March 5-11
Among NFL people, the 2022 NFL Combine may be remembered as the final one in Indianapolis, the one and only home of the league’s annual invitational for the top prospects in the game. However, that’s not what fans and the media will remember the most. Instead, 2022 will stand as the year recorded 40 times exploded into never-before-seen territory, and at multiple positions.
Left unasked, however, has been they question, why this year? What changed since 2021 that made this such an unforgettable year for raw speed?
The two fastest cornerbacks in combine history, Baylor’s Kalon Barnes (4.23) and UTSA’s Tariq Woolen (4.26), each trained at Ft. Lauderdale-based XPE Sports. The facility founded by Tony Villani also had the fastest wide receiver (Baylor’s Tyquan Thornton, 4.28) and the fastest running back (Rutgers’ Isiah Pacheco, 4.37) as well as the fastest tight end (Maryland’s Chig Okonkwo, 4.52) and two safeties (Maryland’s Nick Cross and Toledo’s Tycen Anderson) who ran sub-4.4 official 40s.
Villani said some of the reason for the explosion in fast times was simple natural ability and a little bit of luck, but there seems to be something more.
“On our side, we had three of the fastest guys we ever pre-timed, and we got our average improvement with them, which is why we got our 4.2s,” he said. “The other guys ran super-fast and we got lucky. But this year, undoubtedly, it seems like the official times are as fast or faster than the hand times we’re hearing, which is somewhat abnormal.”
Official laser and hand times are distributed to teams shortly after the combine and normally filter down to trainers and agents in the weeks following.
Pete Bommarito heads another top combine prep service based in South Florida, Bommarito Performance Systems (BPS). Two of the top 10 fastest 40 times – Tennessee WO Velus Jones Jr. (4.31) and Rutgers WO Bo Melton (4.34) – were recorded by players who trained at BPS. He said the NFL may have backed off on its medical probing as a concession to the new workout schedule.
“It seemed like the players complained less of soreness,” he said. “Also, with them running at night, we weren’t rushed in the morning getting them ready.”
So what other reasons were there for the speedy performances this year? We got several responses.
Track backgrounds: “We had three kids pre-test sub-4.50, but did we get the fast kids this year? Who knows?” asked Villani. “We had an extremely fast class, yes, but did we have more improvements than we’ve ever had? No. I think the national average has gotten better.” Added Mo Wells of the Weston, Fla., location of House of Athletes: “More track guys are playing football. A good number of the guys you saw, a lot ran track in college as well, so that’s a different thing about continued speed development.” Three of Wells’ clients – Georgia’s Zamir White (4.4), Alabama’s Jalyn Armour-Davis (4.39) and Ohio State’s Chris Olave (4.39) – ran 4.4 or better in Indy, and four (Ole Miss’ Sam Williams and LSU’s Chasen Hines along with White and Armour-Davis) recorded RAS scores of nine or better.
Lots of practice: “I think these athletes are starting younger with their training,” said Bryan McCall, who led speed training at McKinney, Texas-based Michael Johnson Performance, which saw Georgia safety Lewis Cine run a 4.37, earning a 9.78 relative athletic score (RAS). “Guys have been training for 40 yard dashes for 10 years. They are 22 and 21 and they’ve been doing it since they were 12.”
Better training in college: “These collegiate strength and conditioning programs are placing more of an emphasis on speed development,” said Wells. “College strength and conditioning programs are shifting to movement-based programming now at many universities,” added Brent Callaway of EXOS’ Frisco, Texas, facility. “The game is placing a premium on speed and sport science better every year.” Callaway sent 24 clients to Indy and six ran a sub-4.4 40.
A new surface: We reached out to several people associated with the Colts and Lucas Oil Stadium, and though we couldn’t get official confirmation, most indicated that the stadium’s turf was updated after the 2020 combine. With no official times recorded at the combine last year, this was the first time we saw timed 40s. “Different turf surfaces are gonna have a totally different response from the athlete. That would be one factor,” said Jordan Luallen of X3 Performance and Physical Therapy, based in Fort Myers, Fla. One of Luallen’s five combine invitees, Northern Iowa WO Isaiah Weston, notched a nearly perfect 9.98 RAS.
No benching: “The (combine organizers) moved the bench to the same day as the workouts, so we recommended that our players not bench if they are running the 40,” Callaway said. “There were several reasons for this, including reducing likelihood of injury, preserving the musculature of the upper body, and reducing the load on the central nervous system.”
The “leap year:” “Since athletes didn’t have the opportunity to experience the NFL combine last year, any natural progression in the previous factors wouldn’t have been noticed,” Callaway said. “I do remember many people discussing how fast APT times at pro days were last year, as well.”
There were other responses that demanded off-the-record status.
Several trainers said they spotted a new face on the floor at Lucas Oil Stadium, and they hypothesized that this person was starting the laser times. Fast times may have been due to “the guy starting the laser (having) a sleepy eye,” said one trainer, while another averred that “I think there was some human error . . . I haven’t always been 100 percent on that process, but the start, and then based on how much they mess up the start, if you have one late start and a fast hand time, that’s where you’re gonna see” fast times. ““To do timing, you gotta see a lot of guys run, you gotta have that experience level,” said a third veteran trainer. “That’s why I like the older scouts. They’ve timed thousands of guys, and if you don’t have that much experience, you aren’t catching movement. I do think there was an issue there.”
