Skip to main content
Packer Central

Mission Accomplished for Taylor in 40

Wisconsin’s Jonathan Taylor is the fastest running back at the Scouting Combine.
Bill Huber|
Mission Accomplished for Taylor in 40
Mission Accomplished for Taylor in 40

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Wisconsin’s Jonathan Taylor, the most productive three-year running back in NCAA history, is the fastest running back at the Scouting Combine.

Taylor won the Combine’s 40-yard dash on Friday night with a time of 4.39 seconds. At 5-foot-10 1/4 and 226 pounds, he’s one of only three running backs over the last decade to break 4.40 seconds while weighing at least 220 pounds. The others are Auburn’s Mario Fannin (4.37 at 231 pounds) in 2011 and Arkansas’ Knile Davis (4.37 at 227 pounds) in 2013.

Taylor was a big play waiting to happen for the Badgers. In 2019, he had 30 carries of 15-plus yards – second-most in the draft class, according to Pro Football Focus. At Salem (N.J.) High School, he was a state champion in the 100 as a junior and senior.

“I think that’s due to my track background, being able to have that long-distance speed and being able to hold it,” Taylor said on Wednesday, when he announced that his goal was to run 4.4.

Taylor’s 6,174 rushing yards at Wisconsin is the most ever for a running back in his first three seasons. That obliterated the previous record of 5,596 yards set by Walker while at Georgia in the early 1980s.

“It’s an honor. Anytime you’re mentioned with those guys, it’s a blessing,” Taylor said. “I think the biggest thing is you didn’t do it alone. I had great teammates, great leaders around me to push me to the limit, to push me to that moment. So, I think the biggest thing is just realizing and understanding that I didn’t do it alone.”

Taylor, however, isn’t even the clear-cut top running back in this draft class. NFL.com’s Bucky Brooks ranked him No. 5. The Athletic’s Dane Brugler ranked him No. 3, as did NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah and Pro Football Focus. With 12 career games of 200-plus yards, Taylor’s long speed was on display throughout his career. With 926 career carries for scouts to digest, his outrageous 40 time might not have an impact on their opinions. Still, in a six-man derby to be the top running back off the board, being the fastest is a feather in his cap.

The questions, however, are obvious as his jaw-dropping production.

Taylor beat Appalachian State’s Darrynton Evans (4.41), Louisiana-Lafayette’s Raymond Calais (4.42) and Maryland’s Anthony McFarland (4.44). Among the other top backs, Florida State’s Cam Akers ran in 4.47, Georgia’s D’Andre Swift in 4.48, LSU’s Clyde Edwards-Helaire in 4.60 and Utah’s Zack Moss in 4.65; Moss reportedly ran with an injured hamstring. Ohio State’s J.K. Dobbins did not run a 40.

Loading recommendations... Please wait while we load personalized content recommendations

Published
Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.

Home/News