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One stat shows just how incredible Saquon Barkley’s NFL Scouting Combine performance was

Connor O'Gara

By Connor O'Gara

Published:

Saquon Barkley is ridiculous.

We didn’t need him running around in tights in the beginning of March to know that. Apparently some did, but that’s neither here nor there.

Obviously the former Penn State star was going to dominate in Indianapolis. The only question was just how dominant the No. 1 running back would look.

Um, extremely dominant?

Barkley put up 29 bench press reps on Thursday, and he followed that up with some explosive marks on Friday. Barkley ran a 4.40-second 40-yard dash, he recorded a 1.54-second 10-yard split and his vertical jump was a ridiculous 41 inches.

So just how insane were those marks? NFL Research put that in perspective:

My goodness.

It’s been that kind of weekend for Barkley, who didn’t really have much higher to go than his likely top-5 selection. At the very least, he’s proving that he’s absolutely worth the hype.

Perhaps the best question is where Barkley’s combine ranks in the history of the event. It’s hard to compare the 233-pound tailback to everyone else, but perhaps only the 266-pound Jadeveon Clowney (4.53-second 40, 1.56-second 10-yard split) would compare from a “freaks” standpoint.

And actually, Barkley put up 8 more bench press reps than Clowney and he beat his vertical jump by 3.5 inches.

The Joe Thomas/DeSean Jackson/Devin Hester/Julio Jones numbers probably tell enough of the story.

But here’s one more comparison to put Barkley’s speed in perspective:

Connor O'Gara

Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Tradition. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.