Colorado football safety Shilo Sanders didn’t get invited to the NFL scouting combine next week in Indianapolis but isn’t letting the snub shut down his quest for attention from NFL teams. To the contrary, he brought in a pro timing expert to track his speed in Boulder and then publicized it in a video on his YouTube channel Thursday.
It’s part of his bid to get picked in the NFL draft in April.
“I didn’t get invited to the combine, but I brought the combine to me,” Sanders said in the video.
He recently contacted Zybek Sports, a local company that has been timing the 40-yard dash at the NFL combine for the past 13 years, according to Mike Weinstein, the company’s owner. Weinstein then showed up on the Boulder campus to work with Sanders in a way that really does bring the NFL combine to Sanders on a virtual basis. His company times Sanders the same way players are timed in Indianapolis and shares speed data that shows where he ranks among those at the combine.
The goal is for Sanders to be primed for Colorado’s annual “pro day” in about seven weeks. That’s when NFL scouts come to Boulder to time and assess him and other NFL prospects before the draft.
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Draft prospects “really make extraordinary gains over a short time when they understand exactly what their numbers are and exactly where they stack up and what to focus on,” Weinstein told USA TODAY Sports Thursday. “That’s what he’s going be working on the next seven weeks.”
Shilo Sanders’ draft prospects
Sanders, son of Colorado coach Deion Sanders, was not among the four Colorado players invited to the NFL combine this year. In total, the NFL invited 329 players to the combine, where players are measured and timed in a variety of tests on the road to the NFL draft, including the 40-yard dash.
Shilo Sanders, 25, is not expected to be an early-round draft pick but still could get drafted or at least sign with an NFL team as an undrafted free agent. He led his team in tackles in 2023 and also had the third-most tackles on his team last season despite missing three games with a broken forearm. He also participated in the East-West Shrine Bowl college all-star game last month and recorded five tackles, tied for second-most on his team.
To improve his measurables before the draft, he turned to a company that doesn’t provide coaching services but instead provides 40-yard dash data from previous combines and pro days. That data is even broken down by increments of 10 yards in the 40-yard dash and comes with the credibility of having been provided by the same company clocking the 40-yard dash times at the combine.
“We show every athlete where they are right now and where they need to be by the next step,” Weinstein said. “It’s all about marketing at that stage and being able to really credibly show your numbers can be a benefit in the eyes of the NFL scouts.”
Next step for Shilo Sanders
Weinstein said he will work with Shilo about every week before Colorado’s pro day. The video didn’t reveal his first 40-yard dash time. Weinstein declined to disclose it.
“I think he can be top 20% in the end here,” Weinstein said.
He said his company’s NFL combine data since 2016 shows the average time for a defensive back is 4.582 seconds, with the top 20% at 4.496 seconds. That’s based on 748 individual athlete runs, including players who run twice.
Among other athletes, Zybek Sports worked with Dallas Cowboys receiver KaVontae Turpin, who wasn’t drafted or invited to the combine in 2019 after being accused of assaulting his girlfriend and getting kicked off his college team at TCU. Turpin went on to become MVP of the USFL and used Zybek Sports to get reports to share with NFL teams that showed his speed rankings. The Cowboys signed him in 2022.
This year’s NFL draft starts April 24 in Green Bay.
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com
