From Deion Sanders to Xavier Worthy: 10 Best Moments in NFL Combine History

(Editor’s note: This story originally ran ahead of the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine.) It’s the time of the year when we watch NFL hopefuls competing in tights and doing things they typically don’t do on the gridiron. The first day of drills at the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine will commence on Thursday, kicking off four days of athletic testing as the top prospects in this year’s draft try to improve their stock. While the combine isn’t an automatic indicator of what’s to come in a player’s career, it has provided several highlights over the years. Let’s take a look at the 10 most memorable moments in the history of the NFL Scouting Combine. Deion Sanders speeds through the 40 and runs off (1989) Prior to the annual combine in 1989, Sanders didn’t want to participate much at the event since he was set to be one of the top picks in the draft that spring. He had been asked to run the 40-yard dash at the combine, but he refused initial overtures to do so. Eventually, Sanders obliged. There’s no video of Sanders running the 40, but onlookers in Indianapolis said that the star athlete clocked in at 4.27 seconds. But he didn’t stop running there. Sanders bolted into the locker room and finished his day at the combine, according to former Dallas Cowboys exec Gil Brandt. There have also been unverified stories over the years that Sanders ran straight into a limousine outside the Hoosier Dome and asked to be taken to the airport, adding to his legend. The Atlanta Falcons wound up taking Sanders with the fifth overall pick in the draft. Tom Brady puts up an unspectacular performance (2000) At the time, you would’ve been hard-pressed to find anyone who cared about Brady’s performance in the 2000 combine. But it ended up playing a role in his story, from late-round pick to the most decorated player in NFL history. Brady’s 40 time was among the slowest for a quarterback since the turn of the century, running it in 5.28 seconds. He also recorded a 24.5-inch vertical and a 99-inch broad jump, which both rank in the third percentile or worse among quarterbacks who’ve tested at the combine. On top of all of that, Brady’s physique looked unspectacular. The images of him posing shirtless have been widely mocked over the years, including by Brady himself. Brady’s unimpressive combine was part of the reason he was just a sixth-round pick. Of course, he was able to overcome his relative athletic deficiencies to win seven Super Bowls. Stephen Paea breaks bench press record (2011) Leading up to the 2011 combine, a video of Paea putting up 45 bench press reps of 225 pounds emerged online, leading to speculation that he could break the record of 45 that Mitch Petrus tied at the previous year’s combine. When Paea got on the bench, it didn’t take him long to threaten the record. He posted 43 reps without hesitation, needing just 36 seconds to get there. After some motivation, Paea got two more reps to tie the record. Paea kept pushing, though. He took his time to add four more reps and nearly reached the 50 mark before the spotter had to help him. Still, Paea set the official record in the bench press with 49 reps, all in less than a minute. He lifted 11,025 pounds in that span. A couple of months later, Paea was taken in the second round of the draft by the Bears. He enjoyed a solid seven-year NFL career. As for his record, no one has really threatened Paea’s mark since he set it in 2011. Dontari Poe and Netane Muti have come the closest, with each recording 44 reps. Aaron Donald shows out at 2014 combine Before he became an all-time great with the Rams, Donald put together an all-time performance at the NFL Scouting Combine in 2014. His 4.68-second 40-yard dash time turned heads, while his 7.11-second 3-cone drill time is the quickest by a defensive tackle since at least 2014. He also had the most bench press reps (35) and recorded the best broad jump (9 feet, 8 inches) among defensive tackles in his draft class. Donald rose up the draft boards after that, and the Rams wisely used a first-round pick on him. Byron Jones breaks a world record (2015) Ahead of the 2015 combine, Jones was in the middle of rehabbing his shoulder following surgery and wasn’t expected to participate in the event. But he wanted to prove he was healthy and boost his draft stock, so Jones opted in for a few drills. Jones’ decision to only be a limited participant at the combine paid off in a big way. His broad jump, particularly, was a major boon to his profile. He registered a broad jump of 12 feet, 3 