It’s NFL pro day season! The final step for many of the top incoming prospects before the NFL Draft. Luckily we actually had an NFL combine this year, so we won’t be exclusively reliant on Pro Day results for physical testing like we were in 2021.
But what makes a good pro day? And how much does that really matter? We’ll dive into that a bit for some of our favorite incoming NFL rookies here in this pro day results special.
Yes, pro day results are typically a bit more friendly than those at the NFL combine, so you may wonder if we’re going to adjust them for you here. We are not. However, it may help to know (depending on the exact sample and positions incorporated) how much the key athletic testing metrics tend to differ between pro days and the NFL combine. So here’s a little cheat sheet to check out before you dive in if you want to add/subtract from a player’s pro day time to get an idea of what they may have done at the NFL combine given historical variance:
- Forty-Yard Dash: +0.07 seconds
- Vertical Jump: -1 inch
- Broad Jump: -2 inches
- Three-Cone Drill: +0.05 seconds
- Twenty-Yard Shuttle: +0.09 seconds
- Bench Press: -2 reps
Note: These numbers might look slightly different than those published elsewhere, particularly for the forty — they include all positions, including offensive and defensive line, linebackers, and other positions with higher variance times.
However, these numbers have all been tightening up in recent years in terms of comparison to NFL combine results. Matt Spencer wrote on this very subject last year. And the fact that vertical jump, broad jump, and bench press marks also differ from combine to pro day suggests that measurement error isn’t the whole explanation here. Something like the survivorship bias that Matt, Brian Malone, and Fantasy Douche have suggested is likely at play. Adjustment of pro day times is probably not necessary.
But without further ado, let’s jump into some of these 2022 pro day results.
2022 Pro Day Results
If you play in IDP leagues, Travis covers the defensive prospects here and in his Top 100 Prospects series. It’s a must-read for drafters getting ready for these intense leagues.
