Calvin Johnson was selected second overall in the 2007 NFL draft by the Detroit Lions. Johnson went on to have an incredible career as one of the most dominant wide receivers in history.
One of Johnson’s greatest strengths was his rare combination of size and strength. For this reason, many football fans are curious about Calvin Johnson’s 40 time.
Calvin Johnson ran an official 40-time of 4.35 seconds at the 2007 NFL combine. At six feet five inches tall and weighing two hundred and thirty-seven pounds this was an incredible 40 time for someone of his size.
It is also important to remember this was an official 40 time. Oftentimes players reported 40 times came from unofficial timing methods such as using a handheld stopwatch.
Official 40 times like this run at the NFL combine use laser timing to produce a more accurate result. This means that Calvin Johnson’s 4.35 40 time is legit.
Pre Draft Strengths And Weaknesses
Like all prospects, there were a number of strengths and weaknesses addressed to Calvin Johnson prior to the draft. Now that Johnson has played out his NFL career it can be interesting to look back on these pre-draft opinions.
Rare Combination Of Size And Athleticism
One of the most obvious positives about Calvin Johnson as a prospect was his combination of size and athleticism. There had been players as large as Johnson and there had been players as fast but never did a player possess both these traits.
And on top of it all Johnson was an athlete. He was entirely coordinated and did every part of the wide receiver position effectively.
In the NFL these traits were proven true as single defenders simply could not match his size and speed. For this reason, Johnson was often double-teamed though this did not usually stop him from continuing to receive the ball.
Natural Ball Catcher
Another impressive aspect of Calvin Jonhson’s game coming out of college was his ability to catch the ball. Not only did he have the size to make catches Johnson had an incredible ability to secure tough passes.
Whether it was high pointing a ball in a crowd or using his massive catch radius Johnson could always be trusted to come down with the ball.
This continued throughout Calvin Johnson’s entire career as he was always one of the best receivers in the NFL.
Can Take Short Passes All The Way
On top of being a great catcher of the ball Johnson also possessed the ability to take short catches the distance. Throughout his career, Johnson earned a large number of yards after the catch.
His large size made him difficult to bring down and his 4.35 40 time speed meant if you missed he had a chance to score.
This made Johnson even more of a threat as simply getting the ball in his hands near the line of scrimmage could result in a touchdown.
Too Big As A Negative
One of the few knocks against Calvin Johnson as a prospect was that he was too big. Johnson was such a large physical specimen some scouts believed that he could not succeed in the NFL because a player of his size had not done that before.
This take was of course way off base as Calvin Johnson’s size was one of the most important aspects of him becoming one of the most dominant wide receivers of all time.
That’s all on Calvin Johnson’s 40 time check out our guide to Ja’Marr Chase’s 40 or Tyreek Hill’s 40 for comparison.
