NFL scouting combines should not create or destroy leads, but they must be a serious factor in the pre-draft process for a legitimate evaluation.
Currently, it is free to combine official data from over 25 years and use it as a historical reference. A poor performance in Indianapolis is not immediately equivalent to the impending flop of an NFL career. It usually reduces the percentage of chance that a prospect will ultimately thrive when he is a professional. There must be a variety of concerns that are worse than expected, combining training from these top prospects.
For this story, I chose four prospects who, for some reason, combined overwhelming performances. We classified the levels of concern for the spectrum using “nothing” to “minimum” to “minimum”, “medium”, “severe”, and gray areas between their labels.
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Tyler Booker, Iol, Alabama
Measurement: 6ft-4 1/2, 321 lbs with 34 1/2 inch arm
Good results
40 yard dash: 5.38 seconds (second to second for office lady) 10 yard split: 1.96 (last) Vertical jump: 27 inches (second to second)
Broad Jump: 7 feet 10 (last of all office ladies) 3 cones: 7.96 (last) Short Shuttle: 4.84 (last from third)
Level of concern: moderately serious
You have to start – wear a hat on Booker to become a soldier throughout the entire training. Many recognized top prospects can say after the week combination. Again, this reminds me of the situation at Orlando Brown in 2018. How do you not prohibit or strongly suggest that Booker’s agent, or someone from his camp, not go through the full range of offensive line training? Maybe the proposal happened? Didn’t anyone in his camp know that he would play this badly? Maybe Booker just wanted to compete?
In any case, we now have quantifiable evidence to compare with historical data for Booker’s disappointing show. In most scenarios, Booker gets a pass when tested at the low end of the group at his size. That doesn’t happen because many heavy blockers were tested brilliantly in this class.
In the film, Booker is a near quarter-real masher. He was not widely considered the top guard of this class due to his athletic skills. But just as Brown isn’t playing offensive tackle, unless you’re a legal size like Brown, there’s a minimum threshold for the NFL starter/full-time contributors you need to meet regardless of size, at least not at all. Booker was missing almost all of these athletic thresholds.
Booker’s movies are creaking and beautiful. He is built like a professional in his fourth year, with arm length of the 89th percentile and hand size of the 98th percentile. Those truths become his assets in trench. He has an opposite grip in his hand. But if he ends up becoming a quality NFL blocker, Booker himself is frankly an outlier, as there are no many successful security guards with his athletic profile. Yes, my concern level is as high as possible.
2025 NFL Combine Takeaways: Top prospects plus winners and losers in training on the field
Chris Trapaso
Measurement: 6-1, 224 lbs
Good results
40 yard dash: 4.57 seconds (5th tied the slowest in RB) 10 yard split: 1.62 seconds (latest)
Level of concern: Minimum
First, some perspectives on this mini workout from the Iowa Runner. That 10-yard split will land that position in the 26th percentile since 1999. The 40-yard dash lands in the 46th percentile. Johnson is not explosive by NFL standards in running back position.
So why am I at least worried. He’s a 6-1 and a 224 pound train. There were only four heavy runners at this year’s combine, but frankly, unless you’re Derrick Henry, if you’re totting rocks in today’s NFL, you don’t want to weigh any more.
Believe it or not, there is a long history of sub-par combining the performances of prospects who have continued to make successful NFL careers. Lesean McCoy’s relative athletic score was 6.20 out of 10. Josh Jacobs was 5.7. David Montgomery’s was 5.1. Rhamondre Stevenson, 4.02. Kylen Williams, 3.52. And recently Bucky Irving, 2.28. There are many examples.
If you’re a vision-based runner with the power to break tackle and are good at handling the chaos before you with stretch-run plays deployed by every team in the league, then being an incredibly explosive athlete with ridiculous long speed is not a must. Is it okay to have it? of course. However, it is not a requirement for NFL success. Johnson was big, plus a touch balance, and was 6.4 yards rushing averaged 6.4 yards per carry when he knew everyone at the stadium had scored 20 balls per game in 2024.
NFL Combine 2025 Takeout: Top RB Leads Performance, plus other winners and losers in training on the field
Josh Edwards
Tez Johnson, WR, Oregon
Measurement: 5-9 7/8, 154 lbs
Good results
40 yard dash: 4.51 seconds (11th in WR) 3 cones: 6.65 seconds (first) Vertical jump: 37 inches (16th) Broad jump: 10 feet 11 (fourth)
Level of concern: Minimum medium
Johnson has one of the most unique body types we’ve seen in the NFL. I’m serious. He is slightly taller than Greg Dolci, Tank Dell, Thei Flower, Josh Downs and Pop Douglas. That’s good, isn’t it? absolutely. These dynamic wideouts are well known, even if they are short.
But Johnson is the lightest wideout, combining officially recorded history at 154 pounds. Good intentions. He’s roughly the same height as the 2008 Desun Jackson, but is 15 pounds lighter.
And it makes 4.51 a completely new perspective. This was the slowest time for a 170-pound sub receiver at the combine in 22 years. Now, by itself, 4.51 is not disastrously slow at receivers. Among the wideouts, that time is the 51st percentile. It’s not brutal. And I’m not strictly worried about 40 times late compared to Johnson’s days… because he’s not a movie burner. He has not repeatedly won in Oregon in speed in the past two seasons.
Rapidity is his specialty, and the sudden change of orientation at the elite level where his combination has been confirmed. That 6.65 3 cones are the lightning bolt (93rd percentile), which is exactly what Johnson appears to be in the film. I know the NFL is lighter and faster, but I’m more concerned about the durability of less than 160 pounds than Johnson’s long lack of speed.
NFL Combine 2025 Takeout: Top WR Leads Performance, plus other winners and losers in training on the field
Josh Edwards
Harold Fanin Jr., TE, Bowling Green
Measurement: 6-3 1/4, 241 lbs
Good results
40 yard dash: 4.71 seconds (6th of TE) 10 yard split: 1.56 (4th) Vertical jump: 34 inches (8th)
Broad Jump: 9 feet 1 (ninth)
Level of concern: Not at all
Fannin Jr.’s 4.71 dash on a 40-yard dash is landing in the 65th percentile tight end. His 9-foot-11 broad is in the 68th percentile, in a 34-inch vertical position in the 62nd percentile of that position.
Although he managed to raise his eyebrows after a slower than expected 4.71, Fannin landed in Indianapolis 11 pounds heavier than the weight listed on bowling green (241 vs. 230). And 241 is a serious weight on tight ends with 6-3 back styles. The charming wrinkles with Fan Nin are his unusual steps when running. He doesn’t slip as easily as 99% of the NFL offensive skill position players. But he clearly has the speed needed to play and thrive in the close end of the NFL.
Is he an athlete’s freak, just like he watched a movie that destroys Macs every week? no. But for many prospects from outside the Power 4, the combine was merely about meeting thresholds, and Fanin Jr. did it in Indianapolis.
NFL Combine 2025 Takeout: Top TE prospects as well as other winners and losers in training on the field
Josh Edwards
The 2025 NFL Draft will take place April 24-26 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. You can find more draft coverage at CBSSPorts.com to help you get weekly mock drafts and regular access to eligible prospects.
