Audric Estime will have to overcome history after NFL Combine
Ex-Notre Dame football players are having an interesting time at the 2024 NFL Combine. While some are genuinely impressing, others are getting their hair talked about more than their accomplishments. And then there's Audric Estime.
The star running back entered the NFL Combine knowing that he needed to help his draft stock a bit. It doesn't appear he did that. In fact, if recent history is any lesson, he did it a great deal of damage.
Audric Estime ran a surprisingly slow 4.71 40-yard-dash this weekend. That rated as one of the worst times of any of the running backs competing in the event. And it means that he now has to overcome history.
No college halfback has ran a 40-time slower than 4.65 and been drafted since 2015. That Audric Estime was quite a bit worst than that time is both shocking and concerning. It's a safe bet he's wishing he could have had a reset. A mulligan.
Audric Estime can buck NFL history
Even knowing what's aligned against the former Notre Dame football star, it seems unfathomable that Audric Estime would somehow go seven rounds without some team selecting him.
You're talking about someone who ran for 1,341 yards and 18 touchdowns in 12 games (he didn't play in the Sun Bowl.)
You're also talking about someone who is affectionately called Baby Bus by some around the Fighting Irish program. That name of course, alludes to The Bus, former Irish running back Jerome Bettis.
It's worth pointing out that Bettis, now an NFL Hall of Famer, ran a 4.7 40-yard time at the NFL combine. He's not the only former Irish running back who struggled at the combine either.
Kyren Williams ran a 4.65 at his combine. Yep, he's the man that set the cutoff time because he was in fact, drafted. He did drop to the fifth round because of that time. But it seems to have worked out fine for him, since he ran for 1,144 yards and 12 touchdowns while missing four games due to injury this past season.
It's a different game, for sure. Speed is important. But Audric Estime is the kind of guy who seems destined to show that toughness is better. We'll have to wait and see what the NFL's prevailing braintrust thinks about it regarding the former Notre Dame football star.