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February 23, 2014Just in case you didn’t believe the hours of video evidence indicating that Johnny Manziel was fast, now we have further evidence to support that opinion. The NFL combine 40-yard dash results for QBs is in the books and no quarterbacks ran faster in a straight line for 40 yards than did Johnny Football.
Manziel’s times bested the rest of the quarterback field, most by a significant margin. Fresno State’s Derek Carr turned in the second-fastest time among quarterbacks with a 4.65, followed by Northern Illinois’ Jordan Lynch (4.72) and Clemson’s Tajh Boyd (4.75). Central Florida’s Blake Bortles ran a time of 4.81.
Teddy Bridgewater of Louisville chose not to run, so that leaves me wondering if I can believe the game tape I’ve seen of him that indicates he is faster than other players on a football field.
I know I’m being kind of dismissive of the 40-yard dash here, but it really does make sense. Running fast is important, but we already know guys like Johnny Manziel are fast. We’ve already factored it into the ideas we have about him. More important for Manziel are his interviews that will help determine his character, maturity and potential work ethic.
The 40 is important some of the time, however. It could work as a determining factor for more “project” types of players who can make their way into the NFL via special teams. A faster 40-yard dash helps identify gunners who also play defensive back, wide receiver or running back, for example.
I just question the importance of the 40 when discussing top-of-the-draft QBs.
[Related: Making the case for the Cleveland Browns and Johnny Manziel]
15 Comments
Must…resist…
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Pt694QDAx6Y/UIqWGxt2GGI/AAAAAAAAAaw/tDRxI0-5lRo/s1600/trustinme.JPG
In Manziel’s case, a faster 40 time would have shown that he will be able to maintain his elusiveness in the NFL. I don’t know that 4.6 does that.
Craig – who did the artwork for this piece? Very impressive.
Could someone research how fast Cribbs 40 time was? He converted from “QB” to special teams gunner/returner/WR (although he would have been a better fit at FS).
a better question would be if Josh Cribbs was even invited to the combine
Is he fast enough to outrun the crushing weight of Cleveland sports misery?
and short.
/titlefix’d
it turns out the unofficial times were way off. instead of the 4.56 originally reported, JFF ran 4.68 — basically the same as derek carr; slightly slower than connor shaw, s. morris, and logan thomas.
also overblown is the ‘huge hands’ dealio. JFF’s hand size ranks #6 among 19 QBs (behind thomas, morris, mccarron, and KEITH WENNING).
now might be a good time to remind all to slow the collective rolls. when grossi and mkc and media at large start to hyperventilate, it should be a red flag. i mean, this happens every year. (e.g., how’d that tavon austin at #7 thing work out? [rams are looking at a WR at #2, that’s how it worked out.])
anyhoozles.. if anyone’s interested, i’ve got the combine numbers in sortable tables over at my joint.
My roll has perennially been slowed by the Jon Gruden quote about how JaMarcus Russell’s workout “was like Star Wars. It was unbelievable.” Although, it was pretty apt, because I don’t think Russell is doing anything now but getting high and watching Star Wars.
Google quotes about Russell before he went #1 overall. It’s insane how all over his jock everybody was. Kiper called him “John Elway-like.” Goes to show how little “measurables” can really mean once the player gets into the NFL.
Russell was hilarious because the bowl game was touted to be Russell v. Quinn and noone ever mentioned how LSU had a great defense and ND had no defense. When JaMarcus crushed in that game, the hype took over. Of course, neither QB was any good.
Rumor has it, JFF is going to cure cancer in his network interview with Gruden.
Stay tuned.
This is where the character assessment that Farmer is so keen on comes in. In retrospect, we know that Russell was looking for a payday. Manziel comes from a long line of do-whatever-it-takes-to-get-and-stay-rich people. If he’s focused on the first half of that equation, it’s bad. If he focuses on the second half of the equation, it’s a different story.
I think it was Lane Kiffin (then-HC of the Raiders) who said Russell looked like “a video game” in his workout. Still cracks me up.
The combine confirms Johnny Football will not be able to outrun Clowney.
Prototypical size? Nope. Big arm? Nope. Great accuracy? Nope. Elite athletic ability? Nope. Ability to progress through reads? Nope. Character issues? Yup. So tell me again, why is this guy a top pick? He is not. Thats why I feel he will actually drop in the draft, maybe to the bottom of the first or out of the first completely. Maybe a team like Philly bites… I just know that I don’t want him on the Browns.