NFL
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John Moriello John Moriello Sports Editor John Moriello started covering sports in 1982, began digital publishing in 1995, and joined Sportscasting in 2020. A graduate of St. John Fisher University, he finds inspiration in the underdogs and the fascinating stories sports can tell (both the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat). John expertly covers all aspects of NASCAR.Beginning with his 2014 coverage at Fox Sports of the aftermath of the dirt-race tragedy in which Kevin Ward Jr. died after being struck by a car driven by NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart, John has excelled as a journalist who specializes in the motorsports world. He previously spent more than three decades covering high school sports and worked as a beat writer covering Big East football and basketball, but NASCAR is now where the true expertise falls.John is a member of the New York State Basketball Hall of Fame (2013), the President of the New York State Sportswriters Association, and a two-time Best of Gannett winner for print and online collaborations whose work has appeared on FoxSports.com and MaxPreps.com. All posts by John Moriello 
Updated24 Feb 2020
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The future stars of pro football go through every imaginable test of speed, strength, and agility at the annual NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, but no event gets more attention from fans than the 40-yard dash.
That’s despite the fact few running or passing plays in games cover 40 yards and that the players who do go that distance are generally running backs like Saquon Barkley of the New York Giants or receivers like Tyreek Hill of the Super Bowl-champion Kansas City Chiefs. It’s rare to see run-stuffing linebackers tested at that distance on any particular play, let alone linemen.
The 40-yard dash remains a key NFL metric
Timesin the 40-yard dash do tell NFL teams about a prospect’s explosiveness, so itremains a staple of the annual combine in Indianapolis even as other tests havecome and gone. And though it does apply primarily to players at the skillpositions, there are relatively large linebackers and safeties who are asked toget down the field in punt and kickoff coverage.
Lest we forget, there are quarterbacks like Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens whose speed is every bit the weapon as their throwing arm.
The40-yard dash is important enough that players begin practicing their starts justlike they work on pass patterns or run-blocking technique as soon as the collegeseason ends in order to do their best in front of the NFL scouts.
Who holds the record for the 40-yard dash?
Timing has become more sophisticated at the NFL Scouting Combine over the years. Track and field fans learned long ago to disregard the hand-timed recording of performances because those clockings depend upon the reaction time of the men holding the watches.
Auburngreat Bo Jackson was credited with a time of 4.12 seconds in 1986 and FloridaState’s Deion Sanders put up a time of 4.27 seconds three years later, butpurists discount those showings because they were hand-timed.
TheNFL finally introduced electronic timing like that used in track and field in1999. Wide receiver Rondel Menendez of Eastern Kentucky and cornerback ChampBailey of Georgia immediately establishing the benchmarks of 4.24 and 4.28seconds, respectively.
Menendez,who spent time in five NFL camps but never made it into a regular-season gamebecause of a knee injury suffered in training camp as a rookie, remained the solestandard for speed until running back Chris Johnson of East Carolina matched histime in 2008.
Itwould be another nine years until the record was broken by receiver John Rossfrom the University of Washington. Ross, who just finished his third seasonwith the Cincinnati Bengals, who drafted him ninth overall, has 49 catches for10 touchdowns and an average gain of 14.6 yards in 24 NFL games.
Ross put on such a burst in his record-setting run that he is said to have strained both calves, knocking him out of some of the other testing at the combine.
Who’ll be the 2020 speed king of the NFL Scouting Combine?
Last year’s speediest prospect in Indianapolis was Mississippi safety Zedrick Wood, whose time of 4.29 seconds ranks inside the all-time top 20. It helped Wood land a free-agent contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars – only to see him announce his retirement on the first day of rookie camp.
Fans looking for thecandidate to beat everyone to the finish line in the 40-yard dash this week atthe NFL Scouting Combine can keep an eye on two receivers. Alabama’s HenryRuggs III reportedly ran under 4.30 during the school’s 2019 pro day and TexasChristian’s Jalen Reagor put up a time of 4.29 seconds under similarcirc*mstances last year.
