This year, the NFL Combine kicks off on Thursday, February 27th and continues through Sunday, March 2nd. While setting NFL Combine records certainly isn’t a perfect indicator of whether or not a player will translate in the NFL, it does allow players to show off the physical traits that make them special. While scouts take more into account than just times and reps, a good showing at the combine can elevate a player’s draft stock to a whole new level.
In recent years, the NFL Combine has seen some incredible performances from prospects. Just last year, receiver Xavier Worthy posted a blazing 4.21-second at the 40-yard dash to set a new record. Three of the five fastest 40-yard times have been posted within the last three years. With each class of prospects somehow being even more athletic than the last, plenty of NFL Combine records could be broken in the near future.
Like with any other records, some just seem completely out of reach, however. Here are the three most unbreakable NFL Combine records.
Most Unbreakable NFL Combine Records
Bench Press: Stephen Paea, DT, 49 reps (2011)
The bench press is a drill at the combine that scouts only care about for certain positions. While scouts and teams will certainly pay attention, they won’t care how much a defensive back can bench nearly as much as they do for offensive and defensive linemen. The bench press drill is extremely simple. It calls for players to bench 225 pounds as many times as they can.
The current record of 49 reps by Stephen Paea is absolutely absurd. Not only is benching 225 pounds once something that most people can’t do, but doing it 49 times is incredible. The most recent player to even come close to this record was defensive tackle Dontari Poe who knocked out 44 reps in 2012.
In the last few years, the highest anyone has gotten in the bench press was 40 by defensive tackle Jaylen Twyman back in 2021. Since 2015, only three players have reached the 40-rep mark, making the 49-rep record look impossible to beat.
Broad Jump: Byron Jones, CB, 12’3″ (2015)
For as unbreakable as the bench press NFL Combine record may appear, this one in the broad jump may be even crazier. To be completely honest, it’s fair to question if anyone in the entire world will be able to break it for a few years. While that may seem a little dramatic, it makes sense seeing that Byron Jones’ jump literally broke a world record.
The previous world record that Jones broke was set back in 1968 by Norwegian shot-putter Arne Tvervaag. While Jones’ record is not technically the official world record due to the Guinness Book of World Records’ standards and Tvervaag’s jump coming in with different controls, that doesn’t make Jones’ jump any more insane.
Since 2000, the next closest jumps were by receiver Emmanuel Hall and safety Juan Thornhill who both tested in 2019. Their jumps were a whole six inches shorter than Jones’ jump. It seems pretty safe to say that unless an Olympic-level broad jump athlete comes to the NFL Combine, there is next to no chance Jones’ record is topped.
20-Yard Shuttle: Kevin Kasper, 3.73 seconds (2001)
While Kevin Kasper’s record is not an official nor unofficial Guinness World Record, it may be just as unbreakable. The next-closest times are 3.75 and 3.76 seconds, respectively, indicating that it’s “breakable,” but it really isn’t. The other two fastest times came in 2004 and 2002.
Since 2020, the closest anybody has come to breaking this record was cornerback Zyon McCollum who posted 3.94 seconds in 2022. Obviously, in these types of drills, a difference of .21 seconds is a lifetime. The reason this record is so unbreakable is due to the fact that you can’t rely on just speed or agility. The only player who can break this record is one who has both speed and agility the likes of which we haven’t seen before. With only three players since the turn of the century posting a time under 3.8 seconds, this NFL Combine record is as good as unbreakable.
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