Former Oklahoma State cornerback Justin Gilbert ran a blazing 40-yard dash at the Combine this morning, and officially it’s listed as the fastest 40 of all the defensive backs at the Combine.
Phillip Gaines of Rice was hand-timed in his 40 at 4.34 seconds, just topping Gilbert’s 4.35 to become the fastest defensive back at the Combine according to the hand-timed results. But the Combine’s “official” times had Gilbert at 4.37 seconds and Gaines at 4.38 seconds.
In reality, there is no such thing as an “official” Combine time. The NFL releases “official” times, but NFL teams use their own times, which may deviate a few hundredths of a second in either direction. Suffice to say, four guys stuck out as extremely fast in today’s defensive back work: Gilbert, Gaines, Jason Verrett of TCU (4.38) and Bradley Roby of Ohio State (4.39).
Gaines was a two-time All-Conference USA player at Rice, but there are questions about him. He’s a skinny 193-pounder who looks like he needs to add strength, and he has had injury issues in college. He was also suspended for a game last year for violating a team rule.
So unlike Gilbert, who’s widely viewed as a first-round pick, Gaines doesn’t necessarily project as a great pro player. He has to hope some team falls in love with his speed.