Remember Thursday night at the scouting combine, when the receivers were running all kinds of crazy 40 times, and it held up fairly well even when the times were made official? That extended to Friday’s offensive line drills, when we saw a display of pure speed from the big men we’ve never seen before.
There were six linemen with official sub-5.0 40-yard dash times in the first group, and six in the second. The previous record was six, and there were 11 sub-4.5 40-yard dashes overall in the last three combines.
There were officially 12 offensive linemen to run a sub-5.00 40-yard dash at the 2022 #NFLCombine
Not only is that the most such offensive linemen at a single combine since 2003, it DOUBLES the next-most (6 in 2013) and is more than the last 3 combines combined (11)
— NFL Research (@NFLResearch) March 5, 2022
The 10-yard splits were just as impressive, meaning that we have a group of offensive linemen who can get on the hoof to a highly impressive degree. Many of those linemen also looked great in the position drills, with natural movement and agility.
NFL teams should be going away from these drills excited about the talent available in the 2022 draft, and that’s without two of the best linemen — Alabama offensive tackle Evan Neal and Iowa center Tyler Linderbaum — choosing to pass on the activities for now.