ARIZONA STATE FOOTBALL

NFL expert Clayton on Burfict’s 40-yard dash: ‘That time just destroys him’

Feb 28, 2012, 6:03 PM | Updated: 6:17 pm

Vontaze Burfict’s star has fallen fast.

The volatile linebacker followed a sub-par junior season
with an even worse effort at the NFL Draft Combine in
Indianapolis.

Burfict, who ranked last among linebackers in most
categories and near the bottom in the others, ran the
40-yard dash in 4.93 and 5.10 seconds, numbers that did
nothing to help his already plummeting draft stock.

“That time just destroys him,” ESPN NFL expert John
Clayton told Arizona Sports 620’s Doug and Wolf. “You know
that everybody’s going to be asking about the character,
and his short temper, all those things, but a short temper
is one thing — five-flat 40? Not good.”

Clayton knows what he’s talking about, and there are
already rumbles of Burfict possibly going from first round
pick to undrafted free agent.

Given what’s transpired over the last eight months or so,
the idea that Vontaze Burfict has fallen out of favor with
NFL decision makers is not that unreasonable.

But that he’s fallen out of favor with all of them? Well,
that is a different story, though one that is being
written right now.

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NFL expert Clayton on Burfict’s 40-yard dash: ‘That time just destroys him’