Combining Prospects: Previewing Speed Scores

Recently, Draft Countdown put out a list of prospects they say were invited to the combine. The list may be incomplete since I can't find an official listing anywhere, but my number crunching brain wanted to get to work on previewing the RBs. One of the famous events at the combine is the 40 yard dash. Love it or hate it, a statistical study was done that found that a formula using 40 time and weight for running backs can correlate to future success in the NFL. After the jump you'll find a listing of all the RBs invited to the combine, their projected weight and 40 time using NFL Draft Scout, the projected speed score based on those numbers and then the 40 times needed for those players get a 100 Speed Score (okay), 110 Speed Score (good) or 120 Speed Score (great) based on their projected weight.

One thing that will jump out at you is that most of these 40 times are favorable to the prospects. It is unlikely that most of these players will run as fast as their projected 40 times. There will be a handful though that surpass expectations though, but not nearly as many. Another thing that jumps out is that 4 running backs' projected Speed Scores are quite good since they are big backs that are projected to do quite well in the 40. These 4 backs are already decent to good prospects so if those projected 40 times hold up it could bode well for their NFL careers.

RB Speed Scores are generated, and researched, by Football Outsiders.