Is There a More Athletic Player in the NFL Draft, Pound-for-Pound, than Georgia's Jordan Davis?
NFL.com called his combine results “stunning.” Yahoo referred to them as “ridiculous.” USA Today called him a “physical marvel unlike any other in recent memory.” Yet even these media sources, among others, don’t fully capture just how impressive Jordan Davis’ NFL Combine truly was. Through this article, I hope to show how this Georgia DT’s combine was one of the best ever and make a case as to why he should be a top 10 draft pick.
I looked at every single prospect to ever run the 40-yard dash since the creation of the Indianapolis NFL Combine in 1987. When you look at each player’s speed compared to their weight, only four players all-time were better than Davis. For reference, 10,534 prospects have chosen to participate in the 40-yard dash.
Somehow, it gets even crazier. Here is a graph showing every player’s weight and 40-yard dash time with an arrow pointing to Davis (the line represents what the player’s expected 40-yard dash time is based on their weight):
Jordan Davis's forty time, compared to his weight, is one of the rarest combinations in NFL Combine history.
Steven Fellinger
As can be seen, Davis had the largest difference between expected and actual 40-yard times out of all 10,534 who participated, running .61 seconds faster than the average NFL prospect his size is projected to run. In fact, he was nearly a full tenth of a second better in this measurement than the next highest prospect, who only ran .53 seconds faster.
Even when you just look at his 40-yard dash time by itself, Davis still impresses. This 341-pound man ran faster than numerous NFL stars much smaller than him, including six-time Pro Bowler Calais Campbell (282-pounds), seven-time Pro Bowler Terrell Suggs (265-pounds), and current star defensive end Joey Bosa (269-pounds). Davis even came close to beating a couple of legends that played a skill position, including Larry Fitzgerald (4.63 seconds), Anquan Bolden (4.71 seconds), and even arguably the greatest NFL wide receiver of all-time, Jerry Rice (4.71 seconds).
It wasn’t just in the 40-yard dash either where Davis excelled. The only other combine tests he participated in were the vertical jump and the broad jump, and he impressed in those as well. In the former, he finished just outside of the top 50 all-time (51st) among prospects 310-pounds or heavier. Meanwhile, his broad jump of 123 inches ranks in the top 12% all-time for any weight, and was the same as current players half his size such as Davante Adams and Clyde Edwards-Helaire.
One must will admit, there are some risks in taking a player like Davis. He has not shown much of an ability to rush the quarterback, and any person that size is going to have an injury concern. However, teams have reason to think that even these weaknesses may not exist for too long. For the first point, we must remember that Davis didn’t start playing football until 10th grade, so his techniques will improve over time as he becomes more familiar with the game. As for the second, he has stayed relatively healthy throughout his playing career for the most part so far, which is a great sign.
All in all, Davis is just too good of an athlete for pretty much any team to pass up on. At worst, I believe he will be a solid run-stuffer (think DT Vita Vea of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers), serving as an unsung hero to whichever team is lucky enough to land him. At best? I think he could emerge as the top player to come out of this draft class when we look back at it years later.
One final thing to leave you on, here is a comparison of Davis’ combine stats with Aaron Donald, arguably the best defensive lineman (and maybe best defensive player overall) in the NFL currently:
| Name | Forty Yard Dash | Vertical Jump | Broad Jump |
|---|---|---|---|
Aaron Donald | 4.68 | 32 | 115 inches or 9'7" |
Jordan Davis | 4.78 | 32 | 123 or 10'3" |
As you can see, these stats are very similar. The only difference? Donald weighed in at 285 pounds at the combine, 56 pounds lighter than Davis. Calling Davis a generational athlete is an understatement. He has a chance to be the greatest athlete to ever play professional football, and that should be too much intrigue for any team to pass up on.