ORANGE, Calif. – When John Ross broke the 40-yard dash record at the NFL Combine with a time of 4.22 seconds, he didn’t even see it.
“I was cramping up right before,” Ross said at a recent California Power workout. “I felt I could have gone faster. When I went down the trainer was stretching me out, I was trying to get up, he’s telling me no, I’m telling him yes. I look up and I see everybody in the stadium running toward me.
“Look up, look up, I see the time and I’m like there is no way.”
Way.
Ross, the former high three-star receiver from Long Beach (Calif.) Jordan who had one breakout season at Washington and parlayed that and his record-breaking run into being the ninth pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, had broken Chris Johnson’s record of 4.24 seconds.
It was not Ross’ goal going into Indianapolis although he was always fast.
“That was my trainer’s goal,” Ross said.
“Once he saw what I had and he saw what he could do mixed in with the talent I had he saw something. I didn’t see that. I’m not going to say I didn’t want to break the record. I just thought it was impossible. I just thought it was something that couldn’t be done.
“I’m not really sure how important it is to NFL teams but they look at it a lot. The 40-yard dash was kind of a crutch for me. It hid what I did well but also highlighted my best attribute. Nowadays, I don’t think it’s such a big deal but it’s still important to these teams.”
Even with a record-breaking run, Ross thought he could have gone even faster. The former Washington star who missed the 2015 season with a torn ACL only to bounce back with 81 catches for 1,150 yards and 17 touchdowns in 2016 was cramping before he ran and then started feeling tightness midway through his run.
By the end, Ross, who was the ninth overall pick sandwiched between Christian McCaffrey and Patrick Mahomes, was grabbing at his left leg – but was still the record holder at 4.22.
“When I got up, I knew exactly what I did wrong and what I had to fix, let me run it again,” Ross said. “I begged them to let me run it again and they were like no, you have nothing left to prove, you’re done.
“I’m not going to sit here and say I could have run 4.1 flat but my start wasn’t great and I was cramping. I thought I could definitely improve in the second round.”
We will never know. But we do know Ross’ record lasted until the 2024 combine when Texas’ Xavier Worthy went 4.21.
In Worthy’s first run, the former four-star from Fresno (Calif.) Central ran 4.25. On his second attempt, Worthy was clocked at 4.22 unofficially. Minutes later, it was announced that the official time broke Ross’ record and was set at 4.21.
For his part, Ross didn’t see it live but he knows his record wasn’t going to last forever.
“I’ve seen him play before so I knew he was fast and I heard he was the one who could do it,” said Ross, who added he was hand-timed at 4.18 and 4.19 leading into his record-breaking run. “I didn’t watch it but when I saw it I was immediately like he’s rolling. Records are meant to be broken.
“I would be mad if I was getting paid every year to hold the record and someone came and broke it. I’m happy for him. It’s a big deal and congrats to him and everything he’s doing because he’s doing big things.
