12 Most Memorable Moments from the NFL Combine
By Zach Bigalke
Calvin Johnson decides to run 40 after all (2007)
Like Deion Sanders in 1989, Calvin Johnson showed up at the 2007 NFL Combine in Indianapolis fully expecting not to run the 40-yard dash. The 2006 Biletnikoff Award winner had posted a 1200-yard receiving season at Georgia Tech, a team better known for its triple-option ground game than its aerial attack. It seemed as though there was little to gain and everything to lose by running the drill that could make or break NFL draft position.
Eventually Johnson’s competitive nature got the better of him, and he convinced himself to run against the clock. Borrowing a pair of track shoes from East Carolina’s James Pinkney, Johnson stepped up to the line and solidified his position at the top of the draft. In unfamiliar footwear, the man who had yet to become Megatron ripped off a 4.35, good for third-best among wide receivers at the 2007 NFL Combine.
He had already been projected as the second overall pick behind JaMarcus Russell, and he had nowhere to go in the draft order but down. But sometimes a man has to compete, and the effort was rewarded with number-two prestige as Detroit took the Yellow Jacket star.