40-yard dash

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

Generally, any time under 4.4 seconds is considered exceptionally fast even at the NFL level. Times between 4.4 and 4.6 seconds are good for the NFL. Times above 5 seconds are typically run only by linemen; the slowest time recorded at the 2006 combine was 6.21 seconds by offensive lineman Josh Hall.

Origins

The 40 is run because it showcases acceleration and speed which are both crucial in the NFL, being that football is a game of short bursts of speed. Among his many innovations such as instituting press box coaches, playbooks, and intelligence and psychological testing, Paul Brown, the legendary football coach, is credited with initially timing players at 40 yards because he believed this was the distance you had to run to cover a kickoff.

Electronic vs. Hand Timing

Because so much emphasis is placed on the 40, many players or programs claim to have run much faster times than they actually did. Part of this is hype from college programs wishing to promote their players by claiming they have run sensational times in practice. Another significant issue is that many colleges time players by hand, which typically records inaccurately low times. Because human reaction time is slow, this typically takes as much as 0.25 seconds off a player's time.

As a general rule, only 40 yard dash times recorded electronically can be considered accurate. This method is used at the NFL Combine. However, because this method usually records correct, slower times, many players in recent years have declined to be timed electronically, preferring to be timed in personal workouts where they think they will get a more favorable time by hand.

Best times

Many reported times are unreliable due to differences in timing methods if not intentional falsifications. The fastest time officially recorded by the NFL was 4.29 seconds by Deion Sanders in 1989 ^[1], although the NFL did not begin electronic timing until 1990. In the electronic timing era, the fastest recorded time at the NFL Combine was 4.25 seconds by cornerback Fabian Washington in 2005. ^[2] Most other times close to 4.0 are untrustworthy due to the use of hand timing, but it is often claimed that players including Sanders (4.17)^[3], Ted Ginn Jr. (4.06)^[4], Ryan Dotson (4.24) DeAngelo Hall (4.15)^[5][6], Michael Vick (4.25)^[7], Bo Jackson (4.14)^[8], Don Beebe (4.21)[1], Michael Bennett (4.13)^[9], Randy Moss (4.25)^[10], Darrell Green (4.15^[11], 4.2^[12]), Laveranues Coles (4.2)^[13], and Alexander Wright (4.09)^[14] have approached that mark. Although 40 yards is always run, the 60 meter dash is not a well-regulated track and field distance, the official record for which is 6.39 seconds. Tapes of sprinter Ben Johnson's world-record breaking 1988 100 meter dash (which was later annulled due to Johnson's steroid use), however, show that Johnson ran the 60 m in 6.37 seconds; this is considered the most quickly started race ever run.^[15] Johnson covered the first 40 meters in 4.53 seconds. It is often reported wrongly that Johnsons first 40 yards was timed. It was actually his first 40 meters. Which translates to an exceptionally fast 40 yard time (4.14 seconds). Little known Taylor Paul, known for his agility and athleticism, ran an unofficial 40 time of 4.23 in 1998. Some refutiate this claim, but coaches media, and onlookers who were at the 98 combine remember that legendary 40 yard dash.

However, in track and field races, the runner must react to the starting gun, which can take 0.10 to 0.20 seconds. For electronically timed 40 yard dashes, the runner is allowed to start when he wishes, and a timer hand-starts the clock (after a reaction time of 0.1 to 0.2 seconds). This difference would indicate that, at peak form, Johnson would have been electronically timed in 4.04 to 4.14 seconds, or hand-timed in about 4.00 seconds, making claims of hand-held times in the 4.1-4.2 range more credible.

Criticisms

Some football analysts state that the 40 yard dash is poorly correlated with football ability, as most players never run this distance in a game. Similarly, it is not a good indicator of 'football speed,' or how fast a player will actually seem when running while wearing a full uniform on grass and in the presence of opposing players. Some players with fast 40 times appear much slower in actual games, while other players with slow 40 times appear very quick.

Many players have gone on to have stellar NFL careers after running a disappointing 40 time, for example:

• Jerry Rice reportedly ran a 4.6 or 4.7 second 40-yard dash (regarded as mediocre figures for a wide receiver), and, consequently, was drafted in the second round of the 1985 NFL Draft, despite a stellar college career. He went out to play 13 Pro Bowls, win 3 Super Bowls, and break numerous NFL records (at the time of his retirement he had 28 NFL records). Said former teammate Ronnie Lott, "Jerry may 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 was in track gear.

• Emmitt Smith ran the 40 in 4.71 seconds, considered relatively slow for a running back. Despite his record-breaking college career, he was selected 17th in the 1990 NFL Draft by the Dallas Cowboys. Another running back, Blair Thomas, was selected much earlier with the second pick, in part because of his 4.4 second 40 yard dash. Smith went on to set the all-time rushing mark and win three Super Bowls, while Thomas had a disappointing career.

Of course, while there may be a man bites dog bias in such stories, there are countless examples of a slow 40 yard dash time correctly indicating that a successful college player will not be effective in the faster NFL. Also, while the 40 yard dash is the most talked about by fans, scouts also consider 10 and 20 yard dashes, as well as shuttle runs and cone drills, as measures of a players quickness.

Notes

1. "Ask the Falcons." AtlantaFalcons.com, May 20, 2006.
2. "NFL Draft Blitz: 2005 Combine Review."
3. Zeigler, Mark. "The NFL treats 40-yard dash times as sacred." The San Diego Union-Tribune, April 20, 2005.
4. Weiss, Dick. "Ginn's gunning for title." New York Daily News, January 6, 2007.
5. Weiland, Keith. "The War Room: DeAngelo Hall, CB, Virginia Tech." HoustonProFootball.com, accessed January 10, 2007.
6. King, Kelley. "SI's College Football Preview 2003: Virginia Tech." Sports Illustrated, August 11, 2003.
7. Robertson, Jimmy. "Hokies record blistering 40 times at annual timing day." Hokie Huddler, March 8, 2000.
8. USA Today, February 27, 1986.
9. Merrill, Elizabeth. "Bennett happy as a Chief." Kansas City Star, December 2, 2006.
10. Carter, Bob. "Moves, emotions have Moss causin' a commotion." ESPN Classic, accessed January 12, 2007.
11. Darrell Green, and various Internet forums.
12. O'Donnell, Chuck. "The stat sheet: Darrell Green." Football Digest, March 2003.
13. Worgo, Tom. "Money in the bank." Football Digest, January 2004.
14. Whitt, Richie. "Fast Track: Former Cowboy's big dreams diverted to small schools." Dallas Observer, April 6, 2006.
15. Zeigler, Mark. "The NFL treats 40-yard dash times as sacred." The San Diego Union-Tribune, April 20, 2005.