To me the 40 time is only part of the equation when it comes to the athletic ability, It has be used along with the rest of the numbers for vertical jump, broad jump, cone drills etc. That will give you an indication of the overall athletic ability, explosiveness, change of direction speed etc, running 40 meters in a straight line says nothing on its own.
That being said, there is no doubt when looking at the numbers that our new TE Rodgers is an inferior athlete compared to Finley, who himself was no top athlete when compared to the top TE today, Julius Thomas, Vernon Davis, Rob Gronkowski, Jimmy Graham etc.
I am quite sure neither Gates nor Gonzales was able to run much better than our new Rodgers late in their careers, and they still put up good numbers for TEs, and was able to match anything we ever got out of Finley, defense adjustments or not.
I hope he makes up for his lack of numbers in gym shorts by putting up big numbers in pads, only time will tell.