40-yard dash
The 40-yard dash is a sprint covering. It is primarily run to evaluate the speed and acceleration of American football players by scouts, particularly for the NFL draft but also for collegiate recruiting. A football player's recorded time can have a heavy impact on his prospects in college or professional football. This was traditionally only true for the skill positions such as running back, wide receiver, and defensive back, although now a fast 40-yard dash time is considered important for almost every position. The 40-yard dash is not an official race in track and field athletics, and is not a World Athletics–recognized race.
The origin of timing football players for 40 yards comes from the average distance of a punt and the time it takes to reach that distance. Punts average around 40 yards in distance from the line of scrimmage, and the hangtime averages approximately 4.5 seconds; therefore, if a player can run 40 yards in 4.5 seconds, he will be able to leave the line of scrimmage when a punt is kicked, and reach the point where the ball comes down just as it arrives.
Timing method and track comparisons
In terms of judging a person's speed, the best method of timing is through lasers which start and stop the times when passed through. A laser start is more accurate for measuring pure speed as it does not register a runner's reaction time, however, this method of timing a 40-yard dash can affect the accuracy by as much as 0.5 seconds with the manual stopwatch method.The National Football League did not begin using partial electronic timing at the NFL Scouting Combine until 1999. For purposes of measurement at the Combine, the run is made along the sideline from the front of the end zone to the 40-yard line, and for electronically timed 40-yard dashes, the runner is allowed to start when they wish, and a timer hand-starts the clock.
In contrast, track and field races have the runner react to a starting gun. Elite male sprinters typically take 0.15 to 0.2 seconds to react; further to this, IAAF rules state any runner with a reaction time of less than 0.1 second is subject to disqualification.
This aspect means that comparisons with track times are essentially impossible given that a reaction time is not factored in, and the use of hand-timing in the 40-yard dash can considerably alter a runner's time: the methods are not comparable to the rigorous electronic timing used in track and field.
For example, Jacoby Ford, who ran 4.28 seconds in the 2010 NFL Combine, had a collegiate best of 6.51 s in the 60-meter dash.
Though not a current event, the 40-yard dash was briefly contested at the USA Indoor Track and Field Championships for women in 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1931, and 1932. It was never staged as a men's event. The fastest winning time, including reaction, was 5.2 seconds, first set by Rosa Grosse and later tied by Mary Carew twice.
Records
In most settings, the 40-yard dash is conducted without fully automatic timing, where lasers are used at both the beginning and end of the race. Instead, the 40-yard dash is most often hand-timed, leading to considerable measurement error. Many reports of times below 4.2 or 4.3 are considered suspect, such as Baylor's Gerald McNeil's 4.19-second 40-yard dash in the 1980s before being signed to the United States Football League, or Deion Sanders's 4.27-second 40-yard dash in 1989. More recent examples include rugby union's Carlin Isles time of 4.22 at a Detroit Lions facility during a 2013 workout, and Texas Tech's Jakeem Grant being hand-timed by a New Orleans Saints scout at 4.1 in 2016.Also unofficially, Bo Jackson, who was invited to the 1986 combine and declined, ran the 40 to show off for scouts at Auburn. Electronically, with a laser, he has said it measured 4.12, and by hand it was 4.16. "I got down there, and I took off and ran completely through. I just kept going right out the door and didn’t come back." he was quoted after.
In 2017, Olympic sprinter Christian Coleman ran a time of 4.12 seconds on turf in response to claims that NFL players are as fast as Usain Bolt. In 2024, University of Iowa sprinter Kalen Walker ran a 4.15 on turf during the halftime of a Hawkeyes football game. A year and a half after he retired from active competition, Usain Bolt ran a 4.22 in flat-soled shoes and a tracksuit at a promotional event for the Super Bowl in Atlanta, Georgia on February 2, 2019.
