The NFL held a veteran combine on Sunday in Arizona to give teams a closer look at players who are not currently on rosters. Based on some of the stats to emerge from the workouts, it’s easy to see why the running backs are unemployed.
USA Today’s Tom Pelissero posted a photo of the unofficial 40 times by the running backs at the combine, which show extremely slow times. However, you must keep in mind that these were electronic start times, not hand-recorded times, so they are anywhere between .1 to .2 seconds faster than what you see.
Unofficial running back times at vet combine. Felix Jones ran 4.79/4.85. In fairness, unofficials have been slow. pic.twitter.com/OBadKihEHQ
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 22, 2015
That means the fastest 40 times from a running back was probably in the 4.6 range, which isn’t terrible, but certainly nothing special.
Even if you drop .1 or .2 seconds of Michael Bush’s time, he was still in the 4.7-second range at best. The six-year veteran bruiser was crushed upon seeing his unofficial times in the 4.9 seconds range.
Michael Bush when he learned he ran a 4.91 40 at the Veteran Combine: 'You gotta be ****ing me. 4.91? There you go, there goes my career.'
— Marc Sessler (@MarcSesslerNFL) March 22, 2015
Bush was a productive back from 2008-2012, but he tailed off and will be 31 in June. His career probably is done, sadly for him. Keep your head up, though, Bush. Many of us remember you from when you were good and nearly ran for 1,000 yards with the Raiders.
