Published: Feb 27, 2026 at 12:35 PM Updated: Feb 27, 2026 at 07:18 PM
INDIANAPOLIS -- Quarterbacks, wide receivers and running backs hit the podium at the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine on Friday, while defensive backs and tight ends showed their stuff on the Lucas Oil Stadium turf.
PROGRAMMING NOTE: Tune in to NFL Network and NFL+ for live coverage of the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine, beginning at 1 p.m. ET on Saturday and Sunday.
1) Pride speeds into the spotlight. Missouri CB Toriano Pride surprised the NFL -- and himself -- after his 4.32-second 40-yard dash on Friday, which stands as the second-fastest at the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine so far.
The 5-foot-10 3/8, 185-pound Pride surely benefitted from the decision by several top cornerbacks to sit out the 40-yard dash, including a handful who might have been candidates to run some of the faster times at the combine. After a 4.36-second unofficial first 40 attempt, Pride shaved off another four-hundredths of a second, earning an ovation from the Lucas Oil Stadium crowd.
Pride's 4.32 is tied for the 14th-best mark since 2003 among cornerbacks. He also turned in good numbers in the vertical jump (37.5 inches) and broad jump (10-foot-8).
NFL Network's Stacey Dales visited Pride after his first unofficial time of 4.36 seconds, with Pride telling her he wanted to aim for a 4.34. He did even better than that.
"This guy is tickled silly about that run," Dales said on the NFL Network broadcast immediately following Pride's second 40 attempt.
Pride also told Dales he feels he's been a bit overlooked during the pre-draft process. After two years at Clemson, Pride transferred to Mizzou in 2024. He had a pick-six in his first game at MU but later was benched that first season.
In 2025, Pride bounced back and started 12 of 13 games, with two interceptions, including another pick-six, while playing more consistently. If Pride was underrated prior to Friday, he certainly did everything in his power during the 40 to change that.
2) Tight end hits new heights. Vanderbilt TE Eli Stowers broke the vertical-jump record for tight ends (going back to 2003) at the combine on Friday, getting within a half inch of tying the event's best mark in that span, regardless of position. Stowers jumped 45.5 inches, which came up just shy of safety Gerald Sensabaugh's record mark of 46 inches, set back in 2005.
Stowers also set the high-water mark at the combine among tight ends in the broad jump, with a leap of 11-foot-3 inches. That number is good enough to crack the top 25, regardless of position, since 2003.
These are astounding numbers for the 6-3 3/4, 239-pound tight end, who started his college career as a quarterback at Texas A&M. Stowers ended up at New Mexico State and lost the QB job to Diego Pavia, then converted full time to tight end. They both followed their former New Mexico State head coach Jerry Kill to Clark Lea's program at Vanderbilt, where Stowers and Pavia became a successful passing-game duo, with Stowers catching 111 passes for 1,407 yards and nine TDs the past two seasons combined.
Oregon's Kenyon Sadiq was expected to be the showstopper at tight end during the workouts -- and he was, recording a vertical leap of 43.5 inches, which tied the 2026 combine mark, and hitting 11-foot-1 in the broad jump, which was also briefly the best number in that event.
Then Stowers bested both marks by two inches apiece.
Stowers didn't crack Daniel Jeremiah's Top 50 prospects, but he's seen by draftniks as a possible Day 2 pick. It's considered a somewhat leaner year at tight end, but Stowers' big, athletic showing helped put a nice sheen on it Friday night.
3) Pedigreed CB prospect keeps checking boxes. As a former five-star recruit out of Florida football factory IMG Academy, Daylen Everette's always had the pedigree. And at Georgia, he was a starter for the last three seasons, earning third-team All-SEC honors in the past two. Add in solid ball production and willingness in run support, and it's a pretty enticing prospect résumé. Yet, it feels like Everette has been overlooked in the pre-draft process. But that could change after the cornerback's showing on Friday in Indianapolis.
After checking in with solid size (6-1 1/4, 196 pounds, 31 7/8-inch arm), Everette scorched the Lucas Oil Stadium track with a 4.38-second 40-yard dash. Supplementing that eye-catching time with solid efforts in the jumps (37-inch vertical, 10-foot-4 broad) and some smooth work in position drills, Everette just continues to check boxes in his football life.
Everette played in a bunch of high-profile matchups during his 55 games (41 starts) at Georgia, often acquitting himself quite well under the brightest lights. He was named MVP of the 2024 SEC Championship Game after snagging a pair of picks off Texas' Quinn Ewers, and then he intercepted Alabama's Ty Simpson in this past year's conference title bout. Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart showered praise on the 21-year-old last month during a Senior Bowl interview on NFL Network.
"Plays big in big moments," Smart said. "And I'm very fortunate to have watched him practice for four years and cover some guys like Ladd (McConkey) and the guys we've had come out, and he's just a physical presence for us. And football still, at the end of the day, comes down to tackling and blocking, and he's hard to block and he's a good tackler."
4) Thieneman showcases rare athleticism at safety. At his podium session on Thursday, Dillon Thieneman expressed lofty ambitions for the 40-yard dash.
"I do have a target," Thieneman stated. "My goal is to get to 4.3."
