Adidas to Offer Shoe Deal to Fastest 40 (EDIT: & Combine Open Thread)

Submitted by mgokev on

Article is over at ESPN but Denard should have a pretty good chance at competing for this deal.

The WWL however thinks there are a few others to look out for:

Players that are favorites to run the fastest time include Tennessee's Cordarrelle Patterson, University of North Carolina's Giovani Bernard and Marquise Goodwin of Texas.

mhollebeek

February 24th, 2013 at 8:09 AM ^

i thought it was interesting that while they could offer a contract to the fastest, they couldn't advertise or promote at the combine, because it is sponsered by Under Armor (I think that's who it was).

mhollebeek

February 24th, 2013 at 8:11 AM ^

I think he was fast in pads, and had good side to side movement, but his straight-line speed wasn't near as fast as everyone gave him credit for this year.  Not saying he wasn't fast, he was, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was 4.5ish, or somewhere along those lines.  Could be wrong though

Tater

February 24th, 2013 at 9:32 AM ^

Since "the Fort" is back, we'll probably never know the full extent of the injuries Denard played through.  He certainly seemed to be faster in the spring and at the beginning of the season most years than he was in the second half of the season.  

We know his arm is still bothering him, but I think a couple of months may have put some "spring" back in his legs.  The great upside here is that if he does catch on in the NFL, he won't be the focus of nearly as many plays as he was at Michigan, and might not "break down" at the end of the season in the NFL.

If we ever found out how many injuries Denard has hidden from the public, I have a feeling we'd all  like him even more than we do now for playing through them.

coldnjl

February 24th, 2013 at 10:09 AM ^

I like to think of him as a Peter Warrick type athlete(i.w. not WR)...Not elite speed, but fast enough where once his amazing quickness/shiftyness and acceleration gets him open, he won't be caught from behind....

I guess, 4.41

mgokev

February 24th, 2013 at 9:25 AM ^

Well Austin just ran a 4.25 (hand timed) on first attempt.  That's pretty good...might be enough for a shoe deal.

EDIT: Goodwin matched him at 4.25

justingoblue

February 24th, 2013 at 11:16 AM ^

4.45 and a 4.42, and he's quicker off the blocks than Bolt is. Obviously it's not a perfect comparison, and maybe Bolt would be quicker without competing against other guys with great technique off the blocks, but if you go with Gatlin being slightly quicker with less top-end speed that puts Bolt right in the mid 4.4s.