Darren McFadden: Why the McFadden Era is About to Begin in Oakland

Darren McFadden's stock had been dropping slightly prior to the NFL Combine. Some analysts, in a complete show of disrespect to the two time Doak Walker Award winner, were not even predicting him to be the first Back taken in the 2008 NFL Draft. That honor they said would fall on Rashard Mendenhall of Illinois. Then came the Combine, and in the blink of an eye, or 4.33 seconds to be precise, all of that foolish talk came to an abrupt end.

Why 4.33 seconds you ask? Well, because that is the time that it took McFadden to blaze his way through the 40 yards dash at the Combine The 40 of course is one of the standards by which NFL caliber running backs are measured these days. Run one in over 4.6 and you become yesterday's new, your stock plummeting you right out of the draft, or at least right out of the realm of the elite. Don't believe me, ask Maurice Clarett the former Ohio State great who ran a pedestrian 4.72 at the Combine in 2005.

Darren McFadden on the other hand has nothing to worry about. At the combine only one other running back clocked a faster time in the forty than the Arkansas great. Add to that McFadden's vision, quickness, and instincts for the game, throw in a physique that rivals that of any of the elite runners of today, and you are easily looking at a "Top 5" pick.