4. Jordan Jefferson and Chase Claypool
At the 2007 NFL Combine, Georgia Tech’s Calvin Johnson came up with one of the freakiest workouts ever.
Not only did he punch in at 6-4 and 239 pounds – massive for a wide receiver – but he ripped off a 4.38 40 and later at his Pro Day powered up a 42.5″ vertical leap.
No other receiver that big had ever come up with numbers like that before or since.
On Thursday, 6-4, 238-pound Chase Claypool became the second wide receiver prospect of that size to come up with similar numbers …
.@NDFootball WR Chase Claypool runs a 4.42 official 40-yard dash!
He joins @CalvinJohnsonjr as the only wideout 6’4” & 235 pounds or bigger to run a sub-4.45.
📺: #NFLCombine on @NFLNetwork pic.twitter.com/FMuqq5UQ5k
— NFL (@NFL) February 28, 2020
… and come up with a 40+” vertical, too.
No one’s predicting Claypool to be a top three overall prospect like Johnson was – he went second overall to the Lions – but with this workout and his good college production – catching 66 passes for 1,037 yards and 13 scores last year – he might have just moved into the second round in what’s turning into one of the deepest receiving classes ever.
There’s no questioning Justin Jefferson’s final year at at LSU with a team-leading 111 catches for 1,540 yards and 18 scores. JaMarr Chase might have been flashier and a bit more decorated, and Joe Burrow got all of the national love, but the gushing about Jefferson’s role – mainly from Burrow – has never stopped.
The 6-1, 202-pounder is known as a physical player who grabs everything that comes his way. Get the ball in his area code, and he’ll go get it.
And then in Indianapolis he ripped off a 4.43 in the 40.
If you think 40 times don’t matter, this one did. He was faster than Jerry Jeudy (4.45), CeeDee Lamb (4.5), Jalen Reagor (4.47), Laviska Shenault (4.58), and Brandon Aiyuk (4.5) – all receivers expected to be taken before Jefferson.
But this 40, combined with his LSU production, probably just pushed Jefferson into the early second round.
These guys could move, but …