Winner: Jonathan Taylor
The Wisconsin running back posted a blazing 4.39 40-yard dash time, but while this turned heads we probably should have seen this coming. Back in high school Taylor ran track his junior and senior years, and at a meet in May of his senior year he posted a 10.49 in the 100-meter dash, a mark that is still among the fastest times in state history.
But Taylor was not done after his forty. He continued to shine, posting a 7.01 three-cone time that was fourth-best among the running backs, and his 20-yard shuttle of 4.24 was sixth-best among running backs. Long speed is nice at the running back position, but short-area quickness and change of direction ability are critical to the position, and Taylor was strong in this area as well, given these numbers.
Entering this season there were questions about whether he could be a three-down back in the NFL, so the Badgers tried to involve him in the passing game more. This speed – as well as those agility numbers – will convince NFL teams that they simply need to involve him in the passing game. That all-around ability will make him a very attractive prospect to teams.
Loser: Zack Moss
In contrast to what Taylor and Dillon did on Friday night, Moss’s testing numbers were…not great. His 40-yard dash time of 4.65 tied him for the fourth-slowest among running backs in Indianapolis, and things did not exactly improve from there. His vertical of 33” was the seventh-smallest, and his 20-yard shuttle of 4.37 was the fourth-slowest.
Thankfully for Moss there is much more that goes into playing the running back position at a high level than what you do during your Combine testing. Intelligence and competitive toughness are also huge factors for NFL scouts and evaluators to consider. Moss checks both those boxes. Consider this response when asked by Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar about executing a zone running design:
DF: Your left tackle and left guard seal this up well on the backside, but I’m always curious with running backs — with all that chaos going on, how you see that in the moment?
ZM: For one, you always want to know what type of front you’re running against. If it’s a three-down or four-down front (three or four down linemen), that will let you know a lot of things. It allows you to slow down the thinking process, and it lets you just play the game at a faster rate. I was able to ID the front — it was a four-down front with one ‘backer inside. They were playing a lot of nickel defense, and usually against a four-down, our guard and our center have to combo block and get up to the linebacker. But since the ‘backer blitzed, and he pretty much ate himself up, it created that big gap.
With that kind of processing speed, Moss likely aced his team meetings in Indianapolis. Will it be enough to overcome what he did during his testing? Time will tell.