NFL Pick: Fastest 40-Yard Dash Time – Faster Than 4.29 seconds (-135) at Bovada (visit our Bovada Review)
Picks Summary:
- Fastest 40-Yard Dash Time: Faster than 4.29 seconds (-135)
- Fastest 60-Yard Shuttle: Slower than 10.81 seconds (-125)
- Longest Broad Jump: Higher than 11’5” (-135)
- Most Bench Press Reps: Less than 40 Reps (+105)
- Rich Eisen’s 40 Time: Faster than 2022 Time of 6.16 seconds (-155)
It would not be an NFL event if there was not something to bet on for it. Even the 2023 NFL combine attracts a betting market at many of the top-rated sportsbooks.
The NFL prop picks for the combine are mostly asking if someone will break a combine record doing one of the drills.
But the real value is in the props asking if someone will go over or under a certain number in many of the most popular drills.
We have crunched some numbers and came up with our best bets for the 2023 NFL combine.
Make sure to check out the best US betting sites available in order to make secure wagers in your own home state.
2023 NFL Scouting Combine
Tuesday, February 28, 2023 through Monday, March 6, 2023 – at Lucas Oil Stadium
Fastest 40-Yard Dash Time
- Over/Under 4.29 seconds
Since 2006, just 11 players have surpassed 4.29 seconds in their 40-yard dash time at the combine. That is fewer than one player a season.
But what is the motto in football? Bigger, faster, stronger. In 2022, three players cleared that time at the combine: Kalon Barnes (4.23), Tariq Woolen (4.26), and Tyquan Thornton (4.28).
Of the 11 players to do it since 2006, six of them are since 2017, and there was no combine in 2021 because of COVID. So, more than half of the players to do it have done it in the last five combines.
Tennessee wide receiver Jalin Hyatt just said the other day that his combine goal is 4.29 seconds. If he does not do it, then we have seen corners and running backs do it before.
We are going over and banking on a speed demon to show up in this combine.
NFL Pick: Fastest 40-Yard Dash Time – Faster Than 4.29 seconds (-135) at Bovada
Fastest 60-Yard Shuttle
- Over/under 10.81 seconds
This is the drill where a player has to run 5, 10, and 15 yards back and forth for a total of 60 yards. It will measure both speed and endurance.
Going back to 2006, little-known corner Derrick Martin from Wyoming is still the gold standard at 10.69 seconds. Faster than 10.81 seconds is tough because only seven players have done that in the last 16 combines.
Wide receiver Brandin Cooks ran 10.72 seconds back in 2014 as a speedy wideout. The most shocking name on the list is safety Daniel Sorensen (10.80 seconds), who is best known for being a total liability in the secondary in past seasons.
But only two of the seven players to do this have done it in the last seven combines, and no one has done it since Avonte Maddox (10.72 seconds) in 2018.
We will take the under (slower) at NFL odds in this challenging drill.
NFL Pick: Fastest 60-Yard Shuttle – Slower Than 10.81 Seconds (-125) at Bovada
Longest Broad Jump
- Over/Under 11’5”
A round of applause for corner Byron Jones, who dusted the competition back in 2015 when he did a broad jump measured at 12’3”. The next closest mark since 2006 is a trio of players who finished at 11’9”, so he beat them by a solid 4 inches.
But the highest broad jump finishing over 11’5” feels like a really good bet when it has been done 11 times since 2006, including three times in 2019 and three more times in 2020. That means more than half of the instances have been in the last three combines.
We will take the over (or higher) here.
NFL Pick: Longest Broad Jump – Higher Than 11’5” (-135) at Bovada
Most Bench Press Reps
- Over/Under 40
Do you even lift, bro? Not sure what happened at the 2022 NFL combine, but no one did better than 32 bench press reps. In 2020, just one player (Netane Muti, 44) topped 37 reps, and no one hit 40 in 2019 or 2017. No one even hit 35 reps in 2016.
Over 40 is harder than it sounds, even for the big boys in the trenches. While 11 players have done over 40 since 2006, led by Stephen Pea’s 49 in 2011, only three of those players have done it since 2015.
Hopefully Ohio State’s massive tackle Dawand Jones – 365 pounds with a 7’5” wingspan – does not blow up our NFL pick, but let’s go with the under 40 reps as the highest mark.
NFL Pick: Most Bench Press Reps – Less Than 40 Reps (+105) at Bovada
Run Rich Run: Rich Eisen’s 40-Yard Dash Time
- Over/Under 6.16 seconds
Finally, one of the annual delights of the NFL combine is NFL Network broadcaster Rich Eisen doing his best at running the 40-yard dash in a suit. When Eisen first did it in 2005, he clocked in at 6.77 seconds. He steadily improved his time and hit his best personal mark of 5.94 seconds in 2016.
For every year from 2012 through 2021, Eisen finished between 5.94 and 6.1 seconds. In eight of those 10 years, he finished between 5.97 and 6.03 seconds, a very tight range:
- 2012: 6.03 seconds
- 2013: 6.03 seconds
- 2014: 5.98 seconds
- 2015: 6.10 seconds
- 2016: 5.94 seconds
- 2017: 6.02 seconds
- 2018: 5.97 seconds
- 2019: 6.00 seconds
- 2020: 5.98 seconds
- 2021: 6.03 seconds
- 2022: 6.16 seconds
You could say he was consistently peaking at just about 6.0 seconds for a decade. But then last year, Eisen ran the 40-yard dash in 6.16 seconds, his lowest in over a decade. Maybe the pandemic dragged him down. Maybe he had a big breakfast.
We are counting on Eisen to bounce back and get to where he was for a decade and finish under the 6.16 seconds he had in 2022.
NFL Pick: Rich Eisen’s 40 Time – Faster Than 2022 Time of 6.16 Seconds (-155) at Bovada
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.
