Potential 49ers NFL Draft target wows with historic 10-yard split

Potential 49ers NFL Draft target wows with historic 10-yard split originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

A potential 49ers draft target put on a historic performance at the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine on Thursday at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Penn State edge rusher Chop Robinson — who ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. mocked to the 49ers at No. 31 overall in a recent mock draft — showed off blazing speed unprecedented for a player his size (6-foot-3, 254 pounds) at the position.

Robinson ran an unofficial 4.49 40-yard dash — which is impressive in its own right — but what really stood out was the 21-year-old’s 10-yard-split.

Robinson’s 1.54 10-yard split is the best time ever recorded at the scouting combine for an edge rusher weighing over 250 pounds.

While scouting combine testing is far from the end all be all, Robinson’s 4.54 40-yard dash time compares quite favorably to a handful of dynamic edge rushers, including Nick Bosa (4.79 40 time in 2019) and Houston Texans standout Will Anderson Jr. (4.60 40 time in 2023).

Robinson also recorded a 10’8 broad jump, making him just the second player in combine history to run a sub-4.50 40-yard dash and register a broad jump over 10’5. The only other player to accomplish that feat? Vernon Davis, who the 49ers selected No. 6 overall in the 2006 NFL Draft.

Since Dee Ford’s departure, the 49ers have sorely lacked a high-end edge rusher to place opposite of Bosa, who had nearly double the amount of pressures (122 to 64) as the next closest player on San Francisco’s defense during the 2023 NFL season, per Pro Football Focus.

While it’s easy to envision how well a dynamic young talent like Robinson would slot in on a defensive front seven littered with All-Pros, his impressive performance today might have vaulted his stock well out of the range of where the 49ers are scheduled to pick with the second-to-last pick of the first round.

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