Studs and duds: All-scouting combine workout team from past decade

Several aspiring NFL players will go to Indianapolis for the scouting combine this week and make themselves money with how they perform.

They’ll test well medically. They’ll interview well. Or they’ll jump, run and lift weights at incredibly high levels. They might even look good in position drills or make a friend or two in the media. Yes, folks, the Underwear Olympics once again is upon us!

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Of course, not all players who test well in Indy will be great NFL players. And for that we look back the past 10 years at some of the best workouts at each position — and which of those players actually ended up having success in the league:

Quarterback
Robert Griffin III, 2012

Andrew Luck was the consensus No. 1 pick that year, Griffin was the fast riser who came into an Indy that week with a head of steam. The St. Louis Rams, owners of the second overall pick that season, were armed with Sam Bradford and had no interest in drafting a quarterback. But they were absolutely giddy watching Griffin blaze a 4.41-second 40-yard dash (best ever at the position) and then back it up with a 39-inch vertical jump that ranks as the third-best mark by a QB in the past decade. When word got out that Griffin aced his team interviews, followed by him charming the pants off the media, it was all over. The Washington Redskins just had to mortgage the farm to get the guy.

Verdict: Well, about that. Yes, you rightly could argue that at least Griffin delivered the Redskins a playoff berth in his time there whereas the Rams last sniffed the playoffs more than 11 years ago and the picks they acquired in the trade weren’t all used properly. But Griffin is set to move on to another team this offseason, with his career fully at the crossroads. Hey, he might even end up with the … Los Angeles Rams. A lot has indeed changed in four years.

Running back
Chris Johnson, 2008

This was almost a where-were-you moment in combine history. Word made its way through the Indianapolis Convention Center that Johnson had bested Deion Sanders’ 40-yard dash time of 4.27 (though not Bo Jackson’s hand-timed, unofficial record), and few could believe it at first. NFL Network was broadcasting the event, but given that this was the final year it was held at the old RCA Dome and that the convention media center had no TVs and Twitter was barely a thing, we relied on — perish the thought! — word of mouth at first to hear about Johnson’s 4.24 time. The East Carolina back was hardly unknown in NFL circles, and some media knew the basics on Johnson. Once he blazed his 40 (no one has broken it since) and backed it up with a 130-inch broad jump (only four running backs have notched higher since), many chose to overlook Johnson’s 197-pound frame, his Wonderlic score of 10 and his average vertical jump. This was still a rare athlete.

Verdict: The eventual first-round pick logged six straight 1,000-yard seasons, including his incredible 2009 campaign (2,006 rush yards, 14 TDs). What can you say? Johnson has more career rush yards than any other back in that class, a fine group that included Darren McFadden, Jonathan Stewart, Matt Forte, Ray Rice and Jamaal Charles. This pick was a home run, even if Johnson’s career has gotten a bit off track the past few years.

Wide receiver
Chris Conley, 2015

Best all-around WR workout in the past decade? We think so. Even with average-to-solid numbers in the three-cone drill and the 20- and 60-yard shuttles, the fact that Conley shattered the all-time WR records for broad and vertical jumps, burned a great 40 (4.35 seconds, third among 2015 receivers) and bench pressed 18 reps (fourth-best at wideout) gives him a great case over other combine stars such as Darrius Heyward-Bey, Julio Jones, Calvin Johnson (for his borrowed-shoes 4.35 40 alone) Marquise Goodwin, Brandin Cooks, Matt Jones, Chad Jackson, Johnny Knox, Torrey Smith and others. Throw in Conley’s team interviews, which blew people away with how smart and charismatic he was, and he’s your winner.

Verdict: Too soon to know if Conley will be a great player. He got back into the mix in the playoffs for the Kansas City Chiefs, previously disappearing down the stretch after a solid early-season performance. He’s a player to keep an eye on who might be solid, if never great.

Tight end
Vernon Davis, 2006

One veteran scout remembered Davis at the combine this way: “We’re sitting there watching him walk in the room, and you actually heard a few people laugh. He was so ripped. Total freak. He’s a tight end? They call these guys in by number, but it’s alphabetical by last name. Poor sap who walked in after him, forget who it was … basically he’s the same height and weight [as Davis], but it looked like they pulled a guy out of the men’s room [comparatively].” Davis ran a 4.38 40-yard dash (at 254 pounds), pumped out 33 reps on the bench (with 32-inch arms) and jumped 42 inches (vertical) and 128 inches (broad). It truly was a mic-drop performance.

