D'Onta Foreman went a long way toward helping his draft status Tuesday at Texas' pro day, where the former Longhorns running back was the primary attraction for representatives from all 32 NFL clubs, including RB coaches from the Detroit Lions, Cincinnati Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers.
Having participated in bench-press testing only at the NFL Scouting Combine (18 reps), Foreman had plenty of work to do for his pro-day workout. When he was done, scouts had plenty to like. He weighed in at 234 pounds and clocked a pair of 4.45 40-yard dashes, per NFL.com senior analyst Gil Brandt, making for a size/speed combination that analyst Lance Zierlein described as "big-time." The speed Foreman showed Tuesday would have made some combine history had he run a 4.45 in Indianapolis; in modern combine annals (since 2003), no running back weighing 232 pounds or more has run as fast as Foreman did, per Brandt. He also turned in a 33-inch vertical jump. Of the 15 running backs to jump higher than 33 inches at the combine, none weighed in as heavy as Foreman did Tuesday.
Foreman was among the only bright spots in an otherwise dismal 5-7 season for the Longhorns, rushing for 2,028 yards and 15 touchdowns on 323 carries. He entered the draft as an underclassman, joining a deep field of talent at the position led by LSU's Leonard Fournette, FSU's Dalvin Cook and Stanford's Christian McCaffrey.
On a day he needed to help himself among such talented draft competition, he did just that. Zierlein believes he'll be a second-day selection (Rounds 2-3), and Brandt believes he made himself some money with the performance.
He'll have an idea of just how much in about a month.
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