FanPost

Need 4 Speed, Or Joakland?

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

Stanford Routt

DB

2005

Joakland

4.28

Jacoby Ford

WR

2010

Joakland

4.28

DeMarcus Van Dyke

DB

2010

Pittsburgh

Drafted/Joakland 3rd rnd/2010

4.28

Jerome Mathis

WR

2005

Houston

4.28

Champ Bailey

DB

1999

Denver

from Washington

4.29

Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie

DB

2008

Philadelphia

from Arizona

4.29

Jay Hinton

RB

1999

No NFL Stats

4.3

Tye Hill

DB

2006

Detroit

from St. Louis

4.3

Darrius Heyward-Bey

WR

2009

Joakland

4.31

Tyvon Branch

DB

2008

Joakland

4.31

Justin King

DB

2008

Pittsburgh

4.31

Johnathan Joseph

DB

2006

Houston

from Cincinnati

4.31

Aaron Lockett

WR

2002

No NFL Stats

4.31

Santana Moss

WR

2001

Washington

from NYJ

4.32

Orlando Scandrick

DB

2008

Dallas

4.32

Tim Jennings

DB

2006

Chicago

from Indianapolis

4.32

Chad Jackson

WR

2006

2 teams

Played 3 years. Last/Denver/08'

4.32

Troy Williamson

WR

2005

Jacksonville

from Minnesota

4.32

Kevin Garrett

DB

2003

Houston

from St. Louis

4.32

Tim Carter

WR

2002

Drafted/NYG Last year 09'

4.32

Antwan Harris

DB

2000

NWE

4.33

Josh Robinson

DB

2012

Minnesota

4.33

Mike Wallace

WR

2009

Pittsburgh

4.33

Dexter Jackson

WR

2008

Played 2 years, 08' & 11'

4.33

Darren McFadden

RB

2008

Joakland

4.33

Francis Carlos

WR

2004

Joakland

3 yrs NO stats. Last year 06'

4.33

Chris Chambers

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

Patrick Peterson

DB

2011

Arizona

4.34

Da'Rel Scott

RB

2011

NYG

4.34

Trindon Holliday

WR

2010

Denver

from Houston

4.34

Johnny Knox

WR

2009

Chicago

4.34

Josh Barrett

DB

2008

NWE

from Denver, "Josh was here"

4.34

Michael Huff

DB

2006

Joakland

4.34

Ahmad Carroll

DB

2004

NYJ

from Green Bay

4.34

Tyrone Calico

WR

2003

Tennessee

4.34

Derrick Blaylock

RB

2002

NYJ

from Kansas City

4.34

Willie Reid

WR

2006

Pittsburgh

Played/two years, 06/07

4.35

Jahvid Best

RB

2010

Detroit

4.35

Andre Caldwell

WR

2008

Denver

from Cincinnati

4.35

DeSean Jackson

WR

2008

Philadelphia

4.35

Yamon Figurs

WR

2007

last year played/2010/Joakland

4.35

Devin Aromashodu

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!

This is a Fan-Created Comment on MileHighReport.com. The opinion here is not necessarily shared by the editorial staff of MHR.