Mission accomplished. The well-rounded safety ran a scintillating 4.35 40 on Friday, further underscoring his explosiveness with a 41-inch vertical leap. And then he capped off the potent performance with some silky-smooth work in position drills. All in all, the native son of Westfield High School -- located in the Indianapolis suburbs -- put on quite a show at Lucas Oil Stadium, continuing to boost his red-hot draft stock.
Thieneman spent his first two college seasons at Purdue, starting every game, stuffing the stat sheet and earning All-Big Ten honors on a couple of moribund Boilermakers teams. Then he transferred to Oregon and immediately established himself as one of the best players on the Ducks' top-10 defense, ultimately becoming a second-team AP All-American. Over the course of three seasons and 39 college games (all starts), Thieneman lined up all over the field, exhibiting the kind of multi-level versatility that's in high demand among modern NFL defenses. And he constantly earned praise for his cerebral play, with my colleague Lance Zierlein calling him "an extension of his defensive coordinator, aligning and adjusting the secondary to motion and pre-snap shifts."
With speed, savvy and solid size at 6-foot 1/8 and 201 pounds, Thieneman is receiving plenty of first-round buzz, which isn't exactly common for the safety position. But Daniel Jeremiah ranks the 21-year-old as his No. 23 overall prospect. Combining three wildly productive college seasons (SEE: 308 tackles, eight interceptions and 14 pass breakups) with an electric combine workout, Thieneman has put together an alluring draft dossier.
1) 'Bama QB makes case to be long-term answer for NFL team. Ty Simpson's tumultuous first and only season as Alabama's starting quarterback plunged him into uncertainty entering the 2026 NFL Draft.
He knows the challenges he faced painted a complicated picture. But he also believes his experience at Alabama -- both as a starter and a backup to Bryce Young and Jalen Milroe -- makes him a valuable prospect for any NFL team seeking a long-term answer under center.
"I'm ready. I'm a franchise quarterback," Simpson said Friday at the combine. "Alabama prepares you most for the NFL. With the infrastructure that they have and the guidance from Coach (Nick) Saban, Coach (Kalen) DeBoer, Coach (Ryan) Grubb, all the coordinators that I had before, I ran an NFL-type system. It definitely prepared me for saying those long play calls, saying those checks, making sure that I get us in the right protection.
"And also, everybody talks about my starts, but I played in other games besides that. I've played against really good NFL players. I think about my freshman year, learning from the No. 1 overall pick and Heisman Trophy winner (Bryce Young). Going on defense, going on scout team, I got Will Anderson Jr., Dallas Turner, Henry To'oTo'o, I got Kool-Aid (McKinstry) on one side, I got Terrion (Arnold) on the other side. There's a number of first- and second-round draft picks that I went against and who I was in the locker room with. The Alabama locker room is as close to a locker room in the NFL as you can get."
It's a case made for many products from Alabama, long considered an NFL factory over the last two decades. It also might not be quite strong enough to hold up against Simpson's intriguing but inconsistent tape from the 2025 season.
We'll see if Simpson's argument will convince a team, or if his performance -- including his intent to throw Saturday in Indianapolis -- carries the most weight in April.
2) Manziel giving pointers to Heisman runner-up Pavia. While former Browns QB Johnny Manziel is more of a cautionary tale when it comes to translating college stardom to the NFL, Vanderbilt's Diego Pavia has welcomed Manziel as a mentor as he prepares to make the jump.
"He's given me what to look out for, what it's like, how to stay in the process," Pavia told reporters on Friday. "He's given me some good advice, for sure. He always reaches out, too. Checks up on me. Makes sure I'm good. He's just a friend to me. He's given me some mentorship. He's been around me. He's been around my family. He's just a great person for those that really don't know."
Similar to Manziel, Pavia has become something of a lightning rod, fueled in part by his reaction after finishing second in the Heisman Trophy voting to Fernando Mendoza. In an Instagram post after the award ceremony, Pavia wrote "F-all the voters ... Family for life." There are also concerns about Pavia's height after he measured 5-9 7/8 last month at the Senior Bowl, well below the NFL standard for his position.
He sought to set the record straight on Friday when it comes to perceptions about him.
"I feel like there's a lot out there, but I just want everyone to know that what's true about me is I'm humble and I get my confidence from my process," Pavia said. "If you saw how much I put into this, you would see where I get my confidence from."
Pavia said he will be throwing when QBs take the field at the combine on Saturday but will save his athletic testing for his pro day.
3) Tate stakes claim on WR1. The 2026 NFL Draft is blessed with another deep, versatile crop of wide receivers, but who's the top dog in the class? Presented with that question on Friday in Indianapolis, Ohio State's Carnell Tate didn't stutter.
"Me, no question," Tate immediately replied. "I bring it all to the table -- whatever you need to do, I got it."
The debate figures to rage on throughout the pre-draft process. Our resident prospect rankers are split, with Daniel Jeremiah and Lance Zierlein backing Tate, while Bucky Brooks favors Arizona State's Jordyn Tyson. Meanwhile, USC's Makai Lemon received the 2025 Biletnikoff Award as college football's top wideout, and big-bodied Washington product Denzel Boston has plenty of fans in the draft cognoscenti. But Tate believes he provides the complete package.
