The big question surrounding former Texas wide receiver Xavier Worthy right now is whether he’ll be as much of a star on Sunday as he was at the NFL Scouting Combine.
Worthy ran through the annual gathering’s premier event on Saturday, running the fastest 40-yard dash in event history at 4.21 seconds.
That was better than former Bengals and Giants wide receiver John Ross III, who ran a 4.22 time in 2017 but never received the same attention in the pros as he did in Indy.
A successful performance at the combine may improve the draft board’s ranking, but it doesn’t necessarily predict NFL stardom.
Mike Mamura is both a legend and a lesson in the NFL Scouting Combine in that regard.
He was one of the first athletes to train specifically for the tests that prospective athletes undergo, particularly the 40-yard dash to measure speed, the three-cone drill to measure agility, and the 225-pound bench press to measure strength and stamina. was.
Mamura’s outstanding performance at the 1995 combine led the Philadelphia Eagles to trade the 12th overall pick and two second-round picks to Tampa Bay two months later, moving up five spots and selecting Boston College. They were able to do so and drafted him in the first round of the NFL Draft. No. 7, defensive end.
Mamura had a solid five-year career with the Eagles, but never really lived up to the hype generated by winning the practice in Indianapolis. That transformed the annual gathering of teams and talent into the televised spectacle it is today.
While some prospects skip certain components of the combine and instead choose to show off in more familiar surroundings during college pro days or individual team visits, the majority, like Mummula, My goal is to spend a week in Indianapolis.
They train in hopes of jumping farther or higher or doing one more rep on the weight bench, like Olympic athletes who cut out carbs in hopes of shaving milliseconds off their time. To do.
combine AP
Many of the players who achieved aces in practice will likely follow Mamura’s trajectory in the pros as more of a wonder of training than a master of the iron plate. This once again shows that predicting professional success at the combine is inaccurate.
Take Orlando Brown Jr. as an example. After bench-pressing 225 pounds just 14 times in Indy, he fell from the first round in everyone’s mock draft to the third round in the actual draft, before running the 40-yard dash in 5.85 seconds. . .
Brown declared, undeterred by a miserable week that included equally bad vertical and broad jumps. I wish it had been faster. ”
All Brown has accomplished in his professional career is a Super Bowl championship with Kansas City, four Pro Bowl appearances, and is slowly on his way to more than $57 million in lifetime earnings.
Like Mamura, many of the combine’s top performers find the game itself much more difficult to master. Even if you’re the best at practice, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be successful at chasing down passes or chasing passers.
For some players, their combine prowess can be a career highlight. Some people use it on Sundays to reach stardom.
The Bengals drafted Ross, a former Washington wideout, with the ninth overall pick in 2017, but he played in just 37 games and caught just 11 touchdown passes during his five-year pro career.
Here’s a look at other all-time great performances during seven classic NFL Combine workouts and how that translated to draft day and the football field.
bench press
49 reps — Steven Paea, DT, Oregon State, 2011. Paea, a second-round pick by the Bears, started three seasons with Chicago. He also spent his year each in Washington, Cleveland, and Dallas.
vertical jump
45 inches (tie) — Chris Conley, WR, Georgia, 2015. A third-round pick of Kansas City, Conley spent his 10 years in the NFL, including stints with the Jaguars, Texans, and Titans. He has 16 total TDs.
45 inches (tie) — Donald Washington, CB, Ohio State, 2009. A fourth-round pick, he never intercepted a pass in his three seasons in the NFL, all with Kansas City.
long jump
12 feet 3 inches — Byron Jones, CB, UW, 2015. The Cowboys selected Jones 27th overall, but he missed just four games during his productive seven-year career that ended with his two seasons in Miami.
three cone drill
6.42 seconds — Jeff Mahr, WR, Oregon State, 2011. The undrafted Mahr played in three games in two seasons with Houston and 24 games in two years with Philadelphia, scoring the only TD of his career in 2013.
20 yard shuttle
3.81 seconds (tie) — Brandin Cooks, WR, Oregon State, 2014. Drafted 20th overall by the Saints, Cooks’ illustrious 10-year career featured 57 TD catches, including eight last season with the Cowboys when he was 30 years old.
3.81 seconds (tie) – Jason Allen, CB, Tennessee, 2006. The 16th overall pick out of Miami enjoyed a solid seven-year NFL career that included 15 interceptions and stints in Houston and Cincinnati.
10 yard split
1.40 seconds — Chris Johnson, RB, East Carolina, 2008. Drafted No. 24 overall by the University of Tennessee, he rushed for 2,006 yards and 14 TDs in 2009 and scored 55 points in an illustrious 10-year career with the Titans, Jets and Cardinals.
Regardless of whether a promising player ultimately burns out or not, fans in need of a football fix between the Super Bowl and Draft Week will tune in to watch an event known to many as the “Underwear Olympics.” At least we can get a glimpse of what’s to come.
“The ’40s are a highlight for everyone,” NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah said. …This is an apples-to-apples comparison. ”
