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The Fastest 40 Yard Dash Ever | Bleacher Report | Latest News, Videos and Highlights
There are many football fans who will and have asked the question who ran the fastest 40 yard dash. I came across this article which really looks at that and the history of the 40, why it was developed as a marker for the NFL draft and variables that go into the 40 including three different starting procedures that will affect the real time of the distance.
Then there is a list of the fastest 40’s ever run. Just thought it might interest some people and promote discussion since it has become the signature event at the NFL Combine and carries so much weight on a players draft position depending on his offensive or defensive position. I’ll copy/paste part of the article and post the sub 40 times. This is a current article with some times added this year.
The Fastest 40 Yard Dash Ever
What Research Found Out On This Very Important Topic
By: Chad Wilson-Editor Gridironstuds.com
In 1960, Gil Brandt, the director scouting for the Cowboys along with his department came up with the 40/20/10 measurement. The 40 was used for all players. The 20 yard split time of the 40 was of great significance for linemen since the thought was that they rarely run 40 yards in a game.
The 10-yard split was important for wide receivers as a measure of their burst off of the line of scrimmage. With this, a drill was born and almost 50 years later, it has become the center piece of info on a prospective high school, college or professional football player.
So who had the fastest 40 yard dash ever? Research confirmed what I already knew and that there is no way to really tell. Here are some important things to know about the 40 yard dash:
- A hand time (use of a stop watch) will usually be faster than an electronic time
- There are two types of electronic times:
1. When a watch is started by a coach and an electronic beam records the time when it picks up the player crossing the end point
2. When an electronic beam picks up the movement of a player from the start and starts the clock. An electronic beam also detects the player at the end point and stops the clock.
This time will be slower than version No. 1 and even slower than a hand time in which a coach starts his stop watch when he sees the player begin the run and then stops the watch when he sees the player cross the finish line.
- An accurtrack time will be the slowest of all. Accutrack is what is used at track meets. The clock in accu-track timing starts when the starter’s pistol is shot. The runner’s time for the event is recorded digitally when the technology detects the player crossing the finish line.
Studies have shown that that average reaction time by a human to a starter’s pistol is .25 seconds.
For this reason, anyone who compares a 40-yard split time in a 100 meter event and compares it to reported hand timed 40-yard dash marks is making a big mistake. If you want compare the 40-yard split of a runner in a 100 meter event, subtract .25 seconds from the recorded time.
So, Olympic runner Justin Gatlin’s 4.42 forty-yard dash split recorded during his Gold Medal winning 9.85 100 meter run, would convert to a 4.17 forty yard dash by football standards.
After much research a few things have come up over and over and over. These things plus my own two eyes would lead me to believe that Darrell Green, Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders were the fastest football players to ever play the game.
Former Hurricanes, Tremain Mack (4.25) and Al Shipman (4.27), ran sub 4.3 forties before my own eyes. Track star Henry Neal recorded a 4.20 forty yard dash before my own eyes in a workout for the Miami Dolphins in 1996.
The Dolphins did not sign Neal since his football background was quite limited. I never watched him run an actual 40-yard dash but after having to cover him in training camp, I am inclined to believe every second of Joey Galloway’s reported 4.18 forty yard dash.
One player that is not on the list is Bob Hayes of the Dallas Cowboys. No doubt, Hayes was one of the fastest men, if not the fastest man to put on an NFL uniform.
However, as it relates to the 40 yard dash, I could find no time recorded for this Olympic Gold medalist. Hayes has the fastest 100 meter time for an NFL player at 10.05.
Should current Florida Gator Jeffery Demps make it to the NFL for any significant amount of time, he will own the fastest time at 10.01. Demps ran this as a high schooler and owns the national prep record for the event.
The fastest recorded 40 yard split on record belongs to Olympian Maurice Greene. During his World Record 60 meter run of 6.33, a mark that still exists, Green crossed the 40 yard mark at 4.18.
Remembering that .25 seconds must be subtracted from that time due to Accu-track timing and you come up with a 40 yard dash time of 3.93 seconds. What’s the problem with that time? It was run on an indoor track with spikes on giving the runner an advantage over the football players who have run on grass with cleats.
In an effort to centralize all the reported 40 yard dash times. I will start what we call the SUB 4.3 Club. I will attempt to keep a running record of the sub 4.3 forty yard dashes and their owners in this list.
I will refrain from adding times of the ridiculous and will do some research on all times that qualify. I will say one thing, can you web surfers stop reporting that Deion Sanders ran a 4.57 forty yard dash backwards. That’s just flat out ridiculous.
Enjoy the following list of reported (and somewhat believable) 40 yard dashes run under 4.3 seconds.
