The best NFL Combine performances of all time

The NFL Combine is a great opportunity for prospects to showcase their athletic ability and how they can fit into an organization. For better or worse, their draft stock can be impacted depending on their performance.

For some players, their combine produced a meteoric rise for them going into their draft day, and it’s possible some can emerge this year and give front offices something to salivate about.

Here are a few examples of players whose draft stock rose big-time and how they turned out in the league.

Darrius Heyward-Bey, WR, Maryland, 2009

Heyward-Bey masked a lot of issues in college, which included poor route-running, shaky hands and a questionable work ethic, with his 40 time of 4.3 seconds despite being 6-foot-2, 210 pounds. It was enough to land him as the seventh overall pick to the then-Oakland Raiders in 2009.

Speed would give a player a lot of momentum even back in the day, and it applies to Heyward-Bey, who was seen as a mid-to-late first-rounder before the combine. The late Al Davis really enjoyed speedy players, and Heyward-Bey was no exception.

Heyward-Bey would go on to average just 24 catches for 342 yards and 2 touchdowns per 17-game season in 10 years in the NFL. His up-and-down play and an offseason DUI arrest in 2012 ran him out of the Bay Area in 2013.

Chris Johnson, RB, East Carolina, 2008

Chris Johnson’s 4.24-second 40 time proved massive for him. It was a record that stood until John Ross broke it in 2017, and Johnson was projected to be a second-round pick before the combine. Some people ranked guys like Rashard Mendenhall and Tashard Choice above him.

Even then, Chris Johnson wasn’t the first running back taken in his class, though, as Arkansas’ Darren McFadden (fourth overall), Felix Jones (22nd overall) and Oregon’s Jonathan Stewart (13th overall) were all selected before him.

However, Chris Johnson, who went 24th overall to the Tennesee Titans in 2008, was able to prove his doubters wrong almost immediately. In his second season, he became the sixth running back in NFL history to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a season.

Chris Johnson won Offensive Player of the Year that season, and his career includes three Pro Bowls and a first-team All-Pro appearance, all in the first three seasons of one that tailed off towards its end in 2017.

Lane Johnson, OT, Oklahoma, 2013

Lane Johnson wasn’t considered a top-50 prospect in the 2013 NFL Draft by some going into the season, in part due to a lack of experience at tackle. However, he more than made up for it with a combine that ranks among the best for offensive linemen.

Lane Johnson earned a 99 Athleticism score on NFL.com, doing well across the board but standing out with his 4.72 40 time, which is the second-fastest ever by an offensive lineman in combine history. It was even faster than Carson Wentz’s 4.77 time, whom Lane Johnson wound up protecting for five seasons.

Lane Johnson was selected by the Philadelphia Eagles fourth overall in the 2013 NFL draft and is still playing to this day. His accolades include two Super Bowls, six Pro Bowls and two first-team All-Pro nods in twelve seasons with the Eagles.

Byron Jones, CB, UConn, 2015

Byron Jones has arguably the biggest leap out of any NFL prospect in the combine for as long as we can remember. Some people barely had him as a top-25 player at his position before the combine, and he went on to be the 27th overall pick in 2015 by the Dallas Cowboys.

Jones made his mark at the combine with his 147-inch broad jump, which is still a world record, all while being in the 95th percentile or better in the vertical jump, 20-yard shuttle and 60-yard shuttle.

Jones made the Pro Bowl in 2018 and took that momentum to earn a five-year, $82 million contract with the Miami Dolphins. Injuries took a toll on him, even though he only missed three games in seven seasons before he missed all of 2022 while recovering from offseason leg surgery and hasn’t played football since 2021.

You can watch the start of the NFL Combine on NFL Network on Thursday at 3 p.m. EST as the defensive backs and linebackers hit the field in Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis and see which prospects can make a similar jump up draft boards.

Owen Klein is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email ojk5092@psu.edu.