Another trainer said he saw an unusual style out of the new member of the timing team. “I noticed that the timer was holding his stopwatch like a plunger, ‘Jeopardy’-style, on the first day,” he said. “I noticed that he was holding it in the traditional way for Day 2, 3 and 4, so that might have made a difference, too.”
Several trainers said they would prefer the combine stopped hand times, leaving those to the individual teams. “Your true first movement through (the laser), once you break that, (the clock) starts, and nobody has to start the stopwatch,” said one speed specialist. “Nobody has to press a button. If we really want to talk about accuracy, then we (could) see how guys really are.”
Here’s a look at what else we saw, heard, read and said in the business of college and pro football this week.
Former NFL scout Joe Haering passes away: Details are sparse, but we’ve been told by reliable sources that former Bills scout Joe Haering departed this earth on Thursday of combine week. Haering spent 12 years in Buffalo, and also coached at the NFL, CFL, Arena League and college level. He was a true original, having served as a company commander in Vietnam and even punching CFL commish Jim Foster in the jaw during an in-game dispute. “Joe was a treat and a gem of a person,” said former NFL scout and coach Pat Perles. “A real piece of work. I remember sitting in the end zone at the Senior Bowl, watching practice with him and a group of us, with Joe holding court. I had my GM ask me the next day, ‘what was so funny yesterday?’ The GM was at the 50-yard line at the top of the stands, and we were in the end zone watching the linemen. Joe was one of the funniest person I have ever met, a great story teller and a great all-around person. Really will miss him.” Check out our tweet for more comment on Haering from his friends in the business here. We offer our deepest sympathies to all his friends and family.
Catching Up: Mike Williams, 55, spent almost two decades in the NFL, primarily on the pro side. We caught up with him last month.
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Where are you living and what are you doing now?: “The San Francisco Bay Area. I am currently the general manager of HUB Football, founded by (agent) Don Yee (of Red Envelope Sports). We put on a series of free agent camps and identify and promote players through our player development program, and we will be putting on camps for players in the transfer portal who are looking to get additional exposure.”
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Do you miss the job? What do you miss most?: “I miss the constant access to NFL and college video, and I miss much of the camaraderie of being part of a team, trying to help win games.”
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Do you keep in touch with any of your former colleagues?: “I do keep in touch with many scouts and coaches.”
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Do you go to any live games (HS/college/pro)?: “I will see local high school games or Stanford games.”
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Are there any players you love to watch and/or feel close to due to your work in the game?: “Certainly. I like to watch all the players who I had a hand in acquiring, or even some that I just wrote reports on. I also especially like watching some of these young, talented QBs like (Bills QB) Josh Allen, (Bengals QB Joe) Burrow, and (Chiefs QB Patrick) Mahomes.
Review the latest from other former NFL scouts and executives by accessing our Catching Up archive here. Want to hear from a former scout, or know someone who may be interested in being interviewed? Let us know.
Class in session: This Thursday, March 17, we will have our second Zoom session with Chicago-based contract advisor Ian Greengross. Last month, we focused on the 25 percent rule, cap numbers, P5 contracts, and the question on last summer’s exam that asked you to work backward from a number to discover a player’s rookie P5 salary. It was a question that vexed many of last summer’s test-takers, which was one reason 62 percent of applicants failed. This week, we’ll look at workers comp issues, injury settlement computation and related topics. We’ll also take questions and work through whatever anyone is struggling with. Wanna join us? If you’re an ITL client, click here to pay ($20+tax). If you’re not, click here ($50+tax). We promise it will be an hour-plus of good instruction and clarity on the tough subjects.
Rep Rumblings: This week, we had three reports. Monday’s report was focused mostly on scouting buzz, with discussion of a former NFL scout who has a new college post, the buzz on a couple of expected post-daft movements and more. Tuesday, we broke down the news this week that McKinney, Texas-based Michael Johnson Performance would cease business operations in a week. You may have seen our tweets about it, but we went into more detail about MJP’s history and how its retreat from the space may affect things. Wednesday, we discussed the return of team pro days, which is good news for most agents, and passed along the first confirmed dates we’ve heard. We also had notes on representation matters for the CFL, XFL and USFL and had a look at the pro day calendar “footprint” this year. Finally, on Thursday, we had more NFL team pro day dates and a handful of new pro days. We also looked at the size of the ’22 draft class. To check out any of this week’s reports, or this year’s, click here.
Next week: It turned out to be a rather busy week for us as we added several pro days, did lots of work on our NFL Combine Grid, and drilled down into the 2022 NFL Combine results, as we previously mentioned. We also had four Rep Rumblings reports and a blog post, as usual. We’ll do it all again next week. Though we don’t expect to do much more with combine results, we’ll keep up with the pro days, we’ll have several more Rep Rumblings reports, and we’ll be back with another post at Succeed in Football. Thursday night, we’ll work with the next agent class on Zoom, and sometime this week, we’ll try again to post the Agents by Total Clients list as well as our Agent Changes for the February-to-March period. Sound like a plan? Wanna keep up with everything in the industry? We’d love it if you joined us.
