Deion Sanders‘ NFL Combine performance is legendary. The Florida State standout ran the 40-yard dash twice and then ran out of the stadium and left. That’s a real thing that happened, and to this day it’s the best NFL Combine story of all-time.
“Deion gets up to the line and runs his first 40 and everyone has him at 4.3. We figured he was done. He gets up and runs another one, and he runs even faster,” Panthers GM Dave Gettleman, who was a scout for the Bills at the time, told Sports Illustrated. “Some people had him at 4.25 [officially a 4.27]. And the funniest damn thing about it was he finishes the 40, continues to run, waves to everybody, goes right through the tunnel and we don’t see him again. We all got up and gave him a standing ovation because so many of those guys wouldn’t run.”
That’s the story everyone knows, but on Monday, Sanders told a new story during the final day of the NFL Network’s 2017 Combine coverage from his Combine experience that may somehow be better than his walk-off 40.
“I was in the Giants’ room,” Sanders said. “They sat me down and gave me a thick book, thicker than a phone book. “I said, ‘What’s this?’ They said, ‘This is our test that we give all the players.’ I said, ‘Excuse me, what pick do you have in the draft?’ They said, ‘10th pick.’ I said, ‘I’ll be gone before then, and I ain’t got time for this.’ And I left.”
Sanders was right, he didn’t make it to 10 as he was the fifth selection on his way to a Hall of Fame career. Sanders’ story probably shouldn’t be the model for most players, but if you know where you’re going to go, it’ll make for a great story (so long as you pan out in the league).
