NFL Scouting Combine: Digging Into the 40

Feb 21, 2015; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide wide receiver Amari Cooper runs the 40 yard dash during the 2015 NFL Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

In the track and field portion of the Olympics, the main event is always the 100-meter dash. And in the Underwear Olympics, the main event has always been the 40-yard dash. You can argue about how much it should or shouldn’t matter all you want but it matters big-time.

To G.M.s and scouts, two players can be relatively even and the faster guy will be who they want. The first person to get to any spot or position usually wins that situation no matter what the sport is. And fans are watching the combine more than ever because they’re attracted to the speed of the game with big plays.

So if the NFL is going to put the futures of so many of these kids on the 40-yard dash, they need to get it right. I know the NFL gives the teams the real results of what the kids run but fans don’t want to watch that know they’re being duped. That’s like watching a regular season game and finding out a week later that the team we saw lose won.

And don’t believe the hype on the electronic times because they’re are none. If there really were, we would know the result right away and you wouldn’t have the Amari Cooper-Kevin White debacle. Amari Cooper clearly finished ahead of Kevin white on a simulcam but White his time 07. seconds faster.

Then it came out later that Cooper’s time was 4.35-ish which ties him and I accepted it at first because Whites leg looked like it could have been even with Cooper’s body. Then after pausing the finish, Cooper was clearly ahead so they need to come all the way correct there. The fact that the teams send their own timer tells me they don’t trust official results either.

You don’t know when someone is going to be off so they should go by the electronic times alone but they don’t want to do that. Hand times are around .25 seconds faster than electronic times and that would ruin the whole perception of elite speed. Look at what it did to the NFL veteran’s combine as the times that were strictly electronic.

Michael Sam ran a 4.91 at the combine and 4.7 at his pro day last year then ended up with a 5.07 while Felix Jones went from 4.47 to 4.79. Jones, known for his speed, was only off for one year and Sam was on a practice squad last year and they’re both young. Michael Bush has been in the NFL since 2007 but my goodness, with a 4.91, no wonder way he said, “You gotta be ****ing me.”

The .25 makes all the sense in the world because none of these guys have had bad injuries to their legs. If these were hand times, Bush would have a 4.66, Jones would have a 4.54 and Sam would have a 4.82. To put this in even better perspective Ben Johnson ran a 4.4 while running a 9.79 100-meters in the 1988 Olympics and Carl Lewis ran a 4.5 in the same race.

Deion Sanders was a world-class sprinter but you can’t tell me he could beat Ben Johnson by two full steps on grass with cleats while Johnson runs on rubber with spikes using blocks. For those of you that don’t have a track background, there’s no way that happens. If the 2015 NFL Scouting Combine times were real, 28 of the participants would have been running right with Johnson on his Olympic day on the track and six would have beaten him.

Look at Johnson’s Olympic race below and you’ll know no football player could have been with him for even 40 yards. But I have a solution that will detect who’s faster and still put the participants’ speed in comparison to those of years past. Use the electronic device to time then subtract .25 and you have your official result.

What do you think?

Next: withthefirstpick.com/2015/03/29/2015-nfl-prospect-comparisons-amari-cooper-vs-sammy-watkins