40-yard dash

The 40-yard dash is a sprint covering 40 yards (36.576 m). It is primarily run to evaluate the speed of football players by scouts, particularly for the NFL Draft but also for collegiate recruiting. A player's recorded time in the 40 can have a heavy impact on his prospects in college or professional football. This was traditionally only true for the 'skill' positions such as running back, wide receiver, and defensive back, although now a fast 40-yard dash time is considered important for almost every position.

Timing method

The method of timing a 40-yard sprint can affect the accuracy by as much .5 seconds (with the manual stopwatch method). The best methods of timing are lasers which start and stop the times when passed through. A laser start (from a stationary position) is perhaps more accurate because the only factor measured is speed, not reaction time.

Best times

Many reported times are unreliable due to differences in timing methods if not intentional falsifications. The NFL did not begin using partial electronic timing (started by hand, stopped electronically) at the NFL Scouting Combine until 1990.

In track and field races, the runner must react to the starting gun, which takes approximately 0.24 seconds, based on FAT timing. For electronically timed 40 yard dashes, the runner is allowed to start when he wishes, and a timer hand-starts the clock.

Although the 40-yard dash is not an official race in track and field, the 60 meter dash is an official distance in indoor track and field, with the world record for that race being 6.39 seconds (run twice by Maurice Greene, and once by Ben Johnson, whose record was annulled for an unofficial Steroid test). The fastest 60m split time is probably 6.32 seconds by Usain Bolt, in his 9.69 second 100m World Record. Fast starting elite sprinters such as Asafa Powell (and others past and present) can run a "Football 40" close to 4 seconds, because the sprinter does not have to react to the sound of the gun, and the starter has to react to their movement before the clock starts. In the 2001 World Championship 100m final in Edmonton, Greene covered 30m in 3.25 seconds running time and 40m in 3.92 seconds running time, putting his 40 yard (36.576m) running time at about 3.75 seconds. Given a hypothetical timer's reaction time to Greene's motion, Greene's "Football 40" time for this race would have been between 4.00 and 4.14 seconds.

There actually is no single, "official" 40 time at the NFL Combine. National Scouting, which runs the combine, provides three times per run, two fully hand-held and one stopped electronically. Each player may run twice, thereby yielding a potential six times. National Scouting provides all six of these times to NFL teams. The teams then do what they want with those times, or ignore them. Some teams use the best electronic time. Some teams throw out the fastest and slowest and average the rest. Some teams use the best time provided. And some teams use a time provided by their own scout on site.

Criticisms

Some football analysts claim that the 40-yard dash is poorly correlated with football ability, as most players seldom are required to sprint this distance in a game. It has been said as well that 40 times are not a good indicator of 'football speed,' or how fast a player will actually seem when running while wearing a full uniform (including pads) on a football field, rather than a track, and in the presence of opposing players. However, the 40-yard dash continues to be an important assessment tool in football, especially among college football coaches making recruiting decisions among high school players, and it is an important component of the SPARQ rating received by many top football recruits.

Many players have gone on to have stellar NFL careers after recording a "disappointing" 40 time -- for example:
*Jerry Rice reportedly ran a 4.71 second 40-yard dash (regarded as a mediocre figure for a wide receiver). [cite web| title=Rice was fast enough for 20-year career | url=http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=clayton_john&id=2152424 | accessdate=2007-12-16] He went on to play in 13 Pro Bowls, win 3 Super Bowls, and break numerous NFL receiving records NFL records (at the time of his retirement he had 28 NFL records). Said former teammate Ronnie Lott, "Jerry may have been a 4.6 or a 4.7, but he was a 4.2 on Sundays." Rice was also generally noted for being able to run as fast a 40-yard dash under the weight of heavy NFL padding as he could in track gear.
*Emmitt Smith's best reported time in the 40 was said to be 4.8 seconds, and at his rookie combine was said to have run 4.72, normally considered slow for a running back. Despite his great college career, he was selected 17th in the 1990 NFL Draft by the Dallas Cowboys. Smith went on to become the NFL's all time leading rusher and won three Super Bowls with the Cowboys.

Nevertheless, in many cases players who have recorded slow 40 times at the NFL Combine have gone on to perform poorly in the NFL, whose players are largely faster than those in college football.

uccessful fast times

Inappropriate tone|section|date=February 2008Many players with very low reported times have gone on done to have successful careers in the NFL. Darrell Green ran a verified 4.09 in training camp in 1986 for the Washington Redskins [http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=300647] [http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/25923389/] . In football circles, it is considered to be the industry benchmark time for the 40-yard dash; however, it is classified as unofficial because it was done before 1990. He is considered by many as one of the best cornerbacks of all time, and many believe him to be the fastest man in NFL history. Green was a world-class sprinter in college, beating Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis on several occasions and won each of the four NFL's Fastest Man competitions in which he participated. As of 2008, he and DeAngelo Hall are the only undefeated competitors in history to participate in the competition more than once. Joey Galloway ran a 4.18 at his Pro Day in college. Randy Moss, a wide receiver currently playing for the New England Patriots, ran a 4.25. In high school he was clocked at a 4.13 (hand-timed).cite news | first=Bob | last=Carter | title=Moves, emotions have Moss causin' a commotion | url =http://espn.go.com/classic/biography/s/Moss_Randy.html | work =ESPN Classic | accessdate = 2007-02-22] Moss currently holds the rookie TD reception record with 17 and the single-season TD reception record with 23. Deion Sanders ran a 4.18 and had a very successful career as a cornerback in the NFL. Devin Hester ran a disappointing 4.45 at the 2006 NFL Scouting Combine, but commented recently that "My best time was a 4.27 at my Pro Day." He is now considered one of the best kick returners in NFL history and holds numerous return records. In 2007, the popular Madden NFL video game franchise announced that Hester would be the first player ever to receive a speed rating of 100 in Madden NFL 08. No one had ever been rated above 99 in any category in the franchise. Heisman Trophy winner, Herschel Walker was said to have run a 4.25 (hand-timed) also for the Dallas Cowboys.Fact|date=February 2008 He was a notable sprinter who also ran in the Olympic trials. Kevin Curtis the wide receiver currently playing for the Philadelphia Eagles ran a hand timed 4.21 for scouts at Utah State pro day. [http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,635155947,00.html] Current Tennessee Titans running back Chris Johnson is "the fastest back ever timed electronically at the NFL combine" (according to the 15 September 2008 issue of Sports Illustrated) with a 4.24 time.

References