INDIANAPOLIS -- Now that officials at the NFL Scouting Combine have decided not to use internationally accepted automated timing method in the 40-yard runs this year, the results announced will be the same as ever -- mixed.
Although the times are often referenced as official when released by NFL.com or NFL Network, historically they have really been a mix, with announced times reflecting any one of the six diffferent results each player has.
"We get all six of the results they publish for us at the combine, but like most teams we have our own way of determining what time we use," Washington Redskins general manager Bruce Allen told The Sports Xchange.
Allen explained that there is no such thing as a single, official time as far as teams are concerned. He said some teams use the best time, some use an average and others go with one of the two electronic times. Allen says the times are good reference, but for consistency he prefers yet another method.
"Our own scouts time each run and we go with our own results," Allen said.
Since 1990, combine 40-yard times have included two manual timings and one that was determined by a manual start and an electronic beam at the finish. In those cases, all starts were determined by the player's first motion. Before 1990, all times were entirely manual.
Last year fully automated timing was used as a test at the Combine, but results were only seen by a small committee and The Sports Xchange learned that the fully automated method, known as FAT, is not being used this year.
Here is what happens to get the 40 times at the combine that are revealed:
--Those who participate in the 40 run twice, and on each run they are timed by two hand-held stopwatches and one electronic timer (initiated by hand on the player's first movement).
--Combine data put together for NFL teams includes all six of those times for each player, but no single official time.
The rapid ascent of the combine as a media event has created a lot of misconceptions, especially with the proliferation of live coverage by NFL Network on television and NFL.com online. In recent years, in an attempt to expedite reporting of data, both NFL Network and NFL.com have published 40 times and have not cited the exact source of the announced times, or which of the six was used. times, except to say they are unofficial.
All this is great for fans viewing online or on television, as long as they understand, as the press release states, that the times are "unofficial." Most media will go with those same times until more specific data becomes available.
NFLDraftScout.com closely follows the draft and the combine. Even before NFL.com and NFL Network arrived on the scene, NFLDraftScout.com kept track of the annual results and maintained a list of Combine bests.
In deference to the players, who want to know their berst time, NFLDraftScout goes with the best verifiable -- or listed -- time from the combine unless it is conspicuously skewed from the other times.
This often creates a disparity between times recorded by NFLDraftScout.com and those announced by NFL.com or NFL Network. However, when NFL.com and NFL Network began showing lists of combine bests, those lists reflected the same times used by NFLDraftScout.com.
Below are the best results at the Combine since 2000. For comparison sake, and for something to keep in mind as times are announced the next few days, the 40 times announced during each combine are included in parentheses.
Fastest 40 Yard Dash Times, (2000-2012)
* = Underclassman
Best time (Announced time) -- Player (Pos), School -- Year
4.21 (4.34)- Trindon Holliday, (WR), LSU - 2010
4.22 (4.28)- Jacoby Ford, (WR), Clemson - 2010
4.24 (4.24)- Chris Johnson, (RB), East Carolina - 2008
4.25 (4.30)- *Darrius Heyward-Bey, (WR), Maryland - 2009
4.25 (4.28)- Demarcus Van Dyke, (CB), Miami - 2011
4.26 (4.28)- Jerome Mathis, (WR), Hampton - 2005
4.27 (4.37)- C.J. Spiller, (RB), Clemson - 2010
4.27 (4.27)- Stanford Routt, (CB), Houston - 2005
4.28 (4.33)- Mike Wallace, (WR), Mississippi - 2009
4.28 (4.36)- *Stephen Hill, (WR), Georgia Tech - 2012
4.29 (4.33)- Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, (CB), Tennessee State - 2008
4.29 (4.29)- *Fabian Washington, (CB), Nebraska - 2005
4.29 (4.29)- Johnny Knox, (WR), Abilene Christian - 2009
4.29 (4.33)- *Josh Robinson, (CB), Central Florida - 2012
4.30 (4.30)- Yamon Figurs, (WR), Kansas State - 2007
4.30 (4.30)- Darrent Williams, (CB), Oklahoma State - 2005
4.30 (4.40)- Mike Thomas, (WR), Arizona - 2009
4.31 (4.31)- Aaron Lockett, (WR), Kansas State - 2002
4.31 (4.38)- Deon Butler, (WR), Penn State - 2009
4.31 (4.31)- *Justin King, (CB), Penn State - 2008
4.31 (4.31)- Tyvon Branch, (CB), Connecticut - 2008
