The Worst NFL Combine Performances Ever

Welcome to the Hall of Shame

Every February, the best college football players in America descend on Indianapolis to put their bodies through six grueling drills at the NFL Scouting Combine. For most, it's a chance to impress scouts and boost their draft stock. For others, it's a public humiliation that plays out on live television.

The NFL Combine has been around since 1982, with detailed data tracked since the early 2000s. In that time, we've seen some absolutely jaw-dropping athletic performances - and some that made scouts wince and reach for the nearest exit.

We went through every Combine result we could find - dating back to 2000 on Pro Football Reference - and pulled together the absolute worst performances in each major drill category. We looked at who posted the numbers, whether they got drafted, and what ultimately happened to them.

The results might surprise you.

The 40-Yard Dash: Turtles in Cleats

The 40-yard dash is the crown jewel of the Combine. It's the drill that gets the most airtime, the most attention, and the most scrutiny. When you post the fastest time, you become an instant legend. When you post the slowest? Let's just say the internet is not kind.

Two players have actually cracked the six-second barrier, which is genuinely remarkable when you consider these are supposed to be the best athletes in college football.

Regis Crawford holds the dubious all-time record at 6.05 seconds. That's roughly 13.5 mph over 40 yards - respectable for a weekend warrior, but absurdly slow for someone trying to make an NFL roster. Crawford went undrafted and never played a snap of professional football.

The greatest redemption story on this list belongs to Orlando Brown Jr., who ran a 5.85 - the slowest of any player at the 2018 Combine. He fell from a projected top-10 pick all the way to the third round. As of 2025, he's made four consecutive Pro Bowls and won a Super Bowl ring with the Chiefs. Not bad for the slowest guy in Indianapolis.

And then there's Tom Brady. His 5.28 was the slowest by a quarterback at the Combine for over a decade. He went on to become, well, Tom Brady. The lesson? Speed isn't everything.

Bench Press: One and Done

The bench press test asks prospects to rep 225 pounds as many times as possible. Offensive and defensive linemen routinely crank out 25-30 reps. The all-time record belongs to Stephen Paea, who managed a staggering 49 reps in 2011.

And then there's Fred Smoot.

The Mississippi State cornerback showed up to the 2001 Combine and managed exactly one rep of 225 pounds. One. A single lonely rep. That's the worst bench press performance in the history of the event - and it wasn't even close.

Christian McCaffrey's 10 reps were notable because he was a running back projected to go in the first round. He was still taken eighth overall by the Panthers and became one of the most dynamic offensive weapons in the NFL. His 10 reps were the second fewest by any running back that year.

Vertical Jump: Can't Get Off the Ground

The vertical jump measures lower-body explosiveness. The all-time Combine record is a ridiculous 46 inches, set by safety Gerald Sensabaugh in 2005. At the other end of the spectrum, some guys could barely clear a speed bump.

Josue Matias managed a vertical jump of just 17.5 inches - the worst ever recorded at the Combine. To put that in perspective, the average vertical jump for a non-athlete male is about 16-20 inches. Matias was jumping like a regular guy, not a Division I football player. He went undrafted and bounced to the CFL after just one season with the Titans.

Orlando Brown Jr.'s 19.5-inch vertical was the worst of any player at the 2018 Combine, regardless of position. At 6'8" and 345 pounds, he wasn't exactly built for leaping. Didn't seem to matter much for blocking people.

Broad Jump: Going Nowhere Fast

The broad jump tests horizontal explosiveness from a standing start. The all-time record is a jaw-dropping 12 feet, 3 inches by Byron Jones in 2015 - a leap so massive it broke the world record. On the flip side, some prospects could barely clear a puddle.

Stefon Wheeler jumped just 74 inches - barely over six feet - in 2006. That's less than half of Byron Jones's record, and honestly less than a lot of high school athletes can manage. Wheeler went undrafted and never played in the NFL, though he later coached offensive line at Yale. At least somebody benefited from his Combine experience.

Orlando Brown Jr.: The Worst Combine Ever?

No article about bad Combine performances would be complete without dedicating an entire section to Orlando Brown Jr. The Oklahoma tackle didn't just bomb one drill - he bombed virtually all of them, delivering what many consider the single worst overall Combine performance in the history of the event.

Brown entered the 2018 Combine as a consensus All-American and the 2017 Big 12 Offensive Lineman of the Year. He was widely projected as a top-10 pick. Then Indianapolis happened.

He finished dead last among offensive linemen in the bench press. He finished dead last among all 300+ participants in the 40, the vertical, and the broad jump. NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock called his 40 time "historically bad." Bleacher Report labeled it potentially the worst Combine performance of all time.

Brown's draft stock cratered. He fell from a projected top-10 pick to the third round, where the Baltimore Ravens - his late father's former team - scooped him up at pick 83. He later estimated the fall cost him roughly $20 million in guaranteed money.

The rest of the story? Pure redemption. Brown started 10 games as a rookie, made the Pro Bowl in his second year, earned four straight Pro Bowl selections, won Super Bowl LVII with the Chiefs, and later signed a four-year, $64 million deal with the Bengals. He's one of the best offensive tackles in football.

The Complete Hall of Shame

Beyond the record-holders, there are plenty of other Combine disasters worth remembering. From players who literally walked out mid-drill to guys who went missing from the building entirely, the Combine has seen it all.

Did the Combine Actually Matter?

Here's the thing about the worst Combine performances - a surprising number of these guys still got drafted and went on to have productive careers. Of the truly terrible performances we profiled in this article, the results break down like this:

The data tells a fascinating story. Players who post historically bad Combine numbers generally fall into two camps: guys who were genuinely bad athletes and flamed out quickly, and guys who were great football players whose skills just didn't translate to a controlled testing environment. The second group often went on to have long, successful careers.

The Combine is valuable, but it's a flawed measuring stick. Speed, strength, and explosiveness matter in football - but so do technique, football IQ, toughness, and instinct. And those things don't show up on a stopwatch.

Best vs. Worst: The Gap Is Insane

To really appreciate how bad these performances were, let's put them side by side with the all-time Combine records. The gap between the best and worst is staggering.

The Bottom Line

The NFL Combine is an incredible showcase of human athleticism. But for every Xavier Worthy blazing a 4.21, there's a Regis Crawford lumbering through a 6.05. For every Stephen Paea cranking out 49 reps, there's a Fred Smoot managing one.

The lesson from the worst Combine performances ever is pretty simple: the Combine measures athleticism, not football ability. Orlando Brown Jr. is a four-time Pro Bowler. Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback of all time. Fred Smoot played nine NFL seasons. The tape matters more than the stopwatch.

Of course, if you can barely jump higher than a phone book, teams are going to have some questions. And honestly, they probably should.

But in a sport where technique, intelligence, and competitive fire can overcome almost any physical limitation, the worst Combine performers remind us that the numbers don't tell the whole story. They never have, and they never will.