NFL Combine winners among Wide Receivers and the top Athletic Composite Scores
Following along with the NFL Combine is always a lot of fun. There's all the spicy comments from podiums, the weigh-ins and measurements that can sometimes surprise, and of course the forty-yard dashes in spandex that everyone loves. But when the dust settles at the end of each day, how can we really tell who […]
Following along with the NFL Combine is always a lot of fun. There's all the spicy comments from podiums, the weigh-ins and measurements that can sometimes surprise, and of course the forty-yard dashes in spandex that everyone loves. But when the dust settles at the end of each day, how can we really tell who "won" and helped their draft stock?
The best way? Create a custom Athletic Composite score that pulls together 20+ years of historical NFL Combine data, analyzes the results of this group of incoming prospects, and assigns a singular percentile score for a player's athleticism.
Or at least that's what we did here at A to Z Sports. As you can see in my post below, here were the top performances among wide receivers at the NFL Combine today according to the A to Z Sports Athletic Composite.
Xavier Worthy's New Record
During Xavier Worthy's interviews at the podium on Friday he hinted at potentially breaking the forty-yard dash record, but many had their doubts. The forty-yard dash record of 4.22 seconds had held since 2017 when John Ross (WR, Washington) beat out Chris Johnson's 4.24 from 2008.
After Worthy's first run unofficially went for 4.25 seconds the excitement began to build at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. When he actually made history, the crowd went so wild that it sounded like a full game day touchdown celebration! Check out this view and the eruption from the crowd in Brett Kollman's video below.
Xavier Worthy is officially the fastest NFL Combine player of all time. His jumps also gave him a 96th percentile burst score too. Worthy was already projected to be a potential late first round or early second round pick. He'll likely be selected in the mid-first at the latest now.
Size and Speed Freaks
This class was absolutely stacked with huge receivers that have top tier speed. Adonai Mitchell (Texas), Xavier Legette (South Carolina), and Brian Thomas Jr. (LSU) all measured in at least 6'2" and 205 pounds and ran sub-4.4 seconds in the forty-yard dash. They also all leaped at least 38.5 inches in the vertical and 10'6" or greater in the broad jump. Just absurd athleticism at their size. All three wide receivers should be top 60 picks.
Johnny Wilson (Florida State) and Rome Odunze (Washington) were the only size and speed freaks who also chose to compete in the agility drills. Wilson stood over 6'6", but somehow was able to run a 4.11-second short shuttle, which was good for a 79th% mark among all wide receivers since 2000. Odunze was even faster at 4.03 seconds. Odunze further solidified his early round one status. Wilson now likely sneaks into round three.
Bub Means (Pittsburgh) and Cornelius Johnson (Michigan) were largely slept on by the masses coming into NFL Combine week, but not anymore. Means not only posted great Speed and Burst Scores, but he also measured in with huge hands at 10.13 inches. Cornelius Johnson on the other hand had tiny hands under nine inches, but tested above the 84th percentile in both speed and burst too. Both should get drafted now.
Best of the Rest
Devontez Walker (North Carolina) needed to run incredibly fast to rehab his draft stock after struggling with consistency at the Senior Bowl, and he did exactly that. A 4.36-second forty made all kinds of sense given that he posted multiple plays peaking at 23 miles per hour in his college career.
Ryan Flournoy (Southeast Missouri State) showed some burst on tape at SEMO, but 39.5 inches in the vertical and 11 feet in the board jump is crazy for a small school wide receiver. He was likely on the fringe of going undrafted prior to this showing, but no longer.
Ricky Pearsall (Florida) also posted crazy jumps with 42 inches in the vertical and 10'9" in the broad. Then he added a 4.41-second forty. He wasn't the most productive in college, but he should be a solid mid-round pick now.
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