The 40-yard dash (36.58-meters) is the key measure of speed and acceleration for football draft prospects.
Traditionally a key measurable for skill positions, it’s now considered important for all roles on the football field.
The distance of 40 yards was the brainchild of legendary Cleveland Browns coach Paul Brown in the mid-1940s.
Brown’s idea was that it was a “more meaningful measure of true football speed”, his logic that it’s about the distance a player would have to cover on a punt including hang time.
The 40-yard dash was popularized in the 60’s by Cowboy’s chief talent scout Gil Brandt. He was in Jacksonville working out a draft prospect. Due to the weather it wasn’t possible to run 40-yards on any football field.
Brandt and the prospect went to Jacksonville’s airport, cleared out a corridor and timed the prospect running the 40-yard dash.
Brandt and his scouting team used to carry 40-yard wash lines around so that they could measure prospects. Other teams quickly followed suit and quickly became standard practice.
“It’s become a universal way of doing things,” said Brandt. “It’s like zip codes and postal mailings and area codes. It’s a part of life.”
The NFL Scouting Combine first started in 1982 however the first year electronic timing was implemented wasn’t until 1999.
Bengals wide receiver John Ross holds the current record of 4.22 seconds, .02 faster than the next fastest Rondel Menendez and Chris Johnson.
Measuring average times between 2000-2012 of those who have played at least 5 games between 2000 and 2012, the average time for wide receivers and cornerbacks is 4.48.
Guards are slowest with offensive tackles and guards who run at an average of 5.32 and 5.36 respectively. Quarterbacks come in at 4.93, which is slower than fullbacks at 4.80.
The dash is interesting as players are racing against the clock. The 40-yard is measured by a man at the six-yard line who triggers the timer at the prospects first movement.
Lasers take times at the 10, 20 and 40-yard marks with the use of electronic timing devices.
The 40-year dash from its humble beginnings is now the NFL Combine’s marquee event. So important is the 40-yard dash, a few hundredths of a second could be the difference in draft selections and could be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.