The forty yard dash at the annual NFL combine at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis is a true test of of speed for many former college players looking to improve their stock in the NFL draft. Every year all eyes are on the track to see if anyone is going to run a crazy mind-blowing 40 time or maybe even break the record set by Chris Johnson in 2008. Well this year everyone got their wish in the form of former University Of Washington wide receiver John Ross.
Ross sets a new bar
John Ross electrified the crowd today at the combine by running a ridiculous 4.22 forty yard dash time.
That time breaks the old mark of 4.24 set by running back Chris Johnson. Coming into the event may people knew that Ross was fast and could probably turn some heads, but nobody knew he would set the track on fire with his blistering time. He even told the media prior to the event that he planned to run it under 4.3 seconds. He did that with ease on his way to the record. As soon as word got out of how fast his time was, social media went nuts. Many current and former NFL players took to Twitter to weigh in on the record breaking dash. Most just tweeted out the flame emoji and put hashtag John Ross. The crazy thing about his sprint is how effortless it appeared to be. When he came out of the blocks he was so fluid in his movement that you didn't even realize how fast it actually was until you saw the time flash across the screen.
There's no doubt that Ross has drastically improved his draft stock by running such a blazing fast time. He may even crack the top 5 wide receivers available based on his speed alone. He won't have any shortage of suitors.
Got the record but not the island
What makes what John Ross accomplished even crazier is that Adidas was running a promotion that gave anyone who broke the 40 yard dash record this year a private island worth at least 1 million dollars.
Of course that comes with the stipulation that you had to have broken the record wearing a pair of Adidas cleats. Specifically the Adizero 5 star 40 cleats. Of course, John Ross wore Nikes when he broke the record and when asked why he didn't wear those Adidas his response was classic, " Well I can't swim that well and I don't own a boat." This maybe true and maybe he can't swim, but one thing he can do and do extremely well....run. If his speed translates to NFL games he might be able to buy his own island in the future if he so chooses.
