How the 40-Yard Dash Became a Phenomenon at the NFL Combine

INDIANAPOLIS — The convention center. On the carpet. Crouch and burst, crouch and burst. People walked by. They looked. Some pointed. USC receiver Nelson Agholor didn't seem to care. He practiced his 40-yard dash start over and over. It didn't matter where he was or who was watching. Crouch and burst.

Agholor was rehearsing for the biggest test at the NFL combine: the 40-yard dash. It's the draft version of the bar exam. Run it fast, run like the wind and it can put extra money in your pocket by moving you up draft boards. Blow it, and your stock becomes Bitcoin. Prospects are terrified of it, prepare obsessively for it and dream about it.

It is the destroyer of hamstrings and can cause anyone watching to scream in amazement. That's the 40. That's why, in a convention center, on the carpet, Agholor crouches and bursts.

"I feel like the 40 is the only way to separate yourself from all of the other receivers here," Maryland's Deon Long said. "It wows people when you come out and run it fast."

Long said 70 percent of combine preparation was practicing the 40.

"Everyone wants to run the fastest 40 time," said wide receiver Da'Ron Brown from Northern Illinois.

Florida State receiver Rashad Greene said he's been working on the 40 almost every day since Dec. 29. "Especially the 10-yard burst," he explained. That initial part of the run is the most important. It sets the table for the rest of the sprint.

"I don't see it making or breaking you," said East Carolina wide receiver Justin Hardy, "but we all know it's important."

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That's an understatement. The 40, decades ago, was a necessity as a tester. Now it's an event. It's one of the most watched parts of the televised NFL draft. When Johnny Manziel ran a 4.68 40 last year, it almost overshadowed the fact he was seen as a troubled guy. There is also this pertinent fact: The 40 time is the most important metric in evaluations, but it isn't always an accurate predictor of success in the NFL.

In fact, when it comes to wide receivers, a fast time has actually rarely translated into Pro Bowls. It's uncanny, in fact. Darrius Heyward-Bey ran a 4.30-second 40 but has been a bust. Marques Colston ran the 40 like a dino in a tar pit (4.50) and has been outstanding.

C.J. Spiller ran a fast 40 (4.37), Adrian Peterson not as fast (4.40). Who would you take? The Seahawks just got to the Super Bowl without a fast wide receiver or back.

The metrics will always be important, but there has been a subtle shift in the NFL since the explosion (both in number and amount of coverage) of off-field problems. In the past, the 40 was more vital than off-field problems. NFL teams would deny that, but it's accurate. Teams wouldn't have cared if a player beat a woman unless his 40 time was slow. If it was fast, then, well, that was a different story.

That's changed slightly. "I think every organization is careful about that," Carolina Panthers general manager Dave Gettleman said when asked about off-field issues involving players. "This game is too hard. There are 53 guys, and you've got all these coaches, all these personnel people, everybody's working.

"Who wants a ticking time bomb? So I don't think it's going to change. Every organization I've ever been with that has gone into the draft, and you talk about the background stuff, they'll stay away from the guys that have character issues and the potential to continue those issues. This is too hard to have to worry about that."

Still, personnel men see the 40 as vital. It's so important that coaching the 40 is a multimillion-dollar business. The players all see it is important, including the big guys. Clemson defensive lineman Corey Crawford, who is 6'5" and weighs 270 pounds, says the 40 is crucial for him because "I'm a big guy, and it's important for teams to see how I run."

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The power of the 40 was again demonstrated when Division III's Ali Marpet of Hobart College created some buzz Friday (and greatly improved his draft stock) after running the fastest time for offensive linemen this year at 4.98.

It's believed the legendary Paul Brown started using the 40 as a barometer back in the 1950s (if not earlier). The Dallas Cowboys then took it to another level, commissioning a study on it in the 1960s, and soon, their use of it was copied by other teams.

The first guy to truly attack the 40 in the combine (and the combine overall) and treat it like a crucial test was Boston College linebacker Mike Mamula (4.58-second 40). He destroyed the combine, and that caused the Eagles to take him seventh overall in 1995. He turned out to be an average player, but a cottage industry—40 prep, combine prep—was born.

When asking scouts here about the 40, they often chuckle. Most truly know the 40 is valuable but also extremely imperfect. "We all rely heavily on it," one scout told me, "but we all also understand that it doesn't mean a great deal when it comes to if the guy can actually play football."

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Most scouts despise the televising of 40s. They believe it puts even more emphasis on the 40 and creates a nasty cycle. Draft picks put emphasis on it because it's splashy and televised, and this in a way forces teams to emphasize it, even though it remains a terrible indicator of playing ability.

It doesn't matter how people feel about the 40 because it's here to stay. As long as there is football, there will be the 40-yard dash.

There will be guys like Nelson Agholor practicing for it. Over and over.

Mike Freeman covers the NFL for Bleacher Report.