NFL Combine records: Top 40 times, bench press reps, more

Tadd Haislop

NFL Combine records: Top 40 times, bench press reps, more image

Nothing projects a football player's ability to perform at the highest professional level quite like a cone-to-cone sprint in his underwear.

Enter the 2020 NFL Combine in Indianapolis, where the country's best college football players converge for their first encounters with NFL franchises ahead of the 2020 NFL Draft.

MORE 2020 NFL COMBINE:
TV schedule | Biggest takeaways from Indy

Whether and how much the Combine's events matter is up for constant debate, but we doubt Byron Jones would have been drafted in the first round in 2015, for example, without his Combine world-record broad jump. Physical attributes, though just one piece of the puzzle that is a player's pre-draft evaluation, can't hurt.

Below are the best numbers for the core events — 40-yard dash, bench press, vertical jump, broad jump, three-cone drill, 20-yard shuttle and 60-yard shuttle — since 2006, or what the league calls "recent" history.

The NFL does not keep Combine records, so these marks are unofficial.

MORE NFL COMBINE:
Notable Wonderlic scores from the past

NFL Combine records

40-yard dash

*Electronic timing began in 1999*

  • Record holder: John Ross, WR, 2017
  • Time: 4.22 seconds
  • Yeah, but: Running back Bo Jackson reportedly ran a 4.12 at the Combine in 1986. Defensive back Deion Sanders was clocked at 4.2 in 1989.
  • Top five since 2006:
Rank Player Time Pos. Year
1. John Ross 4.22 WR 2017
2. Chris Johnson 4.24 RB 2008
3. Dri Archer 4.26 RB 2014
4. Marquise Goodwin 4.27 WR 2013
T5. Jacoby Ford 4.28 WR 2010
T5. Jalen Myrick 4.28 CB 2017
T5. J.J. Nelson 4.28 WR 2015
T5. Demarcus Van Dyke 4.28 DB 2011

Bench press

  • Record holder: Stephen Paea, DT, 2011
  • Repetitions (225 pounds): 49
  • Yeah, but: Paea's 49 reps were deemed a record in 2011 even though defensive tackle Justin Ernest pumped out 51 reps in 1999.
  • Top five since 2006:
Rank Player Reps Pos. Year
1. Stephen Paea 49 DT 2011
2. Mitch Petrus 45 OL 2010
T3. Jeff Owens 44 DT 2010
T3. Dontari Poe 44 DT 2012
T5. Russell Bodine 42 C 2014
T5. Harrison Phillips 42 DT 2018
T5. Tank Tyler 42 DL 2007

MORE: Recalling crazy Combine interview questions

Vertical jump

  • Record holder: Chris Conley, WR, 2015 / Donald Washington, CB, 2009
  • Height: 45.0"
  • Yeah, but: Safety Gerald Sensabaugh set a Combine record with his 46-inch vertical in 2005, a year before the NFL's recency cut-off.
  • Top five since 2006:
Rank Player Height Pos. Year
T1. Chris Conley 45.0 WR 2015
T1. Donald Washington 45.0 CB 2009
3. Byron Jones 44.5 CB 2015
T4. A.J. Jefferson 44.0 CB 2010
T4. Obi Melifonwu 44.0 S 2017
T4. Juan Thornhill 44.0 S 2019

Broad jump

  • Record holder: Byron Jones, DB, 2015
  • Length: 12'3"
  • Yeah, but: Jones did more than shatter the Combine record — he set a world record with his jump that dropped jaws at the 2015 event.
  • Top five since 2006:
Rank Player Length Pos. Year
1. Byron Jones 12'3" CB 2015
T2. Obi Melifonwu 11'9" S 2017
T2. Emanuel Hall 11'9" WR 2019
T2. Juan Thornhill 11'9" S 2019
5. Miles Boykin 11'8" WR 2019

Three-cone drill

  • Record holder: J.T. Thomas, CB, 2018
  • Time: 6.28 seconds
  • Yeah, but: Thomas went undrafted in 2018. He was signed by the Eagles as an undrafted free agent but was cut soon after.
  • Top five since 2006:
Rank Player Time Pos. Year
1. Jordan Thomas 6.28 CB 2018
2. Jeffrey Maehl 6.42 WR 2011
3. Buster Skrine 6.44 DB 2011
T4. Scott Long 6.45 WR 2010
T4. David Long 6.45 CB 2019

MORE: Stars who overcame terrible Combines

20-yard shuttle

  • Record holder: Jason Allen, CB, 2006 / Brandin Cooks, WR, 2014
  • Time: 3.81 seconds
  • Yeah, but: Four players — Kevin Kasper, Deion Branch, Dunta Robinson and Champ Bailey — posted better 20-yard shuttle times before 2006. Kasper's time of 3.73 remains the best.
  • Top five since 2006:
Rank Player Time Pos. Year
T1. Brandin Cooks 3.81 WR 2014
T1. Jason Allen 3.81 CB 2006
3. Bobby McCain 3.82 CB 2015
4. B.W. Webb 3.84 CB 2013
T5. Justin Simmons 3.85 FS 2016
T5. Desmond Trufant 3.85 CB 2013

60-yard shuttle

  • Record holder: Shelton Gibson, WR, 2017
  • Time: 10.71 seconds
  • Yeah, but: ... Gibson was fast — no buts about it. He barely edged Brandin Cooks and Avonte Maddox (10.72) for this record.
  • Top five since 2006:
Rank Player Time Pos. Year
1. Shelton Gibson 10.71 WR 2017
T2. Brandin Cooks 10.72 WR 2014
T2. Avonte Maddox 10.72 CB 2018
T4. Jamell Fleming 10.75 CB 2012
T4. Buster Skrine 10.75 DB 2011

Tadd Haislop

Tadd Haislop is the Associate NFL Editor at SportingNews.com.