We get a lot of comments about Randy Moss, including very well meaning correction requests notifying us that the data is incorrect. There is a discrepancy here that it is worth explaining. The data was technically incorrect under the NFL Combine Results heading where it was previously placed on the site, because Randy Moss did not attend the NFL Combine. This data is also not from his infamous Marshall Pro Day.
The Randy Moss data on NFL Combine Results is from a Private Workout on 3/13/1998. It does not technically belong in the “Pro Day” or “NFL Combine” category, though technically it is closer to a Pro Day and the data has been moved to that section.
The Sports Illustrated March 23rd 1998 Issue briefly mentions this private workout. Scouts contributing our data recorded 4.33 and 4.44 as the forty times run at the event, which was averaged into a 4.38 time. We are not certain why the reported 4.31 and 4.35 mentioned in the SI article were entered into the data as a single averaged 4.33 forty time.
Marshall sophomore wide receiver Randy Moss, the enigma of the
Sports Illustrated 3/23/1998
first round because of his troubled past, had an impressive
workout for the handful of NFL teams who watched him go through
drills at his school last Friday. In a 25[degree] windchill,
Moss ran the 40 in 4.31, 4.35 and 4.44 seconds–superb times
even in ideal conditions.
Scouts using their subjective judgement to calculate an average of hand-timed 40 times is one of the reasons that data collected at the NFL Combine after 1998 is vastly superior to times collected before that. The NFL Combine also uses video evidence to adjust electronically timed scores after the event to further increase the accuracy of the electronic time.
The times and scores from this private workout are more complete than anything else we have. The temperature is also worth noting.
We hope this clears up some of the confusion around Randy Moss’ pre-draft athletic testing scores.