Most memorable NFL scouting combine moments include Vernon Davis dominating and Tom Brady not dominating

Bo Jackson’s 40-yard dash time, said to be an otherworldly 4.12 seconds, might be the most told NFL scouting combine story of all time.

Here’s the problem: It didn’t happen at the combine. Jackson told the Raiders’ site in 2021 that he didn’t even attend the event in 1986. He did run a 40 at Auburn that spring for NFL scouts, and he said it was timed at 4.13 seconds.

The scouting combine has become a major NFL event on the sporting calendar with plenty of television coverage. There will be no more mysterious legends like Jackson’s mythical 40 time. We see it all (but still misremember some stories; Calvin Johnson did not run his 40 in borrowed shoes as the story goes).

With the scouting combine set to take place next week in Indianapolis, here are the most memorable combine moments that actually happened:

Xavier Worthy’s record 40

We are impressed by speed. That’s why the 40-yard dash has become the marquee event at the combine, even if it’s probably not the best measure of how a prospect will do in the pros.

And of all the players who have come and gone at the combine, Xavier Worthy ran the fastest 40 of them all, among official times. He ran a 4.21-second 40 in 2024.

Worthy was picked in the first round by the Chiefs. To date he hasn’t blossomed into a star, with 1,170 receiving yards in two seasons.

Deion Sanders adds to his legend

Unlike Bo Jackson, Sanders actually did run the 40-yard dash at the combine. It was 1989, when the combine was in its infancy.

The embellished story through the years is that Sanders was talked into running a 40, ran it in record time and ran right through the tunnel and into a waiting limo. Not so, Sanders told NFL Network, but hey, that tale fits the legend of Sanders pretty well.

Sanders ran what has been often reported as a 4.27-second 40, which for years was considered the unofficial record. Sanders claims his time was much faster than that. There was no video of it, so it will remain a Bunyanesque tale.

“I don’t even believe I stretched,” Sanders told NFL Network. “You know why? Because I’ve never seen a cheetah stretch before he goes and gets his prey.”

Tom Brady underwhelms

Adding this is cheating a bit, because it wasn’t memorable at the time. Brady was just a late-round quarterback from Michigan who had an unimpressive combine. But since then, his combine photo in shorts and nothing else resurfaces every year, as does the video of his glacially slow 40-yard dash.

Brady’s combine highlights seem funny because he went on to be the most decorated player in NFL history, but it’s also a lesson that a player doesn’t need to blow away teams in Indianapolis to have an all-time great career.

Saquon Barkley becomes perhaps best RB prospect ever

Barkley was a known entity coming out of Penn State and was a clear top pick in the 2018 draft, but his combine workout pushed him to another level.

Barkley nailed just about every part of the overall workout, beating some memorable players at each event. After the combine, he was viewed as perhaps the best running back prospect ever in the draft.

Barkley was no workout warrior. He has gone on to have a fantastic career, including a 2024 season with the Philadelphia Eagles that is among the greatest ever for a running back.

Saquon Barkley had a phenomenal performance at the NFL scouting combine in 2018. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)

(Joe Robbins via Getty Images)

Mike Mamula is remembered forever

For years, Mamula was shorthand for a player who went to the combine, improved his draft stock with a tremendous workout and was ultimately disappointing in the NFL.

Mamula, a defensive end out of Boston College, had a remarkable overall workout in 1995 that included a 4.58-second 40. He leaped into the first round after that, and was taken seventh overall by the Eagles. Mamula played five seasons with 31.5 career sacks, which was disappointing considering his draft position. The combine was still a new phenomenon when Mamula had his great workout, and he was the first (of many) players who are remembered as combine workout warriors who didn’t translate that to the field.

Vernon Davis, combine GOAT

Davis attended the combine in 2006, and it’s arguably still the greatest combine performance ever. Davis, at 254 pounds coming out of Maryland, set the tight end record in the 40-yard dash at 4.38 seconds. He also posted a 42-inch vertical jump, 10-foot-8 broad jump and did 33 reps of 225 pounds on the bench press.

Davis was drafted sixth overall by the 49ers, played 14 seasons in the NFL, making two Pro Bowls with 7,562 career yards. His real place in NFL history might have come before he was drafted, when he had a combine workout for the ages.

Byron Jones’ world record

Jones, a cornerback out of UConn, had a broad jump of 12 feet, 3 inches at the 2015 combine. That was notable because the world record was just over 12 feet, 2 inches, set in 1968. Jones not only set an unofficial record, he got himself into the first round. He was picked 27th by the Cowboys after his impressive combine and had a seven-year NFL career.