12 Most Memorable Moments from the NFL Combine

Chris Johnson sets electronically-timed 40 record (2008)

While Bo Jackson might have run faster, he did so in an era when the Combine itself was still all hand-timed and thus prone to skepticism. Chris Johnson, who racked up two dozen touchdowns and nearly 3000 all-purpose yards in his senior year at East Carolina, arrived in Indianapolis as a solid if unspectacular running back prospect. After all, 23 players had rushed for more yards than the 1423 that Johnson posted in his senior season at ECU.

But none of them managed to run quite as fast as Johnson in the 40. Bursting out of his stance, dreadlocks flopping behind him with each leg kick, the Pirate back stopped the clocks faster than anyone had previously done in the electronically-timed era of the NFL Combine. The clock read 4.24, and when added to his 35-inch vertical leap and his 10’10” broad jump results, Johnson vaulted into first-round material.

When Tennessee selected Johnson 24th overall in the 2008 NFL Draft, he matched former ECU linebacker Robert Jones as the highest-drafted Pirates in school history.