My first glance at the NFL Combine speed times and assorted other measurables is...it’s insane how great the athletes are coming out of college.
It has to be this way...
Most U.S. kids, that are naturally and superiorly athletic, are growing up on football. These premier athletes in our country are now training for the NFL since like age 10-15...many training like Olympic athletes playing for private high schools, going to elite camps, having personal training...they are becoming more driven than ever because they can make sweet money just declaring for their college of choice...and then become free agents every year of college if they want, and then hopefully rolling that bank on into the pros. All they gotta do (besides having a lot of natural athleticism) is to ‘not be lazy’...so they just become full-time workout machines with everything else in their lives taken care of. Their full-time job is ‘conditioning’ and ‘improving speed/agility/strength’. They work with trainers on speed specifically...and other specific trainers on muscle development...and other trainers on improved footwork/agility...then they go work with the jugs machine or kick footballs or throw/catch a million passes in 7-on-7 or defend receivers in 7-on-7s.
Many 15-18-year-old footballers have had better and more training in their lives, at that point, than players who entered the NFL from like 2010-2015 or prior ever had in their entire lifetimes. So of course they are getting bigger-stronger-faster every year. And they are more mentally studied and prepared for the game as well. This is no longer a game for athletic freaks, who coast by on superior athleticism and skipped classes/got grades fixed to pass classes to keep their eligibility, rarely putting in effort on their minds or bodies...and then just showed up to college or the pros and just rolled out of bed and onto a football field and physically dominated. Those days are over.
Not only are we all seeing a surge in supreme athleticism like never before -- but it’s also a surge of young men/athletes with great academics, leadership, work ethic backgrounds the likes I’ve never seen before in such ‘mass’. It used to be such a real standout item to be an honor roll student in college and/or a team captain...AND be superior at football. Now, it’s weird if a top prospect isn’t also an honor roll student with a degree secured and wasn’t a team captain...it’s a red flag/oddity if they aren’t. Each draft used to have 1-2-3 prospects who were ‘great athletes but had a ‘rap sheet’. You almost never see that now.
Soon there will be no place for the Rashee Rice’s or Jalen Carter’s or just ‘the blissfully dumb’ like Keon Coleman. The NFL is now a place for laser focused professionals...in body, mind, and spirit.
The NFL revolution/change is underway. Most every Combine participant is gonna be good or great/promising/athletic/smart...
-- I don’t know what to praise first about Day-1...
The linebacker athleticism numbers are insane. We may have reached the early phases of linebackers being just as fast as running backs, but 10-20-30 pounds thicker in their pursuit.
When the linebackers become better than the running backs, en masse, there’s only one way to combat that for the RBs -- and it will not be the talent or speed of the RB...it will be the talent of their O-Line.
All roads lead back to O-Line being the most important thing in the NFL now.
-- Who is it do you think is gonna deal with these freak DTs? These 290-300+ pound DTs who are running speeds of what most 2nd+ round EDGE rushers would have 5-10+ years ago. The running backs running the interior are getting to be at a disadvantage against the new breed of DT as well.
The RBs can only be saved by...wait for it...their O-Line and the schemes of the Offensive Coordinators/Head Coaches that work because of the line (or fail because of the line). The days of ‘power football/heavy run games’ are soon ending...from the perspective of ‘go get the next Derrick Henry to impose our will on our opponents’. Ummm...’the opponents’/the defense now has supremely conditioned athletes as well. It’s not the 1970s anymore. Get Chip Kelly and Arthur Smith the hell outta here. Mike Tomlin, Aaron Glenn, Sean McDermott, Ron Rivera...all the ‘I wanna hear pads cracking’ head coaches (because they come from a defensive mindset, not new age offensive) -- that style is going away.
That’s why what Jim Harbaugh has done making over the Chargers offense/staff, firing his good friend and long-time assistant O-C because he’s a guy built for the past not the current -- it’s the sign of the changing times, a sign that only a few NFL teams/entire organizations probably ‘get’ right now.
-- And who’s gonna stop all the 4.4s, 4.5s, 4.6s running EDGE rushers?
