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How 40 Yard Dash Speed Is Calculated
The 40 yard dash is a straight sprint of 40 yards (36.576 meters) from a standing start, used to test speed in football. Your average speed is the distance divided by your time. This calculator does that sum, then shows how timing method, splits and NFL averages change what the number means.
What the 40 Yard Dash Measures
The 40 measures how quickly you can get from a standstill to near top speed and hold it. It mixes two skills: acceleration over the first 10 to 20 yards, and maximum speed over the last 20. It does not measure agility or football skill.
The Formula
Average speed (m/s) = 36.576 / time
Average speed (mph) = (40 / time) x 3600 / 1760
Estimated electronic time = hand time + 0.31 seconds
Speed Score = (weight in lb x 200) / (electronic time)^4
The 0.31 second gap is the average difference measured between hand and electronic timing in 59 college football players¹.
How This Calculator Computes Your Result
Enter your 40 time to two decimals and choose hand timed or electronic. You get your average speed in mph, km/h, m/s and yards per second, rounded to two decimals. A hand time also gets an estimated electronic time, with a likely range of your time plus 0.22 to 0.31 seconds, because the gap differs between studies and timers¹ ². An electronic time shows what the run would likely read on a stopwatch.
Optional 10 and 20 yard splits from the same run give the time, speed and share of total time for each part. Optional body weight (lb or kg) gives a Speed Score. The NFL comparison and Speed Score use your electronic or estimated electronic time.
What Your Result Means
The table shows the average official 40 time at the NFL Combine for every participant since 2003, by position group³. The calculator shows how far your time is above or below each one.
Position group | Average 40 time (s) | Fastest since 2003 (s) |
Wide receivers | 4.52 | 4.21 |
Defensive backs | 4.53 | 4.23 |
Running backs | 4.59 | 4.24 |
Linebackers | 4.71 | 4.38 |
Tight ends | 4.76 | 4.40 |
Quarterbacks | 4.82 | 4.35 |
Defensive line | 4.94 | 4.36 |
Offensive line | 5.26 | 4.71 |
These are elite college players. Combine times are not fully electronic either: an operator starts the clock when the player's hand leaves the ground, and an infrared beam stops it⁴.
To turn a time into speed at a glance:
40 time (s) | Average speed (mph) | Average speed (m/s) |
4.30 | 19.03 | 8.51 |
4.50 | 18.18 | 8.13 |
4.70 | 17.41 | 7.78 |
5.00 | 16.36 | 7.32 |
5.50 | 14.88 | 6.65 |
6.00 | 13.64 | 6.10 |
How to Measure Correctly
Warm up fully, and use the same surface and shoes each time.
Start in a three-point stance (one hand down) or a two-point stance, when you are ready. There is no gun.
With a stopwatch, the timer stands about 6 meters from the finish line, starts on your first movement and stops when your upper body crosses the line².
With electronic timing, a touch pad or operator starts the clock and a beam at the finish, set about 75 cm high in one study, stops it².
Run two trials at least 5 minutes apart and keep the best one².
Retest with the same timer and method. In college players, changes under 0.12 seconds (electronic) or 0.14 seconds (hand timed) may be test noise².
Hand Timing vs Electronic Timing
Hand times usually read faster. In 59 Division II players, hand timing gave 4.85 seconds on average and electronic timing gave 5.16 seconds, a gap of 0.31 seconds¹. A later study of 81 Division I players found a gap of 0.22 seconds with experienced timers and 0.26 seconds with novice timers². So a hand-timed 4.40 is likely about 4.62 to 4.71 seconds electronic. The popular rule of adding 0.24 seconds comes from old track and field practice⁴, not from studies of the 40, so this calculator does not use it.
