Saquon Barkley was already a lock to be one of the first players off the board at the NFL Draft prior to the Scouting Combine, and the former Penn State star has certainly done nothing to hurt his stock.
Simply put, Barkley put on a show in Indianapolis. After he repped 225 pounds 29 times in the bench press on Thursday, Barkley wowed scouts with a 41-inch vertical and 4.41 40-yard dash on Friday.
Saquon Barkley with the 41” Vertical pic.twitter.com/jrXdN113Rv
— NFL Stats (@NFL_Stats) March 2, 2018
Saquon Barkley runs a 4.41 40-yard dashpic.twitter.com/1wYC3g8P6t
— 2018 NFL Draft (@DraftRT) March 2, 2018
For a 233-pound back who runs with power, those numbers are incredible. Here’s some context:
Saquon Barkley: 41-inch vertical at 233lbs
David Johnson: 41.5-inch vertical at 224lbs
RB average: 35-inch vertical at 213lbsLive blog: https://t.co/OqHIo0rBcL
— Graham Barfield (@GrahamBarfield) March 2, 2018
Saquon Barkley just posted the seventh-best weight-adjusted forty time among RBs since 2003. 4.41 forty-yard dash time is 98th percentile speed at 233lbs.
Live blog: https://t.co/OqHIo0rBcL
— Graham Barfield (@GrahamBarfield) March 2, 2018
Most mock drafts have Barkley going as high as No. 2 to the New York Giants, and now we see where those predictions come from. While many people still believe there is no running back worth using a top-five pick on in today’s NFL, there’s no reason Barkley can’t make the same type of impact Ezekiel Elliott has made.
