NFL Scouting Combine: Penn State's Theo Johnson Delivers an Epic Performance

The Penn State tight end tests through the roof at the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.

Penn State football players have lit up the NFL Scouting Combine for several years. But pound-for-pound, tight end Theo Johnson just might have delivered the best performance yet.

Johnson showed up in prime time Friday at the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine, producing one of the highest-graded athletic showcases ever among tight ends. At least according to the site RAS, which determines relative athletic scores for combine participants. According to RAS, Johnson scored a 9.99 (out of a possible 10), the second-highest value among tight ends over the past 37 years. The RAS scored rated Johnson as "elite" in speed and explosion and "great" in size and agility measurements.

Johnson delivered in every way at the combine. He ran the second-fastest time in the 40-yard dash among tight ends (4.57 seconds), tying for the fastest 10-second split (10.55). He finished second in the broad jump (10-5) and vertical jump (39-5). Johnson also ran the fastest shuttle time (4.19) among tight ends and was fifth in the three-cone drill (7.15 seconds).

What does it all mean? That Johnson is an especially explosive athlete at 6-8, 259 pounds, a combination over which NFL teams will drool at the draft.

Theo Johnson is a TE prospect in the 2024 draft class. He scored an unofficial 9.99 #RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 2 out of 1105 TE from 1987 to 2024.

Splits projected, Shuttle would have kept him that 10.00, but Cone lost it.https://t.co/HuWxnxJn85 pic.twitter.com/sjJ15iseny

— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) March 2, 2024

Johnson's athleticism was well known at Penn State, where he set the program's 40-yard dash record among tight ends (4.51 seconds). Breaking 4.6 seconds at the combine, however, was an exceptional feat, one that will continue to launch his draft arc. 

Though Johnson is getting dinged in some circles for his senior-year catch numbers (32 receptions for 325 yards), those rates don't reflect his full contributions to the offense. Johnson played in a system over the past two years that valued his skills across the field as a backfield blocker (the famous T formation), lined in the slot and even stretched wide on occasion. At the combine, Johnson thanked Penn State for deploying him in multiple ways.

"At Penn State, I appreciated the opportunity I had. I was able to showcase all that tight end can do," Johnson said. "... That was a unique experience for me, because I'm able to show NFL teams that I'm able to lineup up anywhere on the field."

TE Theo Johnson - 4.58u 💨

📺 #NFLCombine on @NFLNetwork pic.twitter.com/avVHEcvY04

— Penn State Football (@PennStateFball) March 2, 2024

Johnson already had boosted his draft stock with a strong week at the 2024 Senior Bowl. Expect that to keep rising.

"I think there's a good chance he's the third tight end drafted, just because there's such an appetite for that wide tight end, that big, nasty, inline tight end who does a great job in the middle of the field," ESPN draft analyst Matt Miller said on a recent conference call. "No, you're not flexing them out and asking them to play wide receiver, but they're super-reliable players. But I do think that his stock is on the rise."

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