INDIANAPOLIS. In a week when speed was the main theme of NFL scouting, on Sunday, two quarterbacks put up an exclamation mark.
Baylor cornerback Kalon Barnes and Texas-San Antonio defenseman Tarik Wulen ran two of the fastest 40-yard rushes in Combine history. Barnes’ official 4.23 was the fastest for a quarterback and is now ranked second behind wide receiver John Ross’s 4.22 in 2017.
Barnes, who played 41 career games for the Bears, became the second player to make a run on Sunday and caused a stir among fans in the stands when he crossed the line on both runs.
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Woolen ran the official 4.26 and, like Barnes, ran his best 40 on his second attempt. Woolen’s run, to at least some HR managers, will be even a little more celebrated given that he not only shared the fourth-fastest 40-yard rush in tournament history, but did so as one of the best cornerbacks in any draft. . 6 feet 4⅛ tall and weighing 205 pounds.
Woolen, who played wide receiver until playing the last game of the 2019 season at cornerback, also has a guard-style arm span of 79 inches.
On Saturday he was asked what he could run given he is expected to be one of the fastest players in attendance and said: “It will be good, good, but you all need to see it. But I feel it will be good.”
Asked how he could be so fast when taller players didn’t always run well around the defense at the mill before, Woolen replied, “I kept growing and getting faster.”
It all capped off a torrid week on the combine turf, with eight wide receivers clocking under 4.4 seconds in round 40 and 12 offensive linemen under 5.0 seconds.
It should also be noted that while Cincinnati cornerback Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner didn’t need much to add to his already blistering draft stock, he still probably had a better day for cornerbacks. At 6’2¾ and 190 pounds, Garner ran an official 4.41 in the 40-yard snatch and handled positional drills with precision and ease.
Gardner entered the roster as the No. 5 player on ESPN’s Player Rankings and the best defensive player overall.
The scouts grumbled about the veracity of all these amazing events. But teams will do what they’ve always done since the unification: compare official times with their own on-site, as well as the GPS data they’ve accumulated over the course of the season and at post-season all-star games like the Senior Bowl.
Safety and special teams players, including board safety leader Kyle Hamilton of Notre Dame, also worked Sunday, the fourth and final day of field work at the mill.