Broncos drafted rookie combine (pro-day) metrics

Most of this data was available in other places, but I wanted to bring it together in a table here so that you can compare. I also have this data for different position groups in the 90-man roster if you want to know how Carlos Henderson’s 40-time compared to Emmanuel Sanders’ 40 time. That would make a much longer post and this is designed to be a relatively short post.

*indicates a top performer in his position group at the combine.

A few things you might want to note:

Garrett Bolles has really small hands for a 6’5” man. I’m 6’0” and I have bigger hands. DeAngelo Handerson is 5’7” and he has bigger hands. Speaking of hand size, both Carlos Henderson and Isaiah McKenzie have relatively small hands.

All of Demarcus Walker’s numbers are from his pro-day - he only did the bench at the combine (18 reps). He re-did the bench press at his pro-day and got two more reps at 225 lbs.

Jake Butt’s 40 time was from his training drills prior to his injury so it is an estimate.

Brendan Langley did the most reps on the bench of our drafted rookies - 22. Garrett Bolles had a pec injury and did not do the bench. I’m pretty certain he would have done more had he not been hurt. Langley weighed in at 201 lbs at the combine. Walker weighed in a 280 lbs. Langley is really strong for his size, Walker is not. Langley’s 22 reps is tied for 27th among the 451 CBs who did the bench at the combine this century.

I have know idea what Chad Kelly was projected to run in the 40 yard dash, but he is a good athlete (look at his career rushing numbers) so we can assume he would have been able to run under a 5.0s 40 yard dash. That would mean that every drafted rookie would be straight-line fast - under 5.0s 40, even the big guys. Team speed is a great thing to have and 40 times are a decent measure of speed even if they are run without pads and a helmet.

Isaiah McKenzie’s 3-cone time of 6.64s is elite. In fact it is tied for 71st best value this century at the combine. While that might not sound impressive at first glance, there have been 5982 combine participants since 1999 (inclusive) so to be 71st is top 1% all-time in that drill at the combine. That’s elite. You know who else on the team ran a 6.64s 3-cone? Emmanuel Sanders. Admittedly that drill was not “standard” until roughly 2007 (it was optional).

Bolles 3-cone time was the 4th best this century for an offensive tackle at the combine, 7.25s. Some of the other tackles who performed that well at the combine in that drill should be names that you recognize - Anthony Castonzo (7.25), Jake Fisher (7.25), Matt Light (7.30), Lane Johnson (7.31), Matt Kalil (7.33), Jake Matthews (7.34) and Taylor Lewan (7.39). FWIW, Taylor Lewan has smaller hands than Bolles, 9.25”.

What, if any, numbers in this table surprised or scared you? Sound off in the comments.