Taylor Mays runs in and out of combine record book

Chris Johnson can sleep well knowing his 4.24 record in the combine’s 40-yard dash remains intact. But for a moment, there was a bit of restlessness, and the Titan’s running back spent 20 minutes tweeting in protest to an NFL Network analyst over a Tuesday track time that equaled his own.

With only defensive linemen, linebackers, and defensive backs remaining, exceeding a time of 4.24 on the track was no longer a discussion, though it should have been. Taylor Mays was either overlooked or his time of 4.25 on the USC track was written off as being just as mythical as his being referenced as a top-10 draft selection.

Mays was the first defensive back to run, known at the combine as “DB 30”. The Safety came out of his stance and carried his 6’3, 231 pound frame 40-yards in an unofficial time of 4.24. It tied Chris Johnson’s record, much to the displeasure of the NFL’s fastest man.

Here are some of his tweets to NFL Network’s Rich Eisen, while he waited for Mays’ official time to be posted:

ChrisJohnson28 @richeisen yall don’t understand it aint gon happen it was unofficial who yall got timing out their

ChrisJohnson28 @richeisen if he tie my forty or beat it ill pay for his plane ticket home but I’m telling u it aint gon happen

Mays is clocked at 4.34 in his second run, and Johnson keeps tweeting:

ChrisJohnson28 @richeisen u always go missing when u find out the real time talor mays offical time is a 4.34 but gd time 4 his size

Mays’ first run is controversially logged as an official 4.43:

ChrisJohnson28 @richeisen I get it now the combine is kinda boring so to make it interesting yall just give a person a low time lol child please

Mays will leave Indianapolis without a share of the combine record, and the disparaging numbers sparked new debate over 40-yard timing. The NFL Network’s simulation shot (above) shows Mays second to Jacoby Ford’s 4.28 and faster than Jahvid Best’s 4.35, yet his official time is 4.43. Pete Carroll clocked Mays at 4.19. Former Ravens scout Daniel Jeremiah says other scouts in Indianapolis logged the Safety at 4.3, including himself.

One excuse I’ve heard for the gap in totals is that the time began when Mays lifted his arm, and not when he actually began to run. That makes little sense. The 40-yard finish is electronic, but the start is human. How can you not start the time when the runner starts to run? The whole purpose of straight-line running is to measure how long it takes to get from point “A” to point “B”. The motion that triggers the start should be the first step of progression and not the raising of the hand without forward movement. Here, see it for yourself and tell me what you think?