Verdict: What a strange career the former No. 10 overall pick has had. He’s never had a 1,000-yard receiving season in the NFL, although he’s come close a few times and has had two 13-TD seasons. But his career really has fallen off the cliff the past few years, and Davis barely made a ripple by season’s end after a trade to the Denver Broncos. He had one catch for 5 yards in his final six games, including three in the playoffs. Davis won a ring this month, even starting in the Super Bowl, but he played a mere eight snaps and didn’t have a pass thrown his way.

Offensive line
Lane Johnson, 2013

It wasn’t stunning that Johnson, a former high-school QB who played tight end at Oklahoma, would turn in a great performance. But for a 6-foot-6, 303-pound tackle to move around like a rugby player was a sight to behold. In one of the stranger drafts ever, Johnson would end up going fourth overall, and there’s little question his workout in Indy helped push him up that far. He ran a 4.73 40 — the second-best among OL the past 10 years, and only seven tight ends ran better in 2013. Johnson benched 28 bench reps with 35-inch arms. He notched top-10 marks the past 10 years in the vertical jump, broad jump and three-cone drill.

Verdict: The Philadelphia Eagles chose wisely. It was wrongly assumed that this was a Chip Kelly-fueled pick, but it has come out since that GM Howie Roseman was the one behind the selection, which ended up being one of the better ones in a relatively ugly first round. Most of the top dozen picks have been busts, but Johnson has played well.

Defensive line
Dontari Poe, 2012

Poe arrived in Indy a mystery — a massive man with some effort questions from his college tape. But he left with evaluators going back to the board with some staggering athletic metrics to consider. There have been faster 40-yard dashes than Poe’s 4.89 seconds, but none by a man weighing in at a staggering 346 pounds. Tackles within five pounds in either direction were clocking in times in the mid 5s; Paul Soliai’s 5.10 seconds at 344 pounds in 2007 previously was considered to be blazing by DT standards. Poe also racked out 44 reps (third best in the past 10 years at any position), good numbers in the jumping and 3-cone drills and a fantastic 20-yard shuttle time of 4.56 seconds that was a hair slower than Whitney Mercilus, who was 83 pounds lighter than Poe. With apologies to J.J. Watt, Justin Houston and others, Poe’s combine was just a hair better all things considered.

Verdict: The Chiefs took him 11th overall, and after a disappointing rookie season he has been mostly very good and occasionally excellent. Poe anchors the middle of a strong Chiefs defense, plays a high volume of snaps and hasn’t had issues with taking plays off. Well worth the pick in retrospect.

Linebacker
Von Miller, 2011

There were really no holes in his workout. The only truly explosive numbers Miller turned in were in the 20-yard shuttle (4.06 seconds, ninth among linebackers the past 10 years), the 60 (11.15, second best in that time) and in the three-cone drill (6.70, tied for sixth) — all at 246 pounds, nine heavier than he had weighed in a month earlier at the Senior Bowl. His 4.51-second 20 and broad and vertical jumps were all among the leaders for his position that year, and even his 21 reps on the bench, while not eye-popping, were perfectly good for a man with 33-inch arms. Once it was time for the position drills, Miller looked and moved like a linebacker not just a straight-ahead pass rusher. This cemented his position as a top-five pick.

Verdict: He’s … decent.

Defensive back
Patrick Peterson, 2011

Byron Jones’ incredible numbers in the broad and vertical jumps (the latter believed to be a world — not just a combine — record) last year gave us serious contemplative pause here. But Peterson weighed in at 219 pounds and ran a 4.34 official-time 40 — as NFL Network’s Mike Mayock said, “Are you kidding me?” Throw in a 38-inch vertical, a 126-inch broad, a 6.58 three-cone drill (ninth best the past decade among DBs), an 11.01 60-yard shuttle (eighth-best in that time) and a solid 15 bench reps (with 32-inch arms), and presto … top-five pick.

Verdict: Yeah, he’s decent, too. Although Peterson’s diabetes (which likely was undetectable in the combine medical evaluations) held him back a little in his career, he’s coming off his best season to date and is one of the better players — not just athletes — at his position.

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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm