Plenty of people still weren’t aware of Velus Jones on a national level earlier this year. That sure changed when the Tennessee wide receiver raised eyebrows with his blistering 4.31 time in the 40-yard dash at the scouting combine. It was the event’s second-fastest time and really put his name on the map. One would think the player would be delighted to pull off such a feat. Yet it soon became apparent that Jones wasn’t pleased with the results.
He went into the event confident he could pull off the elusive feat of running in the 4.2 range. It felt like he’d done it on his best attempt of the day, but the time came back with the 4.31. It wasn’t until later that Jones made a discovery that helped explain what happened. He posted it on Twitter. It turns out that during the first third of his run, he drifted to his right on the track before correcting down the stretch. He feels that added two yards to the sprint and messed with his time.
The difference between running a 4.31 and a high 4.20…run straight! 😂🤦🏾♂️ pic.twitter.com/I3eZJNophN
— Velus Jones Jr.⚡️ (@VelusJr) April 29, 2022
It’s amazing how such a minor misstep can mess with a time that much.
Velus Jones isn’t bitter about the experience. He still ran fast enough to verify that he was legit to NFL teams. It’s just that athletes tend to be perfectionists, and he felt he could’ve really stolen the show had his run gone according to plan. He talked about it on the Parkins and Spiegel show for 670 The Score. Speed has been part of his life since he was a kid, and he even got an awesome nickname in the process.
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Jones is confident he’ll be able to help the Bears offense immediately. Not only because of his speed, either. He feels he’s improved as a receiver with his route running and other techniques. That has been the major benefit of staying in school for so long. It is why many who watched him on film believe he’ll be a bigger factor than some want to believe. No doubt he’s anxious to put that actual sub-4.3 speed to good use.
