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NFL Combine

Running backs slower than expected at Indianapolis

The running backs have run at the combine, and none of them crushed it. In comparison to what we typically see at this event, in fact, they come in as below average.

Leonard Fournette, Christian McCaffrey and Dalvin Cook, who might all go in the top 20 picks of the draft, all clocked about 4.5 in the 40. That’s not terrible, but all we’re hoping to go about a tenth faster.

With Fournette, at least there’s the added dimension of him being a really big man. He weighed in at 240 pounds, and when a back that size is running 4.5, that’s an impressive combo – like a Jeremy Hill with more speed.

And all three of these backs have proven themselves at the college level. Both Cook and McCaffrey are run-catch backs with good vision and cutting ability.

Ezekiel Elliott and Melvin Gordon ran pretty similarly to these guys in recent years, and they both played well last year.

In this century, 27 running backs have run at the combine and also been selected in the the first round. All but five of those backs ran faster than all three of these prospects.

Other running backs have been chosen in the first round without running at the combine, but I am leaving them out, since their numbers become more wishy washy, as you try to account for guys running on different surfaces and being hand-timed. With the combine, it’s an apples-to-apples comparision.

RUNNING BACKS AT THE COMBINE
YearPkPlayerTime
200824Chris Johnson4.24
20109C.J. Spiller4.28
20084Darren McFadden4.33
201030Jahvid Best4.34
201012Ryan Mathews4.37
201232David Wilson4.38
200127Michael Bennett4.38
20077Adrian Peterson4.40
200630Joseph Addai4.40
200823Rashard Mendenhall4.41
200123Deuce McAllister4.41
200031Trung Canidate4.41
20055Cadillac Williams4.43
20052Ronnie Brown4.43
200822Felix Jones4.44
200424Steven Jackson4.45
201231Doug Martin4.46
200927Donald Brown4.46
200813Jonathan Stewart4.46
200712Marshawn Lynch4.46
20015LaDainian Tomlinson4.46
20164Ezekiel Elliott4.47
2017?Dalvin Cook4.48
2017?Christian McCaffrey4.49
200912Knowshon Moreno4.50
2017?Leonard Fournette4.51
201515Melvin Gordon4.52
200931Beanie Wells4.52
200216William Green4.60
201128Mark Ingram4.62

—Ian Allan

Fantasy Index