When the Denver Broncos were on the stopwatch with the 74th overall selection of the NFL draft, they shocked a lot by selecting Illinois Wideout Pat Bryant. Bryant had to be drafted, but in the fourth or fifth round, and although the teams had their large respective boards, the Broncos prevailed in the third was a little worrying, especially with his time with 40 yards of 4.61 seconds.
Of course, Bryant is an excellent blocker, and his hands were among the best in the classroom, but at the NFL level, you must separate. He had trouble with this at the college level, and it will only be separated at the NFL level as the game becomes faster.
So, how worrying Dash time is?
Well, in the past 10 years (2015-2024), 22 wide receivers have been written after having executed a 40 or slower 40 or slower. If you include the 2025 project, 24 of these receivers have been written, but as these two recruits have not yet played in the NFL, we will exclude them.
Of these 22 receivers, only four were written during the first three laps. Now there could be more receptors that ran in 4.6 or worse, but there is no official combination 40 times known for them.
Let’s take these 4.6 receivers to examine and how they succeeded in the NFL.
There is a long list of players written after the first three laps that have not succeeded or were a flash in the pan, with moderate success. Kelvin Harmon had a Flash recruit season in the PAN in 2019, catching 30 assists for 365 yards, but he has not caught a pass since, because he suffered an LCA injury before the 2020 season.
Auden Tate had a four -year stay with the Bengals of Cincinnati in 253rd choice in total and had a season of 40 years and 575 yards in 2019, his second career season. Since then, there has been almost nothing of a tate. So two late flashes, but let’s look at these choices in the first three laps, like Bryant.
David Bell was the 99th overall choice of Cleveland Browns in 2022. In three seasons, he has six departures, 41 catches for 408 yards and three affected.
He is sure to say that Bell did not work for the Browns, who need aid to the receiver. A big problem was his inability to open up, as well as a few drops.
Devin Funchess was a second round choice and had a promising start in his career. During his first two seasons, he had 54 catches for 844 yards before emerging in 3rd year with 63 catches for 849 yards and helping the Panthers of Caroline to make the playoffs.
In the 4th year, the production of Funchess took a hit, then he left for Indianapolis in a free agency, where he broke his collarbone and missed the season, mainly. He has rebounded for a while and is now outside the NFL.
Keon Coleman was the 33rd choice in total in the second round in 2024, so the jury is still on him. He had a year recruited a good omen, catching 29 assists for 556 yards, and is ready for a bigger step forward in 2025 as the best receiver of the Buffalo Bills.
The final receiver is the most important exception in the past 10 years with Cooper Kupp. He was one of the best NFL receivers for years, including two seasons more than 1,000 yards and has almost reached 2,000 yards in one of them.
KUPP measured at 6 feet 2 inches and 204 pounds with the NFL combination, which is almost identical to that of Bryant. The only difference was the length of the arm, where Bryant was 33 inches, and Kupp was 33 years. The measures are not everything, but when you read their respective screening reports, Kupp and Bryant’s strengths and weaknesses are similar.
Thus, the recent history of receivers with a time of 4.6 seconds or slower is not great. There have been some lightnings in the pan, a stranger and a large receiver in the last decade.
There are reasons to worry about Bryant because of this aspect of his game. However, he has something that these other receivers have not done: Sean Payton, who has repeatedly shown that he knows how to maximize his players, especially those he selects by hand.
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