It’s still up for debate who’s the best quarterback in the draft, Marcus Mariota or Jameis Winston. But Mariota locked down the title of the fastest quarterback in the draft today.
Mariota ran an excellent 40-yard dash, clocking in at 4.52 seconds. That was not only the fastest of any quarterback this year, but the fastest of any quarterback since Robert Griffin III ran a 4.41-second 40 in 2012.
Winston was significantly slower, finishing his 40 in 4.97 seconds. Winston has never been known as a runner, so he wasn’t expected to put up a fast time, but that’s even a little slower than expected. (Winston was barely faster than the fastest offensive lineman, Ali Marpet, a 307-pounder who ran a 4.98-second 40 yesterday.)
The 40 time is such a tiny part of a quarterback’s evaluation that it’s highly unlikely that these times will have any real impact on the Buccaneers’ decision with the first overall pick. But to the extent that Mariota and Winston are competing, Mariota won this round.