NFL Scouting Combine
This is a list of the official 40-yard dash results of under 4.31 seconds recorded at the NFL Scouting combine since 1999, the first year electronic timing was implemented at the NFL Scouting Combine.| Time | Name | Height | Weight | Position | College | Year | Draft | |
| 4.21 | Xavier Worthy | Wide receiver | Texas | 2024 | No. 28 overall by Kansas City Chiefs | |||
| 4.22 | John Ross | Wide receiver | Washington | 2017 | No. 9 overall by Cincinnati Bengals | |||
| 4.23 | Kalon Barnes | Cornerback | Baylor | 2022 | No. 242 overall by Carolina Panthers | |||
| 4.24 | Rondel Menendez | Wide receiver | Eastern Kentucky | 1999 | No. 247 overall by Atlanta Falcons | |||
| 4.24 | Chris Johnson | Running back | East Carolina | 2008 | No. 24 overall by Tennessee Titans | |||
| 4.26 | Jerome Mathis | Wide receiver | Hampton | 2005 | No. 114 overall by Houston Texans | |||
| 4.26 | Dri Archer | Running back | Kent State | 2014 | No. 97 overall by Pittsburgh Steelers | |||
| 4.26 | Tariq Woolen | Cornerback | UTSA | 2022 | No. 153 overall by Seattle Seahawks | |||
| 4.26 | D. J. Turner | Cornerback | Michigan | 2023 | No. 60 overall by Cincinnati Bengals | |||
| 4.27 | Henry Ruggs III | Wide receiver | Alabama | 2020 | No. 12 overall by Las Vegas Raiders | |||
| 4.27 | Stanford Routt | Cornerback | Houston | 2005 | No. 38 overall by Oakland Raiders | |||
| 4.27 | Marquise Goodwin | Wide receiver | Texas | 2013 | No. 78 overall by Buffalo Bills | |||
| 4.28 | Champ Bailey | Cornerback | Georgia | 1999 | No. 7 overall by Washington Redskins | |||
| 4.28 | Jacoby Ford | Wide receiver | Clemson | 2010 | No. 108 overall by Oakland Raiders | |||
| 4.28 | Jalen Myrick | Cornerback | Minnesota | 2017 | No. 222 overall by Jacksonville Jaguars | |||
| 4.28 | J. J. Nelson | Wide receiver | UAB | 2015 | No. 159 overall by Arizona Cardinals | |||
| 4.28 | DeMarcus Van Dyke | Cornerback | Miami | 2011 | No. 81 overall by Oakland Raiders | |||
| 4.28 | Tyquan Thornton | Wide receiver | Baylor | 2022 | No. 50 overall by New England Patriots | - | ||
| 4.28 | Nate Wiggins | Cornerback | Clemson | 2024 | No. 30 overall by Baltimore Ravens | |||
| 4.28 | Maxwell Hairston | Cornerback | Kentucky | 2025 | No. 30 overall by Buffalo Bills | - | ||
| 4.29 | Fabian Washington | Cornerback | Nebraska | 2005 | No. 23 overall by Oakland Raiders | |||
| 4.29 | Zedrick Woods | Safety | Mississippi | 2019 | Undrafted | |||
| 4.29 | Javelin Guidry | Cornerback | Utah | 2020 | Undrafted | |||
| 4.29 | Matthew Golden | Wide receiver | Texas | 2025 | No. 23 overall by Green Bay Packers | - | ||
| 4.30 | Darrent Williams | Cornerback | Oklahoma State | 2005 | No. 56 overall by Denver Broncos | |||
| 4.30 | Tye Hill | Cornerback | Clemson | 2006 | No. 15 overall by St. Louis Rams | |||
| 4.30 | Yamon Figurs | Wide receiver | Kansas State | 2007 | No. 74 overall by Baltimore Ravens | |||
| 4.30 | Darrius Heyward-Bey | Wide receiver | Maryland | 2009 | No. 7 overall by Oakland Raiders | |||
| 4.30 | Jamel Dean | Cornerback | Auburn | 2019 | No. 94 overall by Tampa Bay Buccaneers | |||
| 4.30 | Jakorian Bennett | Cornerback | Maryland | 2023 | No. 104 overall by Las Vegas Raiders | |||
| 4.30 | Darien Porter | Cornerback | Iowa State | 2025 | No. 68 overall by Las Vegas Raiders | |||
| 4.30 | Dont'e Thornton Jr. | Wide receiver | Tennessee | 2025 | No. 108 overall by Las Vegas Raiders |