INDIANAPOLIS -- Iowa's Noah Fant is one ridiculously fast step closer to punching his ticket for the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft.
At 6-foot-4 and 249 pounds, the former Hawkeye star blazed a 40-yard dash of 4.50 seconds on Saturday at the NFL Scouting Combine, the fastest time of the tight ends at this year's event.
NFL.com senior analyst Gil Brandt clocked Fant in 4.46 and 4.47 seconds on his two 40 runs Saturday. Since 2006, only three tight ends have run faster than 4.46 at the combine (Vernon Davis, 4.38; Dorin Dickerson, 4.40; Evan Engram, 4.42).
NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah ranks Fant as the No. 23 prospect in the draft, his second-highest rated TE behind Fant's Iowa teammate, T.J. Hockenson (No. 5), who ran a 4.70 on Saturday.
As for Fant, Jeremiah noted that the top 10 TEs in receiving yards last season had an average height of 6-4 7/8, weight of 253 pounds and 40 time of 4.64 seconds. Of those 10, the only player who ran as fast as Fant was Jared Cook (4.50).
Fant is projected to be picked in Round 1 in five of the seven most recent mock drafts posted to NFL.com, and his stock is likely to only climb coming out of the combine.
Your move, Denver Broncos.
