Legendary coach Bill Parcells came up with the “Planet Theory,” in which Parcells posited that there are so few men both large enough and athletic enough to be NFL linemen that they are intrinsically valuable just standing there. During Saturday’s scouting combine drills at Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium, Georgia defensive tackle Jordan Davis extended the Planet Theory to its illogical limits when he lined up at 6-foot-6 and 341 pounds, and somehow ran an official 4.78-second 40-yard dash, with a 1.68-second 10-yard split.
BIG MAN MOVIN.@GeorgiaFootball DL @jordanxdavis99 with an UNREAL 4.82u at 341 lbs. 😱
📺: #NFLCombine on @nflnetwork pic.twitter.com/aEVRSssbOC
— NFL (@NFL) March 5, 2022
To put that into perspective, at his scouting combine in 2017, Patrick Mahomes ran a 4.8 40-yard dash. People as large as Davis is should not be able to scoot at this level. People were flipping out at the unofficial 4.82 40-yard dash, and as it turned out, Davis got cheated a bit by the stopwatch.
The thing about Davis is that the speed and quickness shows up on tape.
When Jordan Davis starts to the quarterback, things get complicated for Mr. Center. pic.twitter.com/duFOUDEjik
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) March 5, 2022
Davis was also looking super-agile in the position drills.
This dude makes these drills look like nothing for a 341 lb man. 😤@jordanxdavis99 | @GeorgiaFootball
📺: #NFLCombine on @nflnetwork pic.twitter.com/BdYxqD2RWx
— NFL (@NFL) March 5, 2022
As you’d expect, Draft Twitter had quite a bit to say about it.