Former Vol tailback Jaylen Wright runs an unofficial sub-4.4 at the NFL Combine
When 3-star running back Jaylen Wright signed with the Vols out of Durham, North Carolina, he was thought by many to be a speciality speed back.
Wright has spent his career at Tennessee proving to everyone that he’s an all-purpose back. Saturday at the NFL combine, Wright reminded everyone that despite being 25+ pounds heavier now than he was as a nationally ranked 60-meter sprinter in high school.
Saturday in Indianapolis, Wright put his speed on display running unofficially a 4.44 and a 4.38 forty.
Wright, who didn’t go through the senior bowl due to injury, ran for 1,013 yards in Josh Heupel’s offense in 2023. Wright is the 19th running back in Tennessee football program history to go over 1,000 yards in a season. He ran 137 times for 1,013 yards averaging 7.4 yards per carry, reaching the 1,000-yard mark in 22 fewer carries than any other Tennessee running back before him.
As draft experts have evaluated Wright this winter, his stock has been on the rise.
“(He) is just real springy and juicy,” NFL draft analysis Daniel Jeremiah said on a conference call, “stop-start quickness, home run hitter, finishes runs. He can get skinny though the hole. Really, really quick feet. He is 210 pounds, so he has a little bit of size to him. Enough size to him. He is probably the fastest, the most explosive of all these guys.”
Unreal numbers from @__jw12 today. 😤
— Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) March 2, 2024
• Best broad jump for RB
(2nd-best broad jump by any RB in Combine history)
• 2nd fastest 40 for RB
• 4th highest vert for RB
📺: #NFLCombine on @nflnetwork pic.twitter.com/KvhN2XT2Kq
Jeremiah said on the conference call last week that the run on running backs in the draft could depend simply on when the first team picks a running back on Day 2, with the range dropping to the bottom of the second round or early in the third.
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“I think day two is going to be the running back day,” Jeremiah said. “I’m curious to see — I have a little bit of a theory here. I have about six to eight running backs that are very closely graded. I don’t have any of them up to where we had Bijan (Robinson) or (Jahmyr) Gibbs last year with those type of grades. Six to eight really solid players.
“I wonder if we’re going to see a game of chicken in the second round where teams are saying, well, we have the grade to take this guy here, but we don’t want to be the first one in line. We just need to make sure we’re not the last one in line.
“Does that push running backs down?” Jeremiah continued. “Maybe we could get to the bottom of the second, maybe even the top of the third round, and then once the first one goes, I think you’ll see all these guys come off the board.”
Wright was a three-star running back prospect in the On3 Industry Ranking out of Southern High School in Durham, N.C. in the class of 2021. He was ranked No. 515 overall in the class, No. 35 among running backs and No. 26 in the state of North Carolina.
