The 2020 NFL Combine is officially in the books. It’s been a whirlwind few days, but it was jam packed with exciting performances from some of the best athletes in the world.
We’ll dive into the specific numbers and hand out awards here in this article, but it truly is phenomenal what some of these college football players were able to do this weekend in Indianapolis. A 364 pound man should not be able to run a 5.10 40-yard dash…it seems physically impossible, but yet it happened.
These performances deserve some recognition, so it’s time to hand out some gold yogurt lids. (Yes, that is a The Office reference for you on this fine Monday)
2020 NFL Combine Awards
The Most Shocking Performance Award
The award for The Most Shocking Performance has to go to Southern Illinois’ own, Jeremy Chinn (S – Southern Illinois). Chinn’s tape is great, but not many people could have predicted that he would put up the type of performance that he did. Chinn (6’3/221) ran a 4.45 40-yard dash, put up 20 reps on the bench press, leaped 41 inches in the vertical jump, and soared 138 inches in the broad jump. His vertical was enough to put him in the 95th percentile, his broad jump puts him in the 98th percentile, and his 40-yard dash puts him in the 86th percentile. Goodness. Chinn’s athletic profile, in addition to his tape, may have put him squarely into the late day one/early day two conversation.
Honorable Mention: Kyle Dugger (S – Lenoir-Rhyne)
🔥 4.46 40-yard dash
🔥 11’6” broad jump
🔥 41" verticalJeremy Chinn is putting on a show.
pic.twitter.com/8IWEqeAivZ— PFF Draft (@PFF_College) March 1, 2020
The “They Are Who We Thought They Were” Award
In quoting Dennis Green, Isaiah Simmons (LB – Clemson) is exactly who we thought he was…and it’s still incredible. Simmons (6’4/238) ran a 4.39 40-yard dash (99th percentile), leaped 39 inches in the vertical jump (92nd percentile), and soared 132 inches (98th percentile) in the broad jump. Simmons is a freak athlete and there’s no chance that he’s falling outside of the Top-5 picks in the NFL Draft with that performance. His tape shows that he’s incredible…he backed it up in Indianapolis.
#Clemson LB Isaiah Simmons
6-4 (93rd percentile)
39” vert (92nd percentile)
11’0” broad (98th percentile)
4.39 40-yard (99th percentile)This is Earth’s greatest defender pic.twitter.com/uXboqqGT0Z
— Trevor Sikkema (@TampaBayTre) March 1, 2020
The Big Boy Can Move Award
If you paid any attention to The NFL Combine, you know who this award goes to…Mekhi Becton (OT – Louisville). Becton (6’7/364) is a mountain of a man and people his size (if there are any others) are not supposed to be able to move like he does. The scariest thing about Becton weighing 364 pounds is that you don’t know where’s he puts it. He’s built extremely well and moves like he’s 50 pounds lighter, as evidenced by his 40-yard dash time. Becton was moving down the field on Friday with a time of 5.10 seconds. As I mentioned before, that’s not supposed to happen! Becton should be considered a lock for number four overall with the New York Giants.
Louisville OL Mekhi Becton just ran a 5.11u 40-yard dash.
He's 6'7" and weighs 364 lbs 🤯
(via @NFL) pic.twitter.com/KRWNckiYad
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 28, 2020
The Set Twitter On Fire Award
If you were on Twitter for any point on Friday night, you know that this award is being handed out to Jonathan Taylor (RB – Wisconsin). Taylor (5’10/226) ran a blazing 4.39 40-yard dash and Dynasty Twitter proceeded to lose their minds. The amount of tweets that have “Jonathan Taylor” and “1.01” listed in them has to be an astronomical number. Taylor’s a great RB prospect and one that deserves to go 1.01 in Dynasty rookie drafts. We’ll see where he ends up getting drafted and whether or not that will change our outlook on him.
Only RBs to weigh 225+ and hit a combine 40 under 4.45 since 2014:
Jonathan Taylor – 4.41 (2020)
Saquon Barkley – 4.40 (2018)
pic.twitter.com/FilbShYYcy— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) February 29, 2020