You may believe that it's not good to fall down at the end of your 40-yard dash, and I may believe that it's not good to fall down at the end of your 40-yard dash, but don't tell that to Syracuse strong safety Shamarko Thomas. On his first of two 40 attempts from Lucas Oil Stadium at the scouting combine, Thomas -- who measures in at a very interesting 5-foot-9 and 213 pounds -- managed to rip off an unofficial 4.38 40-yard dash despite the fact that he did quite the faceplant at the end of his run. His official time of 4.42 was the fastest of all safeties.
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The best part? On his second try, Thomas ran an unofficial 4.41 -- yes, three tenths of a second slower than the first unofficial time -- despite the fact that he managed to stay upright the whole time. Maybe he was running a bit too upright on that second one, afraid of falling down again. I have that problem all the time.
Thomas also maxed out among all the defensive backs with 28 reps at the 225-pound bench press. That's more than some elite linebackers (Kevin Minter) and pass rushers (Bjoern Werner, Ziggy Ansah) were able to do.
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From a football perspective, Thomas has received some comparisons to Bob Sanders, who was a star safety for the Indianapolis Colts for a number of years, and the 2007 AP Defensive Player of the Year. Sanders was able to do his thing despite a height disadvantage for his position -- he stood 5-foot-8 and generally weighed in at about 200 pounds. Sanders was also a star at Iowa and was selected by the Colts in the second round of the 2004 NFL Draft. Thomas is the seventh-ranked strong safety on NFL Draft Scout's board, and projected as a sixth- or seventh-rounder. So, maybe comparing other short safeties to Bob Sanders is like comparing other short quarterbacks to Drew Brees.
Notwithstanding his NFL future though, Shamarko Thomas certainly gave it a good go at the combine ... whether he was hitting the ground or not.
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