Today, I was really curious about something kind of funny: who’s the slowest guy in the NFL? I mean, we always talk about the fastest and strongest players, but what about the other end of the spectrum? So, I started digging around to find out.
First, I searched for the “slowest 40-yard dash times in NFL combine history”. You know, that sprint test they make all the rookies do. I scrolled through pages of data, sorting by time. This took a while, there are a lot of players to go through! I found that a wide receiver named De’Runnya Wilson had a 4.93-second time in 2016. Man, that’s slow for a receiver. They’re supposed to be fast, right?
Then, I started looking at specific players. I typed in “slowest NFL players” and went through a bunch of articles and forum posts. People were throwing around names like Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers. Which was a little surprising, Rodgers is a two-time MVP!
- I checked out Tom Brady first. Found a study by FiveThirtyEight that called him the slowest quarterback. Interesting, but is he the slowest overall? I wasn’t convinced.
- Next, I saw a name I didn’t recognize: Eugene Monroe, an offensive tackle for the Baltimore Ravens. Apparently, he’s known for being pretty slow.
- There was also this guy, Nick Foles. Some stat sites list him as the slowest, but other places disagree. It was hard to nail down a definitive answer!
I stumbled upon an old video. And it mentioned a player named Terrence Oglesby, an offensive tackle who ran a 5.8-second 40-yard dash at the 2012 combine. Turns out, he had six knee surgeries in college. Ouch! That probably explains the slow time. I felt a little bad for the guy. But hey, 5.8 seconds is definitely crawling.
After a couple of hours of searching and reading, it became clear that there’s no single, universally accepted answer to this question. There are too many different metrics, positions and times. Also, players don’t get tested every year, so the information is all over the place.
But from what I could gather, it’s likely someone like Terrence Oglesby with his 5.8 time. Or maybe Eugene Monroe. It’s probably one of those big offensive linemen, they’re not exactly built for speed. It’s not easy to move that fast when you’re that big!
Honestly, this whole search ended up being more complicated than I expected. But it was a fun little trip down internet rabbit holes. It just goes to show that even seemingly simple questions can have complex answers. You just gotta keep digging.
