LMAO And you traded your 1st rounder this year to get one in the 2nd last year. I love it.

If he would just bulk up in the weight room and eat a few doughnuts, we could put him at NT and have the fastest force of 300 pounds anyone has ever seen.

You don't have to have him eat doughnuts. The S&T staff at USC had to watch his weightlifing, because if they didn't, he'd get up to 260-270.

Taylor Mays OFFICIAL time: 4.43.

Still fastest of all CBs or Safeties to run today.

The earthquake in Chile must've slowed him down.

On that slow track, that's equivalent to a 4.3.

Berry's official time was 4.47.

And he's a 4.4 flat guy, just like Haden is a 4.5 flat guy and Thomas is a 4.45ish guy

Major Wright ran an official 4.48. He's a 4.4 guy.

These statistics are interesting. How much difference does .05 seconds really make when judging these guys and how does that translate to play on the field?

For defensive backs I don't think straight-line speed is as important as some of the other drills they run. Sure, they need to run with the fastest WRs, but in a game they're going to be backpedaling, turning their hips and then running and they will never be in a 3 point stance.

No difference.

Both are fast and physical. Both have great technique

It makes *some* difference, but it's position dependent.

40 times are most important for defensive backs and WRs, because they have to run the farthest in a "straight" line.

It's far less important for lineman, of which the 10 yard split is far more important.

Deion ran the fastest 40 every recorded at the combine, and he was obviously a great a cover corner.

However, Brandon Flowers ran a very pedestrian 40 (4.58) and yet is a very good NFL corner.

There are exceptions to every rule, but it's generally a good barometer for their absolute upside.

My guess would be that faster is better, but .05 seconds or .10 seconds is probably smaller than the difference in players' abilities to recognize plays or pick angles.

When you think about a defender, it seems like there are three elements to making a tackle:

1. Recognizing the play and the flow and the ballcarrier.
2. Taking the best angle to the ball.
3. Getting there.

#3 gets all the publicity because it's easy to measure, and obviously speed is important. But I wonder how they measure #1 and #2 with as much accuracy. I think they can't.

You measure #1 and #2 through the drills they are doing right now.