Montez Sweat sets new record at NFL combine

Mississippi State defensive end Montez Sweat might be crashing the top-five of this year’s NFL draft. At 6’6, 260 lbs, Sweat has the size of a defensive end or outside linebacker, roughly lining up about the same as Jadeveon Clowney, but he runs more like Julio Jones. On Sunday at the 2019 NFL Scouting Combine, Sweat ran a 4.42, which appears to have been updated to a 4.41.

That’s faster than Julio.

Of course, Julio is also 40 lbs lighter than Sweat. Vernon Davis once ran a 4.38 40-yard dash at the combine, and he was listed at 254 lbs. Sweat was also productive, recording 15.5 TFL and 10.5 sacks as a junior in 2017 and 14.5 TFL, 12.5 sacks as a senior. This came after two disappointing seasons at Michigan State that was also plagued by disciplinary problems. However, at this point Sweat just looks like a guy destined to maybe be the star of this combine and to jump ahead of a few other pass rushers in a class just ridiculously loaded at pass rusher, it would seem.

Sweat has typically gone outside the top 10 in most mock drafts and at USA Today, he’s even as low as 20, putting him within range of the Seattle Seahawks, but that seems highly improbable now. What it could do however is make the teams at the top think a bit longer on what defensive prospect they really view as the best overall fit for them (Nick Bosa’s stock isn’t going anywhere, Quinnen Williams himself just ran one of the fastest 40 times for a defensive tackle ever, Rashan Gary was fast too, Josh Allen hasn’t lost any hype) and perhaps set a chain reaction that does push another player a little bit down the board.

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