Greetings one and all, big and tall, short and small: [sorry to be so long winded...LOL]
First, Barrington did not run a 4.91 at the combine; he ran a 4.75 AND a 4.91. As alluded to by Bigby, Jerry Rice ran a 4.7 [4.692]. If limiting our discussion to combine times and assuming the 40 is the measure of athleticism; any ILB that is only .05 to .21 slower than Rice is “ATHLETIC” in my book!
Second, the time a guy runs at one point in time is not an ipso facto unrebuttable determination of a person’s speed; Barrington has run several 40s in the 4.6 range [Note: Rice ran several low 4.4’s] and SB ran a 4.69 at his pro day.
Third, there’ a billion reasons way a guy’s time might be slow at any one timing: he rocked back on start; wasn’t accustomed to a track start; was on unfamiliar/uncomfortable surface; human error; injury; etc. At the combine Barrington’s back stiffened; and yes in a week the back could feel better. Perhaps his back was only partly feeling better after a week and that’s why he ran as slow as 4.69 instead of a 4.59.
Fourth, Let’s discuss the pro day “home cooking.” Indy is 710 Ft above sea level; Bulls’ practice field is 48’ above sea level; making Indy’s altitude more favorable to running fast. Moreover, the pro day’s temp in the low 60’s w/ humidity is less favorable than running in dome w/ temps in high 60’s/low 70’s w/ humidity controlled.
No scout would attend a pro day knowing, for example, the players' agents would be manning and reading stop watches and/or using an 11” ruler to lay out each foot of the courses. EVERY Scout mans a watch and most of the time all the scouts share their results amongst themselves to establish a consensus. They will also either lay out the courses or verify their accuracy with their own measurements. The only “home cooking” involved in pro days is that the player gets to sleep in his own bed and is running on a surface he’s familiar with. Now Barrington did run his pro day 40s from N to S w/ a wind out of the NW between 3.7 and 5.7 meters/sec. It was not a direct tail wind; but it be would considered “wind aided” none the less. Tracks records are invalidated only if wind aided by more than 2 Meters/sec. Given that the tail wind was not direct and not that great, that track starts were done when wind died down and accounting for subsequent temp and altitude adjustments; Barrington’s pro day 40s, especially the critical 1.6 10 yard split, legitimately represents Barrington’s foot speed on that day for whatever that is worth.
Fifth, as GreenGold says, who cares how fast he is in a track event. 40 times are only looked at to evaluate how a player’s game might transfer to the NFL. Once he’s playing, you look at his play. So if he’s not athletic enough it should be demonstrated with plays like: Vareen splitting wide left and Barrington running out to cover him MAN. After the snap Brady ONLY looks left for 1.5-2 seconds until realizing Barrington is blanketing Vareen...he throws the ball elsewhere. Oops, bad example that Barrington lack athleticism.
Sixth, the thing about Green and gold glasses, when you look through them backwards, they work like binoculars...things tend to get real real small.