
4.34 |
DB |
2006 |
Joakland |
|
|
4.34 |
DB |
2004 |
NYJ |
from Green Bay |
|
4.34 |
Tyrone Calico |
WR |
2003 |
Tennessee |
|
4.34 |
RB |
2002 |
NYJ |
from Kansas City |
|
4.34 |
WR |
2006 |
Pittsburgh |
Played/two years, 06/07 |
|
4.35 |
RB |
2010 |
Detroit |
|
|
4.35 |
WR |
2008 |
Denver |
from Cincinnati |
|
4.35 |
WR |
2008 |
Philadelphia |
|
|
4.35 |
WR |
2007 |
|
last year played/2010/Joakland |
|
4.35 |
WR |
2006 |
Minnesota |
from Indianapolis |
|
4.35 |
Chris Taylor |
RB |
2006 |
Houston |
06 & 08 only |
Teams who drafted the most players in this list, and the number of players they drafted are:
Joakland........8 = 17% (Average # of wins per season - last 10 years = 4.1) The Faiders have been the Joke of the league averaging barely 4 games a season over the last decade. So much for all that speed aye gents. It's obvious that speed doesn't make a football player, or a team for that matter!
9 of the 47 players above (19%) played for 3 years or less, most of them less. Pure speed only counts in the Olympics. You just have to be a football player first in order for that speed to count for much. Then that player can only hope to be drafted to an organization that has some class, (the opposite of a Joakland) some great ownership and coaching, in order to win football games and get the coveted ring.
The rest of the NFL represented in the list are these: Pitt 3, Hou 3,Ten 2, AZ 2, STL 2, Cinci 2, Indi 2, NYG 2, Det 2 and then the rest with less.
My point is that too much is made of the 40 times, along with overall team speed. It doesn't much matter if an idiot can run fast if he doesn't even know he's running in the wrong direction!