Carnell Tate decided not to run the 40 yard dash on Wednesday's Pro Day at Ohio State and it was probably a good idea.
Former Ohio State wide receiver Carnell Tate decided against running the 40-Yard dash during Wednesday's Pro Day in Columbus in front of all of the NFL's scouts and general managers.
Tate's 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine sparked a lot of conversation as he clocked a 4.54 40, which was much slower than many people were expecting.
That was the immediate response, especially after the football world was stunned by Arvell Reese and Sonny Styles running matching 4.46 forties. It was all negative for Tate, and he decided not to run it back on Wednesday, which was probably the smart decision.
Tate's superpower as a wide receiver has nothing to do with straight-line speed. What he does better than literally every single other wide receiver in College Football is all of the rest of the skills that are required at the position.
At the top of the list, he is an absolute route technician. He runs surgical routes that are impossible to cover because he has zero wasted movement, he is so explosive, and he catches everything. When he routes you up, there is nothing that can be done to stop it.
After running a perfect route, he has an incredible natural instinct to track the football. That is a staple of all Ohio State wide receivers under Brian Hartline. It was a non-negotiable to catch everything with your hands and attack the football. Tate does that better than anyone.
If there is a wide receiver out there that matches both of these skills, what would set Tate apart is his toughness and ability to catch the football in traffic. He is unafraid of everything and is willing to put his body on the line to get the football.
All of those skills combined make Tate the most attractive receiver in this NFL Draft.
Because of that, there is no reason that he needed to run the 40-yard dash again at Wednesday's Pro Day in Columbus. He didn't need to start another conversation about how "slow" he is, or God forbid, he runs a slower time, which would open up more questions.
Tate will not survive the top-10 of this year's draft. The highest that he could go is pick No. 5 to the New York Giants. The lowest he is going to go is pick No. 9 to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Any team in between those two would be happy to get their hands on this wide receiver. Regardless of how fast Tate can get out of a track stance and run in a straight line, he is a budding star at the wide receiver position and his draft positon will reflect that.
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