Isaiah Bond fast, but not Worthy fast, in 40 at NFL combine
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Jeff LegwoldMar 1, 2025, 05:38 PM ET
- Jeff Legwold covers the Denver Broncos at ESPN. He has covered the Broncos for more than 20 years and also assists with NFL draft coverage, joining ESPN in 2013. He has been a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Board of Selectors since 1999, too. Jeff previously covered the Pittsburgh Steelers, Buffalo Bills and Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans at previous stops prior to ESPN.
INDIANAPOLIS — It isn’t often a player drops a blistering 40-yard dash time at the NFL scouting combine and it still isn’t as fast as he expected.
But that was the case Saturday for Texas wide receiver Isaiah Bond.
Bond ran an officially timed 4.39 seconds in the 40 (his two runs were unofficially timed and initially shown to the crowd inside Lucas Oil Stadium as 4.40 and 4.41). A quality run, for sure, but just shy of what Bond predicted Friday, when he told reporters here that he would break Xavier Worthy’s combine record of 4.21, set last year.
Worthy, also a former Texas wide receiver, was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs with the 28th pick of last April’s draft.
“I’m going to break the record tomorrow, for sure,” Bond had said Friday. “I anticipate running 4.20 or possibly, if I’m feeling great, I might run a 4.1.”
Asked later Friday what separated him from some of the other receivers in this draft class, Bond added: “What separates me from the rest of the draft class is the sheer speed. There’s not a receiver that has the speed and capabilities that I have. It’s not just speed; I’m a complete wide receiver. I have amazing routes. If you watch the tape, you’ll see that.”
Bond, who had said his best 40 time in his training leading up to the combine was a 4.23, is the No. 10 wide receiver in Mel Kiper Jr.’s latest big board for ESPN.
Bond’s time was still among the fastest thus far of any position at the combine and the fourth fastest in the group Saturday.
His teammate at Texas, Matthew Golden, ran an official 4.29 seconds in the 40, the fastest time among the first group of wide receivers who were tested Saturday. Florida‘s Chimere Dike was the second-fastest among the first group with a 4.34.
Against UTSA this past season, Bond was clocked at faster than 22 mph. He finished the 2024 season with 34 catches for 540 yards and five touchdowns.