inches. Not only did that shatter the previous combine record by eight inches, it unofficially set the world record for the best broad jump by an inch. Norwegian shot putter Arne Tvervaag previously held the record for nearly 50 years, with a 12-foot, 2-inch broad jump in 1968. After entering the combine as a prospect that not many people thought about, Jones left Indianapolis as one of the top cornerbacks in the 2015 draft. The Dallas Cowboys selected him with their first-round pick that year. Shaquem Griffin has a historic outing (2018) Griffin, who was born with amniotic band syndrome, had his left hand amputated when he was 4 years old. He had a strong college career at UCF, winning AAC Defensive Player of the Year in 2016. Ahead of the 2018 draft, though, there were questions about his ability to compete at an NFL level. At the combine, Griffin helped quell some of those concerns. The linebacker ran the fastest 40 time for a player at his position at the combine in 15 years (4.38 seconds). What was a bit more memorable was Griffin’s performance on the bench press. Using a prosthetic, Griffin recorded 20 reps. The Seattle Seahawks took Griffin in the fifth round, and he became the first player with one hand to ever be selected in the NFL Draft. A few months later, Griffin became the first one-handed player in the NFL’s modern era. Jordan Davis shows big fellas can move (2022) Not many interior defensive linemen have been able to shed the slow runner label that’s often associated with them. Davis, however, proved he was different at the 2022 combine. After weighing in at 341 pounds, Davis ran a 4.78-second 40. Not only did that make him just the third 330-plus-pound player to run a 40 under five seconds, he broke the record for the fastest 40 by a 330-pound player by 0.14 seconds. Anthony Richardson makes QB history (2023) Richardson wasn’t the most productive quarterback in college. He only started for one season at Florida, and though he had some struggles in the passing game, he was one of the top running quarterbacks in college during the 2022 season. With some questions surrounding where he’d go in the 2023 NFL Draft looming, Richardson helped solidify himself as a top-10 pick with a dominant combine performance. He ran the fourth-fastest 40 time ever for a quarterback (4.43 seconds). He also set records for the best vertical jump (40.5 inches) and broad jump (10 feet, 9 inches) ever for a quarterback at the combine. Due to those testing results, Richardson became the third quarterback to ever earn a perfect relative athletic score (RAS), joining Daunte Culpepper and Cam Newton. But he also lit it up in the passing drills, launching throws that traveled at least 60 yards in the air. A couple of months after his tremendous showing at the combine, Richardson would end up back in Indianapolis as the Colts took him with the fourth overall pick in the draft. Joe Milton airs it out at the combine (2024) Milton wasn’t viewed as one of the top quarterback prospects in the 2024 NFL Draft, but many Michigan and Tennessee fans knew that he had a rocket of an arm. As draft evaluators highly anticipated Milton’s throwing session at the combine, he delivered. First, Milton tied Josh Allen’s record for the fastest throw in combine history. He recorded a 62 mph pass, giving a hint of what was to come. When it was time to throw to receivers, Milton let it rip. He delivered multiple passes that traveled over 70 yards in the air. In the first one, Milton overshot his target, Jacob Cowing. On one of his later throws, Milton dropped back and waited for a moment before uncorking a pass that was completed, drawing oohs and ahhs from the Indy crowd. Xavier Worthy breaks 40-yard dash record (2024) Before showing off his speed for the Kansas City Chiefs in 2024, Worthy put on a show and bet on himself in a big way at the combine. The Texas product entered the showcase as a candidate to run the fastest 40 time after displaying great speed during his time in Austin. Worthy’s first run threatened the record John Ross set in 2017, posting a 4.25-second time that just missed Ross’ by three-hundredths of a second. He initially appeared to be satisfied with his result, taking off his cleats to suggest that he was done for the day. But he opted to go for the record and risk putting up a worse time, initially posting an unofficial time of 4.22 on his second run. After a few moments, the official time came in and Worthy had, in fact, broken the record. As the scoreboards at Lucas Oil Stadium showed Worthy’s time of 4.21 seconds, he ran around the stadium and received congratulations from other prospects.