Thursday night saw a thrilling performance from some of the wide receivers at the NFL Combine in the 40-yard dash, where a quick trigger on the unofficial clock on the NFL Network broadcast briefly made it appear as though we had seen some record-breaking performances.
The official laser times for Baylor’s Tyquan Thornton and Ohio State’s Chris Olave were higher than the 4.21 and 4.26 the unofficial clock showed, and as such John Ross’ record of a 4.22 remained untouched. It appears as though as the weekend has gone on, the NFL Network has erred on the side of caution with their unofficial times, and Sunday a pair of defensive backs broke into the top-5 fastest runs in Combine history after seeing unofficial times bumped up when the official results came through.
Whoever is coaching up the young men in Waco on how to run the best 40s deserves a raise, because Baylor’s Kalon Barnes put up a blistering 4.23 officially (unofficial showed 4.28) to come up one-hundredth of a second shy of Ross’ record.
4.29u
@BUFootball CB Kalon Barnes was flying. @KaayBarnes_
— NFL (@NFL) March 6, 2022
Tariq Woolen of UTSA wasn’t far behind with a 4.26 official (the unofficial clock had 4.3) as he likewise joined Barnes with one of five fastest times in NFL Combine history.
.@UTSAFTBL CB @_Tariqwoolen improves his time with a 4.30u
That's FAST for a guy his size.
— NFL (@NFL) March 6, 2022
It put a capper on an impressive weekend of speed in Indianapolis, and while Ross’ record survived another year, it certainly seems like he’ll be under pressure every year as players come in faster and faster.
Source: https://uproxx.com/sports/nfl-combine-kalon-barnes-40-tariq-woolen-video/