You can view the list at: The Fastest 40 Yard Dash Ever - Gridiron Studs Blog: College Football Recruiting Talk or below
There are many football fans who will and have asked the question who ran the fastest 40 yard dash. I came across this article which really looks at that and the history of the 40, why it was developed as a marker for the NFL draft and variables that go into the 40 including three different starting procedures that will affect the real time of the distance.
Then there is a list of the fastest 40’s ever run. Just thought it might interest some people and promote discussion since it has become the signature event at the NFL Combine and carries so much weight on a players draft position depending on his offensive or defensive position. I’ll copy/paste part of the article and post the sub 40 times. This is a current article with some times added this year.
The Fastest 40 Yard Dash Ever
What Research Found Out On This Very Important Topic
By: Chad Wilson-Editor Gridironstuds.com
In 1960, Gil Brandt, the director scouting for the Cowboys along with his department came up with the 40/20/10 measurement. The 40 was used for all players. The 20 yard split time of the 40 was of great significance for linemen since the thought was that they rarely run 40 yards in a game.
The 10-yard split was important for wide receivers as a measure of their burst off of the line of scrimmage. With this, a drill was born and almost 50 years later, it has become the center piece of info on a prospective high school, college or professional football player.
So who had the fastest 40 yard dash ever? Research confirmed what I already knew and that there is no way to really tell. Here are some important things to know about the 40 yard dash:
- A hand time (use of a stop watch) will usually be faster than an electronic time
- There are two types of electronic times:
1. When a watch is started by a coach and an electronic beam records the time when it picks up the player crossing the end point
2. When an electronic beam picks up the movement of a player from the start and starts the clock. An electronic beam also detects the player at the end point and stops the clock.
This time will be slower than version No. 1 and even slower than a hand time in which a coach starts his stop watch when he sees the player begin the run and then stops the watch when he sees the player cross the finish line.
- An accurtrack time will be the slowest of all. Accutrack is what is used at track meets. The clock in accu-track timing starts when the starter’s pistol is shot. The runner’s time for the event is recorded digitally when the technology detects the player crossing the finish line.
Studies have shown that that average reaction time by a human to a starter’s pistol is .25 seconds.
For this reason, anyone who compares a 40-yard split time in a 100 meter event and compares it to reported hand timed 40-yard dash marks is making a big mistake. If you want compare the 40-yard split of a runner in a 100 meter event, subtract .25 seconds from the recorded time.
So, Olympic runner Justin Gatlin’s 4.42 forty-yard dash split recorded during his Gold Medal winning 9.85 100 meter run, would convert to a 4.17 forty yard dash by football standards.
After much research a few things have come up over and over and over. These things plus my own two eyes would lead me to believe that Darrell Green, Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders were the fastest football players to ever play the game.
Former Hurricanes, Tremain Mack (4.25) and Al Shipman (4.27), ran sub 4.3 forties before my own eyes. Track star Henry Neal recorded a 4.20 forty yard dash before my own eyes in a workout for the Miami Dolphins in 1996.
The Dolphins did not sign Neal since his football background was quite limited. I never watched him run an actual 40-yard dash but after having to cover him in training camp, I am inclined to believe every second of Joey Galloway’s reported 4.18 forty yard dash.
One player that is not on the list is Bob Hayes of the Dallas Cowboys. No doubt, Hayes was one of the fastest men, if not the fastest man to put on an NFL uniform.
However, as it relates to the 40 yard dash, I could find no time recorded for this Olympic Gold medalist. Hayes has the fastest 100 meter time for an NFL player at 10.05.
Should current Florida Gator Jeffery Demps make it to the NFL for any significant amount of time, he will own the fastest time at 10.01. Demps ran this as a high schooler and owns the national prep record for the event.
The fastest recorded 40 yard split on record belongs to Olympian Maurice Greene. During his World Record 60 meter run of 6.33, a mark that still exists, Green crossed the 40 yard mark at 4.18.
Remembering that .25 seconds must be subtracted from that time due to Accu-track timing and you come up with a 40 yard dash time of 3.93 seconds. What’s the problem with that time? It was run on an indoor track with spikes on giving the runner an advantage over the football players who have run on grass with cleats.
In an effort to centralize all the reported 40 yard dash times. I will start what we call the SUB 4.3 Club. I will attempt to keep a running record of the sub 4.3 forty yard dashes and their owners in this list.
I will refrain from adding times of the ridiculous and will do some research on all times that qualify. I will say one thing, can you web surfers stop reporting that Deion Sanders ran a 4.57 forty yard dash backwards. That’s just flat out ridiculous.
Enjoy the following list of reported (and somewhat believable) 40 yard dashes run under 4.3 seconds.
You can view the list at: The Fastest 40 Yard Dash Ever - Gridiron Studs Blog: College Football Recruiting Talk or below
