Texas Longhorns wide receiver Xavier Worthy did wonders for his NFL Draft stock with how he excelled at the combine. In particular, his blazing-fast 40-yard dash time quite literally blew scouts away.
While making an appearance on SportsCenter, Worthy shared how NFL teams reacted to him running a 4.21-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine.
“I feel like a lot of teams were shocked,” Xavier Worthy said. “Some teams were trying to tell me that they had me running a 4.35 and … [they were] like, ‘What are you trying to run?’ and I was like, ‘4.2’ and they were all shocked. They were like, ‘You know that’s fast, right?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah.’”
Ultimately, Xavier Worthy had plenty of reason to be confident, even if NFL teams didn’t expect him to be quite as fast as he proved to be.
“But I kind of expected it after the first one when I ran the 4.25, during training I normally always ran my first runs slower. So when I ran the 4.25, I was kind of like, ‘I have a feeling I could break this record.’ Because during training I was always running 0.4 seconds faster on the second one.”
Running well in the 40-yard dash is never going to hurt a player’s draft stock and, in most cases, it’s going to help. That’s no different for Worthy, who in a recent mock draft was predicted to go as high as the end of the first round.
During his career at Texas, Xavier Worthy proved that he was one of the best wide receivers in college football. There, he was the Big 12 Freshman of the Year in 2021 as well as a Freshman All-American. He would also be named a two-time First-Team All-Big 12 selection. He finished his three seasons with 197 receptions for 2,755 yards and 26 touchdowns.
Mel Kiper breaks down Xavier Worthy draft stock after record 40-yard dash
Following his incredibly impressive 40-yard dash, ESPN’s NFL Draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. broke down Xavier Worthy and his draft stock.
“I’ll say this about Xavier Worthy, he had the hand injury, remember the broken hand two years ago and he had some drops. But he played through that, and he took some criticism, but he had the injury. Sark even said, ‘Hey, don’t forget he was hurt.’ And he played through it, he never complained. And he goes out there this year and he improves in that area. He’s a space guy, he can be the guy down the field making plays. You saw the speed, you saw the big play ability, you saw how dangerous he was after the catch, you saw how he can just leave guys in his wake,” Kiper said.
“Xavier Worthy was in the first-round mix before he ran 4.21. We thought he’d run in the 4.3s, he ran 4.21 which is amazing. He’s still running. This kid is still running. So, at the end of the day, Field, he’s not Darrius Heyward-Bey who’s gonna jump into the top-10, maybe he could. … I think he deserves to be in that discussion I’d say 15-25 range. I thought 25-32, maybe it’ll bump him into the mid to late first-round instead of a late one, early to mid-two.”
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