What Your Splits Show
The first 10 yards cover a quarter of the distance but take about a third of the time. For example, a 4.60 run with splits of 1.60 and 2.66 spends 34.8% of its time in the first 10 yards, averaging 12.8 mph. The last 20 yards, often called the flying 20, are run at 21.1 mph. But a study of the 2016 NFL Combine found that top speed was very strongly linked to 40 time (a correlation of 0.94, where 1 is a perfect match), and that fast and slow players accelerated in a similar pattern⁵. In short, a good start helps, but a fast 40 needs a high top speed.
Speed Score
Speed Score is a football analytics formula from journalism, not a fitness or health measure. Writer Bill Barnwell built it before the 2008 NFL draft to rate running backs by weight and 40 time, scaled so a typical combine player scores close to 100⁶. The average running back who reaches the NFL scores about 100, and the best running back score at the 2024 combine was 125.7, from a 221 lb back who ran 4.33⁷. Barnwell called it "hardly a lone predictive measure"⁶. A study of drafted quarterbacks, running backs and receivers also found that sprint tests were linked to NFL performance only for running backs⁸.
NFL Combine 40 Times by Position
Each row runs from the fastest official combine time since 2003 to the position average. Enter your electronic time to see where it falls for each position.
- Faster than the fastest since 2003
- Between the fastest and the average
- Average or slower
Show data table
| Position group | Faster than the fastest since 2003 | Between the fastest and the average | Average or slower |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wide receivers | Under 4.21 s | 4.21 to 4.52 s (average 4.52 s) | 4.52 s or slower |
| Defensive backs | Under 4.23 s | 4.23 to 4.53 s (average 4.53 s) | 4.53 s or slower |
| Running backs | Under 4.24 s | 4.24 to 4.59 s (average 4.59 s) | 4.59 s or slower |
| Linebackers | Under 4.38 s | 4.38 to 4.71 s (average 4.71 s) | 4.71 s or slower |
| Tight ends | Under 4.40 s | 4.40 to 4.76 s (average 4.76 s) | 4.76 s or slower |
| Quarterbacks | Under 4.35 s | 4.35 to 4.82 s (average 4.82 s) | 4.82 s or slower |
| Defensive line | Under 4.36 s | 4.36 to 4.94 s (average 4.94 s) | 4.94 s or slower |
| Offensive line | Under 4.71 s | 4.71 to 5.26 s (average 5.26 s) | 5.26 s or slower |
A Note on Accuracy
The speed sum is exact, but the result is only as good as your time. Stopwatch times vary from timer to timer, so the estimated electronic time is a range, not a fact. Surface, shoes, stance and wind also change times. NFL averages come from elite players, and Speed Score was built for running back prospects.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good 40 yard dash time?
At the NFL Combine, the average is 4.52 seconds for wide receivers, 4.59 for running backs and 5.26 for offensive linemen³. These are elite college players, so for most people the best comparison is their own earlier times, taken with the same timing method.
How fast is a 4.4 40 yard dash in mph?
A 4.40 second 40 is an average speed of 18.6 mph (8.31 m/s). Your top speed during the run is higher than that, because the average includes the slow start.
How much faster is hand timing than electronic timing?
Studies of college football players found hand times were 0.22 to 0.31 seconds faster than electronic times¹ ². The gap depends on the person holding the stopwatch.
Is a hand-timed 40 yard dash accurate?
Hand times repeat well when the same timer is used², but they read fast compared with electronic timing¹ ². Use electronic timing when you need a true time to compare with others.
Sources
Comparison Between Hand and Electronic Timing of 40-yd Dash Performance, Mayhew et al., 2010
Validity and Reliability of Hand and Electronic Timing for 40-yd Sprint, Mann et al., 2015
How Accurate Is the 40-Yard Dash at the NFL Combine?, Creasy, 2026
The NFL Combine 40-yd Dash: How Important Is Maximum Velocity?, Clark et al., 2019
Reexamining the 2008 Class of RBs, Barnwell, 2014
Isaac Guerendo Tops 2024 RB Speed Scores, Knowles, 2024
The NFL Combine: Does It Predict Performance in the NFL?, Kuzmits and Adams, 2008