Joel Klatt illustrates the risk, reward at the NFL Combine with Xavier Worthy, Marvin Harrison Jr.

Joel Klatt broke the NFL Combine down to money and whether it was worth it for Xavier Worthy to run the 40 as opposed to Marvin Harrison Jr.

Worthy and Harrison are from two blue blood programs in Texas and Ohio State. But Harrison already was the top prospect at receiver headed into the NFL Combine. That status makes him a potential top-four pick. Worthy’s status was fluid. There were the top three receivers and another handful of wideouts with a chance at the first round. Worthy needed to run his way through the NFL Combine and into the top 32.

Let Klatt explain.

“Guess what, in a deep group of wide receivers guess what, Xavier Worthy made himself money,” Klatt said “Maybe millions, by running a 4.21 … think about it that way. … Let’s back up for a moment for Xavier Worthy. Running a 4.21 was worth millions of dollars. High reward for the risk of maybe a 4.35 to a 4.45. Like, ‘oh, you know, that’s fine. It is what it is. It’s a deep group and they’re going to evaluate me where they evaluate me. ‘ So the reward was much higher than the risk of running for Xavier Worthy.”

Then Klatt explained the Harrison approach to the NFL Combine.

“If Marvin Harrison Jr. ran a 4.21, guess how much more money you would make in the NFL? Zero dollars. A 4.21 for Xavier Worthy probably going to be worth millions, multiple millions of dollars for Worthy. A 4.21 would be worth zero pennies for Marvin Harrison because he’s already slotted.”

Klatt continued. “You see, we kind of know what the first four picks are going to be, at least I feel very confident about it. So the reward for Marvin Harrison Jr., even to be the fastest man in the history of the combine is zero. Why would he run? But let’s say he runs the 4.4 to 4.5 and all of a sudden it’s like, ‘Oh, I see, he is supposed to be the No. 1 wide receiver. Oh my goodness.’

“So his risk-reward profile is substantially different than Xavier Worthy, So Xavier Worthy, show out man. That was an incredible 4.21 … He’s going to be higher on people’s boards because of it and that’s why the combine is important.”

There could be as many as six receivers selected in next months draft. Because of his NFL Combine performance, Worthy likely placed himself in the top six. And making the end of the first round is like a lottery in itself. A year ago, Kansas State defensive lineman Felix Anudike-Uzomah earned a contract worth $12.751 million.

So run for the millions.