Sprint Experts: NFL 40-Yard Phenoms Can't Hack It In Track


Ato Boldon is quick to point out: Don't believe everything you see when it comes to 40-yard dash speed. 

The 4-time Olympic sprinter for Trinidad & Tobago and reputable NBC track and field analyst has worked as a consultant with NFL talent for nearly a decade and has come to realize that talk is cheap. 

The only proof is on the track, he says, and that's where football players need to start when it comes to training. As the NFL Draft approaches on Thursday in Philadelphia, hear what some of track's best voices have to say about it. 

In March, former California interscholastic sprinter and University of Washington football player John Ross broke the previous standard for the 40-yard dash by running 4.22 seconds, breaking the nearly decade old record by NFL star running back Chris Johnson by two-hundredths of a second. 

MileSplit also caught up with Plantation American Heritage (Fl.) High coach Gregory Barnes, a former professional sprinter for Puma and Mazda, to see what his thoughts were on the record and what it means on a broader scale. 

Here's what he had to say.