Troy Pride Jr. Doesn't Meet Expectations With Combine Performance

Notre Dame cornerback Troy Pride Jr. didn't quite meet the expectations during the 2020 NFL Scouting Combine

Like his former teammate Jalen Elliott, former Notre Dame cornerback Troy Pride Jr. was not able to build on a strong Reese’s Senior Bowl performance with a dominant combine outing.

Pride had some quality numbers at the event, but there were certain tests he did not perform well and the area where he was expected to dominate he fell short of expectations.

Take expectations out of the equation and Pride’s 4.40 in the 40-yard dash was quite good. It was the fourth best among all the cornerbacks in attendance and would have ranked in the top five of all cornerbacks in seven of the last ten combines. But Pride has tested much better than that at Notre Dame, and the expectation was that he would have one of the best times of any player at the combine.

Pride needed a dominant 40-yard dash time to continue climbing up draft boards, but that didn’t happen, at least not yet.

There were ups-and-downs with Pride’s performance. His 35.5” vertical jump ranked 14th among 21 cornerbacks to perform in the event. His 119” broad jump was last among the 20 cornerbacks that participated in that test. You’d expect a player with his track and playing speed to perform much better in the jumping events.

Pride’s change of direction numbers were a bit better, but neither were top-notch. His 6.94 in the 3-cone drill ranked second among the 12 cornerbacks that tested. If you compare it to past seasons when more corners performed in the drill Pride’s number was solid, but not a standout performance. In fact, it would have finished in the top 10 among cornerbacks just once in the last decade at the combine.

His 4.26 in the pro shuttle (20-yard) ranked sixth among 10 cornerbacks, but again there was a low number of cornerbacks to perform. If you look back at the last 10 combines that number would not have placed him in the top 10 in any single year and it was in the top 15 in just a handful of past combines.

Pride’s playing strength has been questioned in the past, and his 13 reps on the bench (among 20 participants) didn't do much to ease those concerns, although I don't put a great deal of emphasis on the bench press.

Pride performed well in the backpedal drills, showing easy change of direction and relatively efficient footwork. His change of direction performance was a bit more erratic. When he was clean with his footwork and kept his base he was able to quickly plant and explode out of cuts. There were also several reps where he lost his base, which in turn caused him to lose his footing and be slower out of breaks.

Pride seemed to have a couple of wardrobe malfunctions, with him losing a shoe on two different plants during the drills. That is something I have not seen before at the combine.

Although Pride put up a 40-yard dash time that is among the best, the rest of his combine performance was not one that will cause him to rise up draft boards. That means Pride needs to regroup and prepare to bounce back with a strong Pro Day performance at Notre Dame. Ideally, getting down into the mid to low 4.3s, which was the expectation, would help erase his combine performance.

But running fast can’t be all Pride does. He’ll also need to improve his change of direction and leaping numbers if he’s going to get back the momentum he built at the Senior Bowl.