Mississippi State’s Thompson runs 4.26 40-yard dash at NFL combine.

  • February 28, 2026

  • Jeff LegwoldFeb 28, 2026, 07:33 PM ET

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      Jeff Legwold covers the Denver Broncos at ESPN. He has covered the Broncos for more than 20 years and also assists with NFL draft coverage, joining ESPN in 2013. He has been a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Board of Selectors since 1999, too. Jeff previously covered the Pittsburgh Steelers, Buffalo Bills and Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans at previous stops prior to ESPN.

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IN INDIANAPOLIS — Ahead of this year’s NFL scouting combine, a considerable number of league observers anticipated that Brenen Thompson, a wide receiver from Mississippi State, possessed the athletic attributes to challenge the existing record for the 40-yard dash at the competition.

During a week where several premier collegiate football players posted incredibly fast 40-yard dash times one after another, Thompson surpassed them all by recording an official time of 4.26 seconds on Saturday, a performance highly likely to stand as the quickest at this year’s combine.

Although he did not surpass Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Xavier Worthy’s record of 4.21 seconds, Thompson achieved the third-fastest time recorded by a wide receiver since 2003, according to ESPN Research, matching Jerome Mathis’ 4.26 clocking from 2005. Only Worthy and John Ross (4.22 in 2017) were quicker in that timeframe.

Remarkably, the athlete who ran directly before Thompson on Saturday, LSU wide receiver Zavion Thomas, recorded an official 4.28 second time.

Several talent evaluators present in Lucas Oil Stadium on Saturday mentioned that they could not recall any instances of players running back-to-back 40-yard dashes in the 4.2-second range. Thompson and Thomas also accounted for two of the three official 40-yard dash times at this year’s combine that were recorded under 4.30 seconds.

Ohio State safety Lorenzo Styles Jr. also completed an official 40-yard dash in 4.27 seconds on Friday.

Thompson, who was measured at 5-foot-9 and 164 pounds at the combine, played one season for Mississippi State and established a new school record with 1,054 receiving yards in 2025, which also led the Southeastern Conference that season. Thompson also spent two seasons playing at Oklahoma and one at Texas.

He averaged 39.8 yards per touchdown over the course of his collegiate career. This past season, he accumulated 12 receptions covering at least 30 yards and five receptions covering at least 50 yards.