During the recent NFL Combine, Robert Griffin III, colloquially known as RG3, noted the “MASSIVE difference between football speed and track speed.” To support his claim, Griffin posted a video of Christian Coleman running the 40 yard dash in 4.12 seconds “at 85% effort,” and noting that the Combine record, at the time of the post, was 4.22 seconds.
Comparisons between track and NFL speed aside (because we know the truth there), Coleman replied to RG3’s posting noting that his, “start is way more efficient today.” Christian also made sure to note that the video posted by Griffin was taken seven years prior, a time when Coleman, donning a Tennessee top, was fresh off his collegiate career with the Volunteers.
To follow, Griffin replied, “I got 100k for you if you go sub 4,” to which Coleman replied, “Bet🤝🏾easy.“
About Coleman’s last 40 attempt 7 years ago, from Wikipedia, “Coleman received some notoriety after the 2017 NFL Draft scouting combine. John Ross set a new combine record of 4.22 seconds in the 40-yard dash and claimed he was faster than Olympic champion sprinter Usain Bolt. Coleman responded to this by running the 40 yards in 4.12 seconds on turf.”
Christian Coleman is fresh off an Indoor World Championship gold medal and is one of the world’s best sprinters. He ran 6.41 seconds for 60 meters to win his last title, 0.03 ahead of runner-up Noah Lyles. Coleman and Lyles have traded the top of the podium in recent years across numerous events, being separated by fractions of a second each time. One notable aspect of Coleman’s race is his explosive start. So confident in his start, he recently told Track World News his all-time 4x100m relay would include himself first, followed by Usain Bolt with the second leg, Maurice Green on third, and Noah Lyles to “bring it on home.” Respect.
The 40-yard dash is one of the evaluations prospective players put to the test in order to display their fitness for NFL scouts. The Combine itself is an invitation-only event, and an athlete’s performance can affect their draft status. This is to note, it would be reasonable to believe that those taking part in the Combine are giving much more than the aforementioned 85%.
Historically, very few NFL prospects have run under 4.30 seconds for the 40, with just 16 individuals accomplishing the feat to date (including Olympic Long Jumper and current NFLer Marquise Goodwin’s time of 4.27 from 2013). The current record was set at just this past Combine, as Xavier Worthy (University of Texas) ran an official 4.21 seconds, besting the previous mark of 4.22 seconds set by John Ross III in 2017.
There is no doubt Coleman would out-dash any player at the Combine, but the wager is to go sub-4 seconds (and admittedly, we also love the idea of a new sub-4 marker). Can Coleman top a mark that only a handful of the quickest NFL prospects have sniffed within a quarter second?
Our money is on Coleman, and apparently, so is RG3’s.
