Fastest Times for the 40-Yard Dash and the 3-Cone Drill

Last Updated on January 7, 2009 by Jimson Lee

This article was guest blogged by Martin Chase, a retired NFL player who has played with the Giants, the Saints, the Redskins, the Ravens, and the Jaguars.

How To Become An NFL Player

In this article I am going to discuss the specific football drill skills you need to develop to make you look attractive to college football scouts. For maximum results, I recommend that you work on these drills with a strength coach or a professional trainer.

Here are the drills you need to master:

* Vertical Jump – designed to test leg strength and lower-body explosiveness.

* Broad Jump – designed to show sluggishness, heavy-leggedness and lack of explosiveness.

* 225-lb. Bench Press – designed to test the upper-body strength of a player.

* 40-Yard Dash – times show how explosive a player is off the line and how he maintains it.

* 20-Yard Dash – times show how explosive a player is off the line and how he maintains it.

* 10-Yard Dash – times show how explosive a player is off the line.

* 20-Yard Shuttle – designed to test explosiveness, how a player bends and changes direction, and body control.

* 60-Yard Shuttle – designed to test explosiveness, flexibility, and body control; and a subtle test of endurance.

* 3-Cone Drill – designed to test a player’s efficiency in changing direction moving left and right, explosiveness, balance, body control and mobility.

The most important skills to master are the 40-yard dash and the 3-Cone drill. The reason these two drills are so important is they help football coaches determine what positions you are best suited to play.

You should know that the speed players are completing these drills has been improving every year. This is because more and more high school and college players are working with professional sports trainers to help them maximize their performance.

Below I have listed the minimum times you need to have by position if you want to impress college football scouts. One thing to keep in mind for these tests is the size of the player. Smaller players should have an advantage over their bigger counterparts in regard to speed. If you are a big player, it says a lot about your athletic ability if you perform well in these drills.

40-Yard Dash:

QB: 4.7 seconds or faster
RB: 4.5 seconds or faster
WR: 4.4 seconds or faster
FB/TE: 4.7 seconds or faster
OL: 5.2 seconds or faster
DT: 5.1 seconds or faster
4-3 DE and 3-4 OLB: 4.8 seconds or faster
4-3 OLB: 4.7 seconds or faster
ILB: 4.7 seconds or faster
S: 4.5 seconds or faster
CB: 4.5 seconds or faster

3-Cone Drill:

QB: 7.1 seconds or faster
RB: 7.1 seconds or faster
WR: 7.0 seconds or faster
FB/TE: 7.2 seconds or faster
OL: 7.8 seconds or faster
DT: 7.7 seconds or faster
4-3 DE and 3-4 OLB: 7.2 seconds or faster
4-3 OLB: 7.1 seconds or faster
ILB: 7.2 seconds or faster
S: 7.1 seconds or faster
CB: 7.0 seconds or faster

In summary, to become a professional football player, you must master the skills colleges and NFL teams use to measure the quality of an athlete. If you want to make it to the NFL, you should work with a professional sports trainer to help you maximize your performance so you can achieve and exceed the drill speed times discussed above. Other athletes are doing this and for you to compete with them, you need to do it too.

Martin Chase is a retired NFL player who has played with the Giants, the Saints, the Redskins, the Ravens, and the Jaguars. Martin now owns and manages a popular sports memorabilia website – www.mcsportsfan.com.