O-Line is everything.
-- You don’t need me to write a report to point out the fastest runners of each position group and go ‘ooh and ahh’ and display outdated ‘RAS’ (Relative Athleticism Score) data that was built on principles from 10+ years ago and now the current era guys are all 10.0’s or close to it.
The greatest of the athletes from Combine Day-1 are definitely exciting, but we now have to determine whether these finely tuned cyborg athletes can actually play the game...do they have something that makes them standout, or are they all just ‘good’ and the difference between on guy and the next is injury or landing spot (with the right coaches, O-Line, etc.).
Being a great athlete helps the cause for scouting these players, but a nice Combine 40-time is not enough to for sure be expected to shine in the NFL. The NFL is becoming littered with great Combine athletes who are fringe starters or fringe roster-able guys. Great speed/a good Combine is sweet, but it is not enough. We have to actually scout their on-field tape/performances and evaluate ‘fits’ (schemes and teams) and not fall into the hivemind narratives of worshipping all of them for their Combine numbers and whatever Mel Kiper says and then most others just run with.
We have many days-weeks-months now to process/study these players deeper on tape and with the data to get a better feel -- and that’s next 6 months’ job...to figure out which of these cyborgs are better and more undervalued than the others...or more so ruling out who to avoid/who won’t make it big.
-- But RC, great soap box speech, but who are the ‘winners’ among the participants Day -1?
There were so many great performances, I’d be better off listing those who didn’t have a good or great Combine. Do I need to say, ‘Sonny Styles was awesome at the Combine’? He’s 6’5”/244 and ran a 4.46 with a 43.5” vertical...that’s stunning, but for the love of Obi Melifonwu (6’4/224, 4.39, 44” vertical at SAF/LB) we need to figure out if they can ‘play’. The numbers alone won’t do/be the lead punch anymore.
Styles was awesome, the leader ‘on paper’ of Day-1..but Kaleb Elams-Orr ran a 4.47 with a 40” vertical at 6’2”/234...and no one cares.
Texas EDGE Trey Moore is 6’2”/243 and ran a 4.54 with a 38.5” vertical...I’m supposed to believe that’s radically inferior because Styles was a tick faster and went to Ohio State?
ILB Jacob Rodriquez running a 4.57 with a WOW 6.9 three-cone and 4.19 shuttle at 6’1”/231 is wildly impressive...and it’s lost among Sonny Styles worship.
I’m not trying to demean Styles, but an entire day of the Combine is being focused on 1-2-3 names, mostly Styles...mostly Jeremiyah Love, who hasn’t even done anything yet (and probably won’t) is misleading/simplistic -- when the real story is, there’s 10-15-20+ guys who shined (depending on your ‘shine’ definition. A surge of athletes with skills are flooding the NFL borders and it started with Day-1 of the Combine and it’s not gonna be just day one as an anomaly...we’re gonna see this at most ALL the positions...and the story should be the entire NFL is being changed by talent supply, but the media will only focus on THEE fastest 40-time and ONLY if they went to Ohio State or a close equivalent.
Here were the fastest 40-times at every position last year. Do you even care about any of them that much right now?
Fastest by Position (2025)
- Cornerback: Maxwell Hairston (Kentucky), 4.28
- Wide Receiver: Matthew Golden (Texas), 4.29
- Running Back: Bhayshul Tuten (Virginia Tech), 4.32
- Safety: Marques Sigle (Kansas State), 4.37
- Linebacker: Kain Medrano (UCLA), 4.46
- EDGE: James Pearce Jr. (Tennessee), 4.47
- Quarterback: Brady Cook (Missouri), 4.59
- Tight End: Terrance Ferguson (Oregon), 4.63
- Defensive Tackle: Ty Robinson (Nebraska), 4.83
- Offensive Line: Jared Wilson (Georgia), 4.84
Onto Day-2 of the Combine!
I’ll be working all weekend to process all the data and have all the 1.0 defensive prospect grades out ASAP...to get a base of prospects graded and then continue to add to it and audit them all daily for the next 6 months.
