Quote Originally Posted by JustinHarrell View Post
More than any other position, I do think 40 time matters for free safety. It's the one position that really covers long ground and I notice most top tier FS are fast in the nfl. It's more than just speed, but I wouldn't take a slow safety with a first round pick in this draft.
You would be correct--according to a multiplier done by DRAFTMETRICS. They correlated testing in the combine drills to success in the NFL (measured by 3+ years of starting in the NFL). Here is what the found on the importance of each drill per position. We'll just evaluate the 6 common drills--40 time, short shuttle, 3 cone, vertical, broad jump, and bench press. The vertical and broad jumps end up mattering more than people think--because it measures the player's explosiveness. They didn't show the results of QBs because measurables didn't have a big correlation to success in the NFL. The results are intersting at some positions, the drills have less importance (QB, OT, 3-4 DE, LB)--while the drills matter a lot more at other positions (TE, OG, 4-3 DE, CB). Some drills are very important at a position while others matter very little. Here were the results:

RB
Important: 40 time++, vertical, broad jump
Moderately important: none
Not very important: bench, shuttle, 3 cone--

WR
Important: shuttle, 40 time
Moderately important: vertical, broad jump
Not very important: 3 cone, bench--

TE
Important: bench++, broad jump++, shuttle
Moderately important: vertical
Not very important: 3 cone, 40 time

OC
Important: shuttle++, vertical
Moderately important: broad jump, 3 cone
Not very important: bench, 40 time

OG
Important: vertical++, 40 time, shuttle, broad jump, 3 cone
Moderately important: bench
Not very important: none

OT
Important: 40 time
Moderately important: vertical, shuttle, broad jump
Not very important: bench, 3 cone

4-3 DE
Important: shuttle++, broad jump++, vertical++
Moderately important: 3 cone, 40 time
Not very important: bench

3-4 DE
Important: none
Moderately important: bench, 40 time
Not very important: broad jump, vertical, shuttle, 3 cone

DT
Important: none
Moderately important: vertical, 40 time
Not very important: bench, shuttle, broad jump, 3 cone--

LB
Important: shuttle
Moderately important: 40 time
Not very important: 3 cone, broad jump, vertical, bench--

CB
Important: 40 time, bench, shuttle
Moderately important: vertical, 3 cone, broad jump
Not very important: none

S
Important: 40 time, 3 cone
Moderately important: shuttle
Not very important: broad jump, vertical, bench--

++ means the drill is very important at that position.
-- means the drill is not important at that position.

Overall, across all positions, the drills correlated to NFL success in this order: shuttle, 40 time, vertical, broad jump, bench, 3 cone