INDIANAPOLIS — The NFL Combine has turned into its own television event, full of hype and sensationalism that might lead some to believe entire draft profiles were flipped.
Of course, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
NFL franchises have invested millions of dollars into researching the players over the course of at least their past two seasons.
RELATED: Georgia NFL Combine stock report
A day in shorts and T-shirts isn’t going to make as much difference as some might imagine.
That’s not to say there weren’t some eye-opening performances and impressive numbers put up, because Georgia had more than a few.
But the football film doesn’t lie, and the interviews and medical evaluations behind the scenes carry just as much weight — and in some cases, much more — than those few tenths of a second that separate running backs or safeties.
All that said, there remains a fascination with who is the biggest, strongest, fastest and most explosive.
Rather than be held hostage as “prisoners of the moment” of the most recent Georgia football performances at an NFL Combine, better to put the 2023 numbers into full context.
Here’s a look at how some of the 2023 Georgia players at the NFL combine compared with some of the most elite Bulldogs at their positions over the past 20 years:
QB Stetson Bennett (5-11, 192)
4.67 40-yard dash
33.5-inch vertical jump
118-inch broad jump
2006 QB D.J. Shockley (6-1, 214)
4.56 40-yard dash
37.5-inch vertical jump
121-inch broad jump
2009 QB Matthew Stafford (6-2, 225)
4.81 40-yard dash
30.5-inch vertical jump
107-inch broad jump
TE Darnell Washington (6.6.5, 264)
4.64 40-yard dash
31-inch vertical jump
122-inch broad jump
2006 TE Leonard Pope (6-8, 258)
4.62 40-yard dash
37.5-inch vertical jump
118-inch broad jump
2004 TE Benjamin Watson (6-3, 258)
4.50 40-yard dash
35.5-inch vertical jump
123-inch broad jump
OLB Nolan Smith (6-2, 238)
4.39 40-yard dash
41.5-inch vertical jump
128-inch broad jump
2003 OLB Boss Bailey (6-3, 233)
4.58 40-yard dash
42-inch vertical jump
135-inch broad jump
2016 OLB Leonard Floyd (6-6, 244 )
4.60 40-yard dash
39.5-inch vertical
127-inch broad jump
Broderick Jones (6-5, 311)
4.97 40-yard dash
30-inch vertical jump
108-inch broad jump
2020 Andrew Thomas (6-5, 315)
5.22 40-yard dash
30.5-inch vertical jump
109-inch broad jump
2003 Jon Stinchcomb (6-5, 302)
4.99 40-yard dash
35-inch vertical jump
115-inch broad jump
Kelee Ringo (6-2, 207)
4.36-second 40-yard dash
33.5-inch vertical jump
122-inch broad jump
2021 Tyson Campbell (6-1, 193)
4.37-second 40-yard dash
34.5-inch vertical jump
124-inch broad jump
2021 Eric Stokes (6-0, 194)
4.25-second 40-yard dash
38.5-inch vertical jump
128-inch broad jump
