The workout portion of the 2022 NFL Combine got underway Thursday night. It was, in a word, fast.
Speed was the subject at hand at an event defined by 40-yard dash times. This year’s opening night was the backdrop for the fastest class of wide receivers in league history. It also saw Desmond Ridder tie a quarterback prospect record by matching Marcus Mariota with a 4.52-second 40 in Indianapolis.
Those runs gave way to the passing game, where a cache of QBs with something to prove threw fades, slants, and sideline routes to streaking wideouts and tight ends as legions of scouts took note of their footwork, hip turns, and reaction time.
The end result was a handful of numbers on a spreadsheet that will allow us to overreact for the following eight weeks until the 2022 NFL Draft is finally upon us. So who made the biggest splash on a night defined by blazing speed?