INDIANAPOLIS – There are countless stories about players who showed up at the NFL scouting combine and wowed scouts enough to send their draft stock soaring. Sometimes it was the beginning of their journey to stardom. Sometimes they proved to be “workout warriors” who didn’t actually work out.
But every year, some player gets the NFL talking, either with a record-breaking performance or one that unexpectedly comes close. Here’s a look back at some of the best and most memorable combine performances of the last 25 years:
10. Jordan Davis, 2022
Davis was a mountain of a man at 6-foot-6 and 341 pounds and clearly the best, run-stuffing nose tackle in the draft. Everyone knew the Georgia product was athletic, but what he did in the 40-yard dash was just freakish. He ran a 4.78, beating the times of some prospects who weighed 100 pounds less than he did.
NFL scouts were amazed – “It’s still crazy that a guy that big could run like that,” a scout told me.
And Davis did more than just run. He had a 32-inch vertical leap and recorded a 10-foot, 3-inch broad jump, which were big parts of why the Eagles took him with the 13th overall pick in the draft.
9. Pat O’Donnell, 2014
Don’t ever say punters aren’t athletes – or at least don’t say it to O’Donnell, the 6-foot-4, 220-pound punter out of Miami who took his combine by storm.
O’Donnell did most of the drills, which was unusual for any specialist, and was outstanding in all of them. He ran a 4.64 in the 40, had a standing long jump of 10 feet, and put up 23 reps on the bench press. That last feat of strength was the most impressive for the eventual sixth-round pick (by the Chicago Bears), because it was more than 19 running backs, 21 defensive linemen, and every one of the 37 wide receivers at the combine. It was also two more reps than Jadeveon Clowney put up that year, and he ended up being taken with the first overall pick.
8. DK Metcalf, 2019
A few weeks before the combine, the Ole Miss receiver was caught in a jaw-dropping, shirtless picture on Twitter that showed off his remarkably ripped and large physique. The real jaw-dropper was the remarkable performance he put on during the actual workouts.
Metcalf dominated with both speed and strength. He ran a blazing fast, 4.33 in the 40, surprising considering he was 6-foot-3 and weighed in at 228 pounds. He also tied the combine WR record with 27 reps on the bench press. Nobody thought a receiver that size could have that combination of speed and strength.
As then-Raiders coach Jon Gruden said back then, “You look at him and ask, ‘Who’s tackling this guy?’”
7. Byron Jones, 2015
No prospect had ever broken the 12-foot barrier in the standing long jump. In fact, no prospect had ever come closer than 11-foot-9.
Then along came Jones, a 6-foot-1, 199-pound cornerback out of UConn. He shattered the record and the barrier, jumping 12-feet, 3-inches, which also broke the world record – set by Norwegian shot-putter Arne Tvervaag in 1968 – by an inch. Jones’ combine record and world record – which is technically unofficial – both still stand, 11 years later. In fact, until Texas Tech safety Tyler Owens jumped 12-2 in 2024, no NFL prospect had come within six inches of Jones’ mark.
6. Stephen Paea, 2011
Nothing gets people fired up at the scouting combine quite like the bench press, where a Tongan who grew up playing rugby once stole the show.
At 6-foot-1, 303, the Oregon State defensive tackle barely seemed to break a sweat as he shattered the bench press record with 49 reps – four more than had ever been done at the combine before. His arms didn’t slow down until he hit 40. He didn’t pause at all until he hit 43. And he even got halfway to a 50th rep before his arms finally gave out. And yeah, he really wanted that last one.
“I feel like I did OK,” he said. “I didn’t do great. My goal was 50, and I was a little bit mad at myself after.”
5. Jadeveon Clowney, 2014
There were a lot of questions about the South Carolina edge rusher heading into the combine, and he didn’t answer all of them. He had a disappointing showing in the bench press with only 21 reps, and he angered scouts by skipping positional drills because he said he had a hip flexor injury.
Neither that injury nor concerns about his weight stopped him in the 40, which saw him dazzle everyone with a 4.53. That was a stunning, receiver-like result for a player who stood 6-foot-5 and weighed more than 270 pounds (possibly much more). It showed how explosive a pass rusher he could be, and it helped him become the No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 draft.
4. Xavier Worthy, 2024
Everyone knew the 5-foot-11, 165-pound Texas receiver was the fastest man in the 2024 draft, but the question going in was whether he was record-breaking fast. On his first attempt at running the 40-yard dash, he wasn’t. He was clocked at 4.25 seconds.
On his second attempt, he was. It was first clocked unofficially at a record-tying 4.22, but shortly after, the NFL announced he broke the seven-year-old record with an official 4.21. When the revised time was announced in Lucas Oil Stadium, the crowd roared.
3. John Ross, 2017
In the days before the combine, the 5-foot-11, 188-pound receiver from Washington had the nine-year-old 40 record in his sights.
“I’m definitely going to try (to break it),” he said. “I’m definitely going to go for it.”
And he did, officially running a 4.22, beating the old record by two one-hundredths of a second.
“He called his shot!” an NFC scout told me. “He said he was going to break the record and he did. He was flying!”
There was only one downside to his record-setting performance. The sneaker company Adidas had promised to give away an island to anyone who broke the record wearing their shoes. Ross did it while wearing Nikes.
2. Chris Johnson, 2008
Johnson once said he thought he had the speed to beat Usain Bolt in a race. At his scouting combine, he showed that’s not as crazy as it sounds.
The East Carolina running back was literally a breakout star when he tied the combine record with a 4.24 in the 40, equaling what Eastern Kentucky receiver Rondel Melendez had done nine years earlier. Melendez was about 20 pounds lighter and a receiver, though. A running back tying the record was stunning. It even vaulted Johnson from a third-round prospect at best to a late first-round pick.
Even more stunning was that it took nine years for anyone to touch his record.
“Think about how impressive that is,” an NFL scout told me. “He’s a 200-pound RB and he held that record for a decade. That’s amazing.”
1. Saquon Barkley, 2018
The devaluation of running backs in the NFL was already beginning when the Penn State star burst onto the scene, proving at the combine that he might just be too athletic, too good, for anyone to pass up. Despite being 6-foot and 233 pounds, he showed off his burst by running a 4.40 in the 40. He then showed off his athleticism with a 41-inch vertical leap. And then he showed his strength with 29 reps on the bench press.
“Maybe the best individual combine I ever saw,” a former NFL executive told me. “(He) didn’t shatter records, but (it was) a complete performance. He was great at everything.”
The New York Giants agreed and took him with the second overall pick in the draft. Barkley’s combine performance helped convince former Giants general manager Dave Gettleman that the running back was “touched by the